Looking for social media jobs? You’re in luck! Not only is there an abundance of gigs available, there are an abundance of places to go to find these jobs. Some of them are virtual and some of them are physical, but all can help you to land a job as blogger, social media strategist, or community manager for a large or small business. Whether your a consultant or looking for permanence, you’re likely to land your dream job social media job here:

1. Social Media Jobs: Posts a variety of gigs each day, mostly from the U.S, but also from around the world.
2. Conferences: You’ll have to leave the house for this one! Conferences are a terrific way to network, put out feelers, talk up potential clients and employers and even land a job.
3. Craigslist: Craigslist has a bad reputation becauase it’s a haven for scammers and spammy types. However, if you take the time to dig a little deeper you’ll find some killer, well-paying opportunities.
4. Indeed.com: A job search engine, yielding results from various job boards.
5. Simply Hired: Another job search engine, but I sometimes find different results from the Indeed job search.
6. ProBlogger: Features blogging jobs and the occasional social media job.
7. Jobs in Social Media: A social media talent marketplace.
8. Mashable Job Board: Features jobs in tech and social media.
9. Twitter: Follow your favorite businesses to learn when they’re hiring. Also, follow job listing sites and aggregators for updates. Use Twitter search to look for the jobs you’re most interested in.
10. Twitter Job Search: A search engine for jobs advertised on Twitter.
11. Social Media Job Wire: Features listings from around the U.S.
12. New Media Hire: Post a job, check out job listings, post resumes and receive job tips.
13. Web Strategy and Social Media Jobs: Jeremiah Owyang’s job board.
14. Local Networking Events: Many businesses and municipalities hold networking events.  See what’s happening in your area.
15. Social Media Biz: A bidding site, which means many clients are looking to low ball.
16. Monster.com – Lists all sorts of jobs, social media included.
17. Startuply – Lists startup jobs in tech, social media and marketing, mostly.
18. Career Builder – Lists social media jobs, among others.
19. Yahoo! Hot Jobs – Lists some social media jobs but is also attractive to spammers.
20. The Ladders : Features only jobs paying $100,000 or more, annually. Before you flock over though, keep in mind that this is a paying job board. You can sign up for the free trial, but expect to receive regular spam if you do.
21. Job Central: Search on social media and expect to receive a hodgepodge of results.
22. Dice: Features mostly tech jobs but you’ll find a few social media jobs thrown in there as well.
23. FlexJobs: Another pay to play job site, FlexJobs lists a variety of telecommuting opportunities including social media.
24. Beyond.com: A search on “social media” yields a variety of opportunities.
25. FlipDog: Search locally.

Do you have any favorite places to search for social media work or clients?

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I spent my childhood on 50th Avenue in Elmhurst, NY, part of the borough of Queens in New York City. From the late 60′s to the late 70′s this area was made up of a tight knit community. I knew most of my neighbors through church and school, and we knew all everyone by name. I couldn’t walk down the street without stopping to wave, chat or play with at least three or four different friends. We didn’t dare get into trouble because we knew that our friends’ parents were watching at times our own folks were unavailable. We played, we helped and we shared. We were a true community.

Socializing in the Evening

I often think of my old neighborhood during the summer months because I remember how no one I knew had air conditioning. To cool off, we spent our days outside. We played, sat in the shade and chatted, ate ice cream or swam in a very small pool.  To escape the heat of our home we had dinner outside, seated at a picnic table under the large, shady maple tree in our back yard.

If we tried to spend the day inside, our parents kicked us out of the house. It was unheard of to watch TV during the day or stay inside simply because it was hot. Besides, it was hotter inside than outside.

At night, kids played out front until the street lights went on, teens chatted on the corner until curfew and parents sat on their stoops and chatted with the neighbors.  At that time, it wouldn’t occur to us to spend our nights inside watching television or playing video games, and if someone told me I’d socialize using a computer I’d think they were daft.

When I 13, my family moved to suburbia and, again, we got to know most of our neighbors. At that time, families were beginning to spend more time inside either watching TV or playing Pong. Most of us did go outside and hang out with our friends in the evenings, and sometimes our parents sat on the porch and chatted with the neighbors. Mostly though, my parents relaxed after their long commute home from the city with a newspaper and TV.

