Managing Stress for Success

Setting out your action-plan for self-marketing via social business networking

What defines the decade? The 60's were fashion. The 70's were ecology. Will you be the one to identify the key element of the 2010's in advance?

To me, the decade of the 2010's will be shaped and coloured by social business networking - the astonishing new version of the handshake, the evaluation and the new-business pitch rolled into one. It is also a remarkably efficient way to retrieve lost contacts, and their acceptance of your invitation to join your group is a most satisfying endorsement of your credibility and standing.

LinkedIn
The top social business networking sites are currently dominated by the global online business club LinkedIn. Let me suggest that you start as I did, with Jan Vermeiren’s easy-to-follow book 'How to REALLY use LinkedIn', which I have studied carefully, page by page. This could usefully be backed-up by a training course, perhaps one of the informative, tele-seminars conducted by my speaker colleague Will Kintish on www.linkedintraining.co.uk. At any rate, when you've created your profile, you are cordially invited to connect with me by typing in 'carole spiers' and I will return the compliment.

Twitter
Another popular branch of social business networking is Twitter, where your followers automatically receive your mini-posts in the form of a single statement restricted to 140 characters - among other things, an intriguing new test of the copywriting skill. This of course links-thru to any item you may want to promote. You'll find that the quality of your Twitter profile makes a measurable difference to results from the social networking community, so you may do as I did and consult Ces Loftus at Creatively Minded ces@creativelyminded.com. The impact of her work can be seen in my profile on www.twitter.com/thestressguru.

YouTube and Podcasts
Otherwise, there are all the other well-known social business networking outlets, which you may not have directly identified as self-marketing media relevant to your own operation. There is YouTube, on which you can make quality broadcasts and promotions and encourage people to subscribe to your updates.

Podcasts enable you to build credibility in your field, as my team has on our website. Mastermind groups represent particular 'inner circles' of expertise, equally suitable for those in corporate companies or freelance, while tele-seminars can brainstorm limitless ideas from all over the world.

One caution: you do need to study these social business networking media tools in-depth, rather like learning a new language properly, not just a few phrases to use in the street. But you'll be glad you did - take it from me.

Happy networking in 2010 and I look forward to connecting with you!

Seasons greetings to everyone and thank you for reading our Stress Tips and for your feedback – we really appreciate hearing from you.

Key points about social business networking

• The decade of the 2010's will be shaped by the social business networking
• These media are a unique mix of the comprehensive and the selective
• The social media need to be studied in-depth like a language

Another key insight from Carole Spiers, International Authority on Corporate Stress,
Motivational Speaker and Gulf News Columnist.