Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is about one
Speaker 1: of the best ways to use social media. You can
Speaker 1: network and get to know just about anyone well as
Speaker 1: long as they're not at the Beyonce level of success.
Speaker 1: But with a little time and thoughtfulness, you can form
Speaker 1: relationships with people in your industry in a way that
Speaker 1: just wasn't possible a few years ago. I've been blogging
Speaker 1: for a great many years, and at some point I
Speaker 1: realized that I felt I knew many of my regular commenters,
Speaker 1: even though I had never met them in person. They
Speaker 1: share a little bits of their lives, and as they
Speaker 1: comment on articles, I figure out their views on the universe.
Speaker 1: If I met any of these people in person, no
Speaker 1: doubt we would feel like old friends. Actually, I know
Speaker 1: we would. I first met my co host on the
Speaker 1: Best of Both Worlds podcast, Sarah Heart Hunger, through comments
Speaker 1: we left on each other's blogs. When we did first
Speaker 1: meet in person, we didn't have to spend all of
Speaker 1: our times cycling through small talk. I already knew what
Speaker 1: was big in her mind. Now, I know that few
Speaker 1: people post on blogs multiple times a week anymore, but
Speaker 1: a lot of people are on social media, and for
Speaker 1: all the time it is possible to waste on social media,
Speaker 1: it is also possible to form real connections with thoughtful comments.
Speaker 1: So identify a few people that you'd like to get
Speaker 1: to know. Maybe these are people in your industry whose
Speaker 1: work you admire or who friends have told you are interesting.
Speaker 1: You're probably better off choosing about a dozen people you
Speaker 1: can truly follow, rather than a hundred. You'll get to
Speaker 1: stray died by listen to their posts for a while,
Speaker 1: and then when you find a thread you feel you
Speaker 1: can contribute helpfully to chime in. No arguments or name
Speaker 1: calling or other online temptations. You're trying to be of
Speaker 1: service here. Continue to do this, and unless we're talking
Speaker 1: people with millions of followers, almost every influencer notices the
Speaker 1: name of frequent commenters who say interesting stuff. No doubt
Speaker 1: some will start following you. And then when you are
Speaker 1: putting things out into the world like journal articles or
Speaker 1: industry blog posts or virtual presentations, these folks will remember
Speaker 1: your name and you can follow their articles and presentations
Speaker 1: and send them notes about it. Just like that, you
Speaker 1: have a real professional relationship. It doesn't matter that you
Speaker 1: haven't actually seen each other in person now. To be sure,
Speaker 1: someday we will go back to seeing people in person.
Speaker 1: Conferences will return, and we'll meet new industry people there.
Speaker 1: But I've found that conferences tend to go better when
Speaker 1: I've met a lot of people virtually beforehand, and I
Speaker 1: used the in person time. It's just a chance to
Speaker 1: put a name with a face. The real work of
Speaker 1: networking can be done online. The in person stuff it's
Speaker 1: really just the icing on the cake. So today, think
Speaker 1: about how you'd like to connect with people on social media.
Speaker 1: Think about who you might like to connect to. Try
Speaker 1: leaving a comment or two, or replying to a tweet
Speaker 1: or a post, as long as it feels authentic to
Speaker 1: do so. Do this again in a few days. It's networking.
Speaker 1: It just looks a little different in the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's the succeeding in
Speaker 1: the New Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, visit the
Speaker 1: i Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H