When I was on my own, I moved back to a different, un-airconditioned apartment on the same block in Elmhurst, and guess what? As a grownup I sat outside on the stoop chatting with my landlady and other neighbors. They weren’t all the same people I grew up with years before, but the idea was the same; beat the heat by getting out of the hot apartment and talking to the neighbors. I continued to enjoy the community spirit.

Things have changed a bit

Eight years ago, my family and I moved to suburbia. We’re on a busy road with only a few neighbors. Sometimes in the evening, I sit on my deck wishing I had neighbors to talk to. I don’t see any kids in the backyards behind my home, but I can see the televisions on in their air conditioned homes.We have young friends come and visit, but they want to stay inside where it’s cool and play Wii. We host barbecues but half our company wants to stay inside and watch television rather than come outside and talk to us, because it’s cooler inside.

Will my son ever know the pleasure of hanging out at night and catching lightning bugs with his friends? Will my husband ever experience a good neighborhood chat from our front steps? Do people still sit on their stoops and front porches at night and enjoy some neighborhood gossip, or are they staying in to enjoy their favorite sitcom from the comfort of their air conditioned family rooms?

I didn’t live in an air conditioned home until 8 years ago. Before that, we had fans that blew the hot air around and relied on cross breezes, showers and cold drinks to cool us off. I often wonder if it’s worth the trade off. Is it better to have air conditioning or a social life? Is being cool and comfortable a trade off for being part of a community? I’m not so sure.

Virtual front porch

Thanks to Twitter, Facebook and blogs, I have a virtual front porch. I can visit with both old and new friends and neighbors any time and discuss the news and gossip together. While this is a pleasant alternative, I can’t help but remember I’m really sitting at a desk by myself for most of the day. Being part of an online community is nice, but it in no way replaces the real thing.

Maybe that’s why I enjoy attending conferences and meetups. There’s no way a hearty laugh can replace an “LOL!” and 140 characters isn’t much of a conversation. There’s a real world out there, people. It may be cooler inside, but there are real people outside your door and they’re more interesting and entertaining than what’s hanging out on your laptop.

Real conversation or A.C?

If you had to choose between an air conditioned home and hanging out on your front stoop talking with the neighbors, what would you pick?  If your answer is “people,”  do you spend your evenings indoors anyway or are you sitting on the front porch or taking the dog for a walk just so you can enjoy the company of the people in your neighborhood?

Is it really worth the trade off?

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There’s a scene in the movie Julie & Julia when Julie reacts to receiving her first ever blog comment by jumping up from her cubicle and sharing her excitement with her co-workers.

I could totally relate.

I don’t know of any blogger who isn’t excited each and every time a blog post receives comments because it means people are reading and that what we wrote is important enough to warrant a remark. However, there’s no better feeling than that first ever comment. It’s validation. The lack of comments also inspires emotion. It can be frustrating for both beginning and veteran bloggers when the comments fail to come in.

In the ten years I’ve been doing this, I learned there’s a right and wrong way to encourage comments and I’m the first one to admit, I don’t always practice what I preach. If I could list my biggest mistakes in regard to blog commenting it would probably have to do with not doing enough to encourage comments, and allowing myself to be too busy to respond to comments as often as I should.

Here are my favorite tips for encouraging blog comments  :

1. Ask

I was taught to ask for the things I want. So if I want blog comments I ask. I try not to only say “what do you think?” and hope for a response. Instead, I ask specific questions. For example, at the bottom of this post I may ask for your tips for eliciting a response from your readers or to share mistakes bloggers make in encouraging comments. It’s my experience that a community is more responsive to specific questions and direction than if I were to only ask them to comment.

2. Leave room for interpretation

The beautiful thing about blogging is that it’s mostly sharing of opinion and experiences. This encourages others to share their experiences as well. When we state facts and leave it as “my way or the highway” there’s really nothing left to comment about. Leaving a blog post open to interpretation means more readers can participate.

3. Go for discussion – not controversy

Have you ever noticed certain blogs only receive one or two comments each day unless they bring up a controversial topic? Negativity definitely causes a reaction, but then we have to ask ourselves if this is the reaction we wish to receive. I think that if we have to go for controversy or negativity to stir the pot for a response, we also have to wonder why what we’re writing each day isn’t enough to encourage comments. Is it because our readers aren’t interested in the posts? Is it because they can’t relate to the post? Is it because it’s not stimulating a discussion? Try creating discussion worthy posts over controversy. Sooner or later negativity will drive people away, anyway.

