This past week, I read an article in Business Week stating that 85,000 jobs were eliminated in December, coupled with the several phone calls and messages I received from friends that were part of that statistic or marked a significant unemployment milestone, one friend a year, the other 10 months – I started thinking about BEING FOUND.
Looking at the strategy I have employed over the last two years in business development, BEING FOUND was my top priority. I was new to a sales role, worked for a small agency and was competing against very well known agencies with much more experienced sales teams in the process. So I started researching, emailing, calling and following up with the prospects that I wanted to land deals with. It has a tough job but I kept plugging away. The most successful deals I have landed while in my Business Development role were those where I nurtured the business relationship, listened, shared information and helped.
When I lost my job, I continued that strategy, in fact, I quadrupled those efforts because I knew the competition was tough and I needed to stand out. It has never been easy work, but these days the complexity of BEING FOUND has multiplied. This challenge is true whether you are in sales or a job seeker. Sometimes it feels like one and the same.
One of the greatest tools I have found that allows a person to be proactive in BEING FOUND is Twitter. On the surface it is a pretty easy concept:
- Set-up and account
- Fill out your bio
- Begin tweeting
- Find people to follow
- Tweet
But within this very simple structure is a very intricate web of how to build your community, follow people, and deliver value. There are many Twitter 101 guides out there, so I don’t want to be repetitive, but I did want to stress the power of twitter. If you set up an account months ago and have visited the site once, then you aren’t fully grasping its ability to connect you. Features such as FollowFriday and ReTweets are imperative to integrating yourself within a social community that stresses sharing and listening over self promotion.
BEING FOUND on Twitter is a proactive, sustained effort. It means listening, contributing and learning, the same strategies that have helped my success in business development, has helped me create a personal brand on Twitter that has extended to Facebook, LinkedIn, a blog and in-person networking because I spent the time to be honest and sincere, I built trust, credibility and relationships within this global online community. The most exciting thing about Twitter is that you can meet people with whom your paths would never cross in person, but through this incredible medium I can prospect clients in New York, Boston and have a conversation about with someone in Tokyo about how their Facebook experience has been. Absolutely incredible.
For some, this is a complete paradigm shift in how you have approached networking and professional growth but it is a change that I strongly urge you to explore. What once was a small community of your friends, colleagues and family now has a global reach based on your professional and personal interests. Go ahead try it out…do a Twitter search on advertising agencies, or jobs – you will find a vast array of live and time-ready posts on topics that are important to you that are happening NOW. Google has a hard time matching such a specific, time-ready search on an ongoing live dialogue.
Go ahead BE FOUND.
Barbara Maldonado
@bmaldonado / @pipelineb2b
