My name is Dawn Baird, and I’m an introvert.  I would even say, an extreme introvert.  Where did this first manifest itself?  School – that place of daily torture for those who aren’t sporty, arty, academic, amusing or loud.  What unthinking labels did people condemn me with? Shy.  Stand-offish.  Quiet.

It took well into my twenties to stop punishing myself with their words.  It wasn’t until I met The Sensei that I began to realise that being introverted is OK.  It’s not a disease. Neither is extraversion.

Lest there be any misunderstanding, introversion and extraversion need defined.

An introvert is someone…

…whose energy comes from within and who is satisfied with their own company; utter boredom is rare.  They are not necessarily quiet, though some are.  But, then they are not usually the centre of attention either.  They may strongly prefer to be alone; alternatively they may like regular company, but of their own choosing, and often limited.  But, they will normally feel exhausted after hours in the company of others, especially in large, loud groups.  They may or may not be a Highly Sensitive Person.  I am greatly emotionally affected by music, smells, places, memories, the atmosphere in a room and the emotions of others; this can be occasionally debilitating and embarrassing.  Introverts may read or listen to music frequently or enjoy creating with their hands.  They will generally demonstrate longer attention spans than average, and find it easier to get into the flow.

An extrovert is someone…

…whose energy comes from being in company with others and who is agitated or bored if left alone for long periods of time.  They are normally talkative, often viewed as overly confident and perhaps loud or even brash.  (There’s nothing wrong with that I tell myself repeatedly, so as not to judge.)  They revel in the excitement