4. Don’t Make Commenters Jump Through Hoops

I understand why some bloggers use CAPCHA or want their commenters to register. It’s to keep away trolls and spammers and makes absolute sense. However, if I have to jump through too many hoops to leave my opinion, I’ll probably pass.  It’s frustrating to have to take 20 minutes to fill out a form or to continue refreshing an unreadable security code. If it’s too hard to comment, no one will.

5. Create a Positive Atmosphere

If your blog, including the comments section, are a hotbed of negativity, folks are going to get uncomfortable. If everything you write is an attack on someone else, or commenters are sniping at each other, you’ll only attract more negativity.

A few more things to consider

• All bloggers want comments. Most want to receive feedback on their blog posts, plus they want to watch a discussion take place. Most of us also agree that we enjoy a spirited exchange. That isn’t to say we want fights and pettiness to take place, but rather, respectful disagreement. Debates are fun, but debates aren’t fights.
• One thing I need to work harder on is responding in the comments. I sometimes get so busy in my day I don’t have time to participate in the discussion. A blog’s community wants to participate in discussion with the blogger – as well as the community. Being AWOL might encourage everyone else to be AWOL too.
• Top bloggers disagree as to whether or not a blogger should respond to every comment that comes in. It’s understandable if a blog only receives a couple of comments each day, but when there’s dozens of comments it can be hard to keep up.
• If things get too out of hand, don’t be afraid to moderate and delete. I’ve been criticized for this in the past, but I’ve deleted abusive comments. I don’t delete comments that disagree as long as they’re respectful, once they’re abusive or attacks and snipes begin, I delete.
• A comment policy will help to set ground rules. If you especially post a lot of hotbed topics, you’ll receive hotbed comments. Nicely let folks know you won’t tolerate certain behavior such as attacks or cursing.
• Some bloggers don’t allow anonymous comments. Personally, I don’t mind a pen name if a person is afraid to publicly say something for fear of reprisal from an employer or a community – as long as that person is respectful. I prefer to know everyone by name, but understand that in the online world some folks wish to remain anonymous.
• Create a community not a clique. If the only comments are from you and your best friend and contain mostly private jokes and references to unnamed parties, you’re creating a clique, not a community. Include everyone or start a  private forum.

Notice these are only tips? That’s because I don’t believe there are any hard and fast rules when it comes to commenting. There’s a certain universal etiquette, but I’m not the social media police, and it’s not up to me to tell everyone how it should be done.

When a blog presents a positive environment, people will respond in kind. If you want your readers to comment, you have to give them a reason to participate.

What do you do to encourage comments? Have you noticed that certain methods drive people away instead?

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I’m not naive. I know that people don’t visit blogs every day and prefer to view updates elsewhere in order to decide whether or not to commit to a blog post read.  With that in mind, I’d like to offer you a list of ways to keep up with Kommein to receive updates.

1. Visit Kommein.com – Stop by, read the posts and comment.
2. Subscribe to our RSS feed – Surely there’s room for one more?
3. Subscribe via email - Conveniently sent to your mailbox each day.
4. “Like” us on Facebook - To receive updates in your status each day.

Thanks for your support of Kommin and for helping us to grow. I hope you enjoy what you read and participate in the Kommein community.

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Influence is one of those social media buzzwords of the day. Everyone is tossing it around or measuring how it works. While I will admit some people are more influential than others, I’ll also be the first to tell you that “influence” is in the eye of the beholder.

What Makes Someone Influential?

Why are some people considered more influential than others? Is it because:

• Their advice is spot on?
• They yell louder than everyone else?
• The present themselves as a good role model?
• Everyone else listens to them so we should too?
• We just like what they have to say?

I know that many bloggers feel that influence is measured by popularity, but I think it’s more than that. For example, in the 80′s Madonna was so popular she influenced tweens and teens to dressed in flouncy skirts, ripped up tights and pornographic wedding attire. A decade later, she crossed the line in a video and no one wanted to buy her Pepsi anymore. She was still popular, still sold millions of albums, but she wasn’t seen as someone who advertisers believed was influential or positive enough to sell their products. Influencing someone to buy a catchy tune is one thing, getting someone to buy what you’re selling, product-wise, is a whole other story. Influence and popularity aren’t the same thing.

We might go with the flow in a peer pressure sort of way, but we know who truly influences us. We take our role models and influences seriously. While I acknowledge, one has to be at least a little popular in order to be influential, I don’t necessarily believe that we’re so blinded by popularity we allow ourselves to be influenced.

