‘Know me’ is about ‘one-to-many’, finding a way to publish your expertise in a way that creates followers and trust. One person, YOU, reaching out to MANY. Once your blog is read and ‘followed’ by many, in a wide geographical area, you are achieving a brand, a reputation that allows you to be known. Surely that is what we all want? This builds your reputation, which creates attraction and helps to raise your profile. You cannot focus on depth. Your aim is to contribute by sharing knowledge. Those that want to engage with you will do so, and then you may decide to move to ‘like me’ and become a friend to them.
Why people worry about building a large network
There are a number of misconceptions about creating a wide network and I want to cover them here to help you overcome any fears you may have. I have featured the two most common concerns; that width means you do not contribute to others and that you do not have time to manage a large network.
1. If you have a wide network you cannot be a giver – really?
A damaging assumption many people have is that those with a large network are ‘using’ the networks, that they are collecting names, that they are taking and not giving. Don’t be one of those people who make this judgement. Thomas has a much larger network than I do. He also loves to connect and build networks across multiple social media platforms. At the time of writing I have 5,300 in my Ecademy network, Thomas has 45,526. If we look at the depth of my network, 7 per cent of my network have written a testimonial, whereas only 1.3 per cent of Thomas’s have. But looking at this in real terms it means that I have received 372 testimonials from people who have taken the time to thank me for my help, but Thomas has received 573.
Thomas has the appreciation of 200 more people than I have. Perhaps this means that having a wide network enables Thomas to connect and share with more people and therefore contribute to more. Take this across all the networks that Thomas is on, and considering that he is currently the number one person in the world for testimonials on LinkedIn, with 700, Thomas does not lack contribution when it comes to helping his networks.
2. Managing a large network takes too much time
You will read later in my interview with William Buist, that a wide network has made him more efficient.William is someone I admire as a great collaborator and advocator. He said to me that as his network has become larger, he has more time on his hands. This is the reverse of what you would think. One of the main barriers for people creating a wide network is that they think this will take too much time to manage. William confirmed to me that through his business model and his processes the more people he has access to, the more his business has grown and the more efficient he is.
Having access to minds, knowledge and people speeds up solving problems, finding information and increases the opportunities. Graham Jones, one of the UK’s top bloggers and an internet psychologist, confirmed that he never sells, he only delivers. His customers come to him because of his blog and his wide network. He has already achieved a level of credibility and visibility that cuts down the prospecting and closing time of the sales process.
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Extract 1: A Changing World - The Individual Capitalist
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Extract 2: Contribution Currency
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Extract 3: Building Attraction and Being a Magnet
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Extract 4: Leveraging Social Networks For Your Business
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Extract 5: Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me
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Extract 7: Like Me: Creating Your Social Networking Footprint
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Extract 8: Follow Me: Creating Social Transactions
| This is an extract from Know Me, Follow Me, Like Me, a book by Penny Power and Thomas Power, who founded Ecademy, the UK's first social network for business, in 1998 with her husband Thomas Power. The Ecademy community now has members in over 230 countries and encompasses over 5,000 clubs and networks
Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me by Penny Power and Thomas Power is published by Headline Business Plus at £14.99. |
