Seven Reasons Why Social Media MattersBy Matt Anderson

Kevin Smith is a State Farm agent in Chicago in his mid-20s who has done impressive things to help his business using Facebook and Twitter. Becoming friends first online with people he meets and then how he uses his Facebook page helps his team follow up to transition some of those contacts into business. He has broken sales records and speaks around the country to other State Farm agents and managers on what he does.

“I love to network.” Kevin’s passion in life is human connection, music and the club scene that goes with it. His target market is 22-28 year-olds who frequent two of Chicago’s most hip clubs/restaurants.

The beauty of his networking is that he gets to meet a lot of people several times each week who all need what he does (insurance: even if they have a different provider when they meet him, does their agent love what they love and build relationships like this?). The month before I first met him, he got 40 to 45 referrals from his connections made at the clubs.

Notice his social media activity complements a great deal of face-to-face networking and relationship building – and that needs to be your takeaway here, too.

Since using social media can be like drinking out of a fire hose, here’s what I’m learning:

Facebook and Twitter are worthwhile IF you:

• Really enjoy spending time on social media (read that again!)
• Are actively looking for people who can open doors for your business
• Try to help and add value to others. Consider spending extra time helping people who have lots of contacts
• Engage in genuine dialogue - then make it a part of your business plan – but keep a very close eye on results you are getting at least monthly.

LinkedIn helps to identify others that your contact knows.

While I think there are many more effective ways to find out who others know than this method, quite a few advisors use this strategy well. Being specific with your referral request is the most important part of how you ask for referrals. A profile on LinkedIN can be a virtual business card collection to use as a reference tool for names.

Since sales is often a numbers game, using social media can facilitate knowing a lot of people.

Someone joins LinkedIn every 20 seconds.

Everyone needs their own brand – and it’s free!

Wherever people meet Kevin, he wears jeans, a casual shirt and sneakers. On Tuesday evenings he serves on a non-profit board. Three evenings each week, he takes different guests to one of the clubs. He does not drink; he always has bottled water. On Facebook, people see the same thing: Pictures of him in all of these roles reinforcing that he helps people in multiple professional and volunteer ways, loves music and likes to have fun.

Develop a clear brand that is, above all, you being yourself.

You can network from home (but only to a point)

Want to spend less time in traffic and away from your family? In an age where people want more choices and freedom around their work life, here is a way to meet some people and build those relationships from home.

People sharing personal trivia about themselves is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Gary Vaynerchuk, in his excellent book Crush It, learned this from being on Twitter:

“Many people do want to know all the details about what you’re doing and thinking; they just don’t want to admit it. We’ve all got voyeuristic tendencies; Twitter has just given us permission to cave into them.”

Some of the best networking and brand building is done in non-threatening environments.

If LinkedIn is the business card exchange, Facebook and Twitter are the drinks at the bar afterwards. They can be more personal TOOLS to support what you do offline.

If you’re still sitting on the fence, need new business, and don’t hate the idea, at least get on LinkedIn and keep learning more. There are too many eyeballs online to ignore having a growing presence there.

Bio: Matt Anderson, of the Referral Authority, specializes in training and coaching insurance and financial service professionals how to build referral-based businesses. An active NAIFA member and a LILI grad, he currently serves on the national subcommittee of the Young Advisors Team and as a liaison to the national Communications Committee. In 2010 he spoke at MDRT in Vancouver.

Matt is the author of Fearless Referrals, which Brian Tracy, author of The Psychology of Sales, says “teaches you the “Golden Rules” for developing a continuous chain of high quality referrals for any product in any business.”