My Influence is Not Your Influence

I might consider Wonder Woman to be influential, but you’d probably find that silly. However, in a time when comic book heroes were men, knowing that a woman could kick ass and take names inspired me to kick ass and take names. A cartoon comic was influential in shaping me into someone who didn’t use gender or weakness as an excuse. I didn’t have a golden lasso, but I knew I had other assets – my ability to write, for example. My influence is not your influence.

I also consider Liz Strauss to be personally influential. She was the first blogger I looked up not only because I enjoyed how she wrote, but also, I appreciated how she encouraged a positive community – this encouraged me to do the same. I didn’t want to copy, however, I was influenced to be positive by her positivity. I know there are some people who feel she’s too nice and too positive and for them that’s a turnoff. My influence is not their influence.

Exploring Influence

I always tell my son to choose his role models wisely. These are the people who will shape his life and the way he thinks. I feel the same way about these “influential” people everyone is going on about.  Instead of kvetching about influence or whether it’s real, why not explore the reasons why someone is considered influential? Selling a million albums isn’t influential. Inspiring folks to take action  is. Explore the person and learn why everyone listens when he speaks. You may find out it has nothing to do with popularity at all.

We’re all influenced by different things. If a single person is inspiring thousands, or even millions to take action it goes way beyond popularity. There’s something in that person’s words and actions that encourage and inspire. It has nothing to do with popularity or the ability to speak. It’s more about letting actions speak louder than words and putting one’s money where one’s mouth is.

The true influencers don’t only speak, they do. This has nothing to do with popularity at all.

How are you influenced by others? What causes you to listen or act?

Credit where it’s due: The inspiration for this post came from the Fast Company Influence project we’re they’re looking to find the most influential person online. I bit. I want to see if this turns out to be a true measure of influence and how it will pan out. Is it going to be a contest or a true test of how the real influential people are. I’m looking forward to finding out.

Related Posts:

• Does Social Media Matter to Civilians?
• Shaming Unfollowers: Should We Really Take it So Personally?
• 5 Reasons Why Foursquare Isn’t Dumb
• Why Social Media Noise is Good
• Re-Visiting Kommein

Tagged as: influence, influential, madonna, pepsi, role model, social media

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I enjoy people watching in both the real world and in cyberspace. Some folks I consider role models and some are models for what (I feel) not to do. I’m especially interested in watching how the same person runs a private social media account v. a brand’s Twitter account. For example, I know of one community manager who doesn’t appreciate when members of her community reach out to via her personal Twitter account. Instead of saying, “I’m sorry, I’m off duty right now, but please feel free to contact @mycoworker who can help you through this,” she tells community members to “flake off, this is my private account and not for community business.”

Here’s what happens when she does this:

• She speaks down to someone in a community she is being paid to manage.
• She makes it clear she is not interested in letting the company brand mix with the personal brand.
• She reflects poorly on her professional brand.
• She makes the community member feel unimportant
• She showed both her business and private world that she’s inflexible

Here’s how I would have handled it:

• Take five minutes to steer the Tweeter in the right direction
• Referred the Tweeter to a coworker
• Asked the Tweeter to email me with the problem – which I could then forward to someone who can help.
• Nicely telling the Tweeter this isn’t the best time, but again, offering some solution.
• Not responded at all. (Which is better than being rude.)

The problem is, the community manager felt that her personal time was being infringed upon and that when she’s off duty she shouldn’t have to deal with customers or community members even when she’s so publicly online during her personal time. I get this. I believe it’s important to set boundaries because otherwise folks are just going to infringe upon your private time and you’ll never get any rest. However, I also believe that being accessible can lead to being indispensable. So yeah, I could only do the required amount of work and leave it at that, but it’s my experience that sometimes if we go the extra mile we get noticed and, also, earn the big bucks.

Also? If the business is a 24 hour brand, they might not be so comfortable with the idea of their community manager telling the person to “flake off” until Monday. When we’re approached about a brand we work for, we automatically become a representative of that brand, even if it’s when we’re off duty. We may not like it, but it’s true.

Why Boundaries Need to Be Elastic

I come from the freelance world where there’s always someone waiting in the wings to take over a job. Believe me, there is no shortage of workers waiting to pick up the slack for someone who failed to get the job done or has downsized for the summer. I learned to make my boundaries of a material that is easily stretched, but not so easily broken.

For example, in the summer I rarely work on the weekends, but if I get a frantic email from a client because something is needed immediately or a deadline needs to be moved up, I might adjust my boundary and do that extra work. If I’m on vacation or have family obligations, I will refer that client to someone else. As long as these emergency gigs aren’t the norm, I don’t mind being flexible.

Why?

Because if I’m hired to do a job and do it to the best of my ability, I’m not going to go through the motions. I’m not going to fool myself into thinking I’m indispensable, when I’m not – especially if I don’t act it. In my experience, the people I work with will respect my boundaries 99.9% of the time, and only cross the line if urgent. If I can’t be there in a crisis, they may find someone they can truly count on.

What Happens When Our Boundaries Don’t Bend?

First and foremost, I do believe in personal v. professional boundaries, but I’m not quite in a 9 to 5 world. When the people I work for know I’m not available at certain times, they can choose to wait until I’m available again, or they might choose to work with someone who is more accessible. For example, I might be passed over for a job if I make it clear I take three day weekends,  because what if I’m needed on Monday or Friday? When I make my boundaries big, bold and unmoving, I cause people to wonder if this is the right situation for them. When I make my boundaries clear, but am gracious on the rare occasion a client needs me on my time, they know they chose correctly.

Does this mean I shouldn’t work four days a week? No, hell no. Does it mean I shouldn’t take a vacation or weekends off? Absolutely not. What it means, to me anyway, is that there’s no need to draw a line in the sand unless people are abusive. I’ll politely tell the client who calls at 9:00 PM that I don’t generally take calls at that hour so he knows not to do it again. However, I’ll respond to Tweets about BlogWorld on the weekend because it’s only 140 characters and because it’s the helpful thing to do. Now, if that Tweeter wants to go on for an hour about some issue he’s having with his speaker proposal, I might encourage him to email me at my work address so I can look into it when I’m wearing my Conference Director hat, or I will refer him to someone who can better help at that time. What I won’t do is make him feel bad for reaching out to me with a questions because I understand that people have questions on nights and weekends, beyond the 9 to 5.

I don’t want to be a person people move away from or are afraid to reach out to because it’s 5:05 p.m. I like being someone folks know they can count on, even if it might be later in the day.

There’s a Difference Between Being Flexible and Allowing People to Walk All Over You

I have firm boundaries, but they’re not set in stone. Over the years I learned that it’s OK to take the occasional weekend call or answer someone’s questions. This doesn’t mean they’re disrespective of my time, to the contrary I find that the opposite happens. When I had strict “don’t bother me” times, the people who needed to contact me were so scared to contact me, they found people to work on who they felt were more approachable.  When I created boundaries with a little push, I learned that my clients counted on me more. They weren’t disrespectful and they got that my family time is most important. However, they knew that if the time came where they’d have to reach out on a Saturday morning, they could do so without fear I’d tell them to “flake off.”

Do you create flexible boundaries? Have you ever lost work for being inflexible?

Discuss…

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I make the real estate analogy often when I describe how to sell a blog. When a blogger sells a blog it can be just as personal as putting the family home on the market. You’ll also have to do some upkeep and make reparations in order to have a blog worth selling. Just as you would with a house, you’ll have to make sure your blog is staged properly, and also, that you have an asking price in mind.

Prepping Your Blog for Sale

When you’re ready to sell, you want to be sure your blog appeals to potential buyers. Though there are several ways to do this, there are three areas a potential buyer looks into the most.

1. Traffic: Obviously, the more traffic your blog has, the higher price you will receive when you sell. Most buyers will ask for proof of traffic so if you’re on a downward spiral, it won’t bode well in your favor. When I made the decision to sell, I worked hard at building traffic for several months in order to appeal to buyers. I studied search terms, gauged the needs of my community,posted content two to three times a day and promoted the heck out of my blog and its content.

2. SEO: If your blog reaches the top of the search engines, you’ll attract potential buyers. Though my blog had been at the top of many important search terms for several years, I continued to use those keywords and phrases to stay at the top. This doesn’t men that I wrote spammy SEO copy, because I didn’t – my community always came first. However, freelance writing blogs are a dime a dozen and I knew it was only a matter of time before I was dethroned from Google’s top spots.

3. Revenue: If you want top dollar, you’ll have to be taking in a decent amount of revenue. Serious buyers want ROI action. I had a heavily monetized blog which helped my bottom line. If you’re selling a blog or website, revenue is the single most important factor in determining a price.  To prep for sale I built relationships with several private advertisers and now the new owner has continued those relationships. I also worked on other revenue streams.  If I didn’t earn at least several thousand per month in revenue, my blog would not have been as attractive to potential buyers.

Everything else such as community, subscribers, and bells ans whistles are gravy on the proverbial potatoes, but it’s those big three details that matter the most.

Determining a Price for Your Blog

My biggest dilemma in selling my blog was in asking for and receiving a fair price. I did a little research on the subject and while there are a few links available, truthfully there’s not much out there that gives step by step details in regard to how to sell a blog. Fortunately, I have a friend who flips blogs and web properties on a regular basis and he was able to advise me through the process.

I learned:

• Private sale is better than a public auction for a blog the size of mine. The folks who buy and sell websites at auction or mostly doing so with smaller properties or domain names and the bids are lowballs. So, I reached out to the people who have inquired about buying my blog in the past. I also reached out to a few webmasters and network owners who might be interested.
• A rule of thumb is a year’s income times two or three, plus monetary consideration for search engine rankings and daily traffic.
• The amount of money spent on the blog each year is also a factor. For example, I paid ten bloggers and a webmaster, plus various guest bloggers. This amount doesn’t figure favorably into the bottom line.
• I had a price in mind, but also asked for two appraisals. The appraisals put the blog at a lower price than I originally intended, but a lot more than I expected to receive – if that makes any sense. I sold my blog at two years income, plus extra consideration for the search engine rankings and other amenities including a large Facebook group, 11,000+ RSS readers, a newsletter and more.

Next up…

When we continue this series, we’ll discuss how to reach out and what to present to potential buyers. Thanks to all who have reached out via email, Twitter, or comments – I hope you continue to find this series useful. In the upcoming weeks we’ll discuss everything I went through in selling my blog. I hope it helps you when it comes time to sell your own.

If you found this helpful, please see the other posts in this series:

• How to Sell a Blog Part 1: Having a Blog Worth Selling
• 5 Things I Learned From Selling My Blog

Related Posts:

• 5 Things I Learned from Selling My Blog
• 10 Publishing Options for Your Blog
• Should You Monetize Your Blog? A Few Things to Think About
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Tagged as: blog, blog auction, blog monetization, blog sale, blog traffic, how to sell a blog, SEO

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Picture this: You walk on to an elevator. It’s crowded and you’re late for a meeting. As the doors close someone corners you and begins to recite a brief, cookie cutter version of his life. He’s thinking this bold approach will get him a job. You’re thinking you can’t get off that elevator fast enough. As the doors open you rush through the doors leaving the him staring at you, incredulous. The elevator pitcher doesn’t get it. All of the experts tell him this is exactly what he needs to do to get a job. If this is the case, why does his elevator pitch turn off so many people?

Because no one likes to be cornered in an elevator, that’s why.

I get that “elevator” is metaphorical and not everyone who gives elevator pitches are actually going to offer resume bullet points between the 5th and 10th floor, but that doesn’t make them any less annoying. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a one on one interview or a crowded conference floor, no one likes to receive the same pitch that is so obviously given to everyone else.

An elevator pitch is lazy and impersonal

People who are buying or hiring want to feel as if you took time to learn something about who they are or what they do. When you robotically repeat the same cookie cutter pitch, it’s going to turn off the people who you’re trying to reach. If you really want to impress a potential client, employer or buyer, take some time to do a little research. Instead of making it about you, make it about them. Instead of creating a one size fits all pitch, take the time to tailor talks to each individual recipient.

Consider the location

Elevator pitches aren’t necessarily relegated to elevators. Before you confront anyone to sell what you’re selling put yourself in their place. Would you want someone calling your home at 9:00 PM? Would you want someone interrupting you while dining out with family or friends? Would you want someone to interrupt you while having a conversation with a five others at a conference? No. You probably wouldn’t. There’s a reason people make appointments for job interviews and conference calls.

There are ways to pitch without being annoying

In the movies the hero always gets the job after busting in on a CEO who is dining with his family or enjoying a drink with friends because the CEO admires the “go getter”  attitude. In the real world, not too many people like rude, pushy people. However, let’s say you’re at a conference and you’re looking for work. How do you get a hiring agent’s attention without seeming like a smarmy salesman?

It’s easy. Instead of pitching, have a conversation.

Find the types of people you’re looking for and instead of diving directly into a pitch or asking “who they’re with” have a conversation. Talk about the speakers at the conference or what is being served for lunch. Talk about topics that interest you. Eventually the chat will turn to what you both do.  Ask lots of questions to learn about the other party, what he does, his wants and his needs. After that try saying, “I have some ideas I’d like to run by you, may I have your business card to arrange a call?”

Contact first, pitch later

As someone who has been freelancing and consulting for the better part of decade, I’ve come to learn that diving right into a pitch is a turn off. It’s why you avoid the perfume sprayers and kitchen makeover salesman at the mall. You don’t really want to be like them, do you?

By all means, meet the people who you want to meet. Chat them up. Learn about them and find out of you’re a good fit for each other. If you mesh, try taking it to the next level by asking for a meeting. You’ll find the other party now feels comfortable enough to set up a talk and at least hear what you have to say. Chances are, this talk will be a more productive conversation than a five minute pitch where the other person can’t wait to get away from you.

How do you pitch?

How do you do business? Do you pitch first and hope for the best, or do you take time to get to know the other party before launching into the business spiel?

What approach works best for you?

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Tweet, Tweet!!! Isn’t social media fun? Look at all the people you’re connecting with! What value you’re adding to their lives. Why, with your experience, you should become a social media expert!

What’s that? You say you’re not sure if you’re experienced enough to be a social media expert?  Pish posh! If you have an Internet connection that’s pretty much all the experience you need. Still, if you need convincing, we can make a checklist of the things you need to consider yourself a true expert.

1. Start a Blog

In order to truly show off your expertise, you’ll have to have a blog where you discuss things like “How to Not Be an Ass on Twitter” or “How to Be Authoritative Without Sounding Like a Douchebag.” Don’t worry if you don’t really know how to do these things, if it reads well, no one will know you’re winging it. The important thing is to sound like you know what social media is, even if you can’t explain it. Bonus points if you can tell other people how to behave using social media, even if you don’t actually do any of these things yourself. True social media experts are better at preaching than practicing anyway.

2. Talk on Twitter

All social media experts have Twitter accounts. Some of them even have 500 followers! You’ can easily spot the other experts because they use words such as “expert,” or “guru” in their profiles. Look for these people to follow  as they’re the ones who know best. Don’t worry that they have less than 1,000 followers or follow 10 people in return. If they weren’t experts it wouldn’t say so under their names, would it?

Now, in order to look like you know what you’re doing on Twitter, follow these rules. Don’t worry, all the experts do it so it’s OK.

• Follow Friday: To follow Friday, simply load a Tweet full of @’s with #FF at the beginning or end. Get as many people in there as you can. You needn’t worry about telling your 12 followers why to follow these people. You’re an expert, they’ll listen to you. If you recommend the same five people to your same ten followers each week, they’re sure to follow along too.
• Retweeting: Experts and Authorities do a lot of retweeting, especially if it’s about them. Don’t be afraid to retweet articles and quotes about you. Every now and then you should retweet someone else, but it’s not necessary. There’s are “I’s in social media, not “you’s,” right?
• Share links: If you’re a social media expert, do complain about people who are spammy with their links, but remember, it’s OK to tweet your own stuff all the time. Because, after all, you’re the expert.

3. Connect on Facebook and Foursquare

What’s that? You say Facebook isn’t private and Foursquare is silly? That’s OK. You can still be a social media expert without actually using or knowing a thing about the various social media tools. You read about how other people use it so that’s good enough. You have a blog to talk about your expertise, and that’s really all you need.

4. Learn the Lingo

A sure sign of  a true social media expert is to use the right words. Try these on for size “transparency,” “branding”, or the “social media space.”  We can worry about definitions later, just practice using these in conversation or your blog posts. Also consider “trust,” “value,” and “authenticity.” There, now you’ll impress everyone with your advanced social media vocabulary.

5. Make lots of cool little charts

Nowadays social media experts are “measuring” social media. (Quick, add that to your list of buzz words!) this means they’re making up lots of fancy charts and diagrams to show everyone how smart they are and how this stuff works. The truly impressive charts have lots of colorful graphs and bubbles. If you can throw in terms such as “ROI” and “influence” you’re golden.

As you can see, with a very small time investment and a Twitter account, you too can enter the exciting world of social media. What will you Tweet about today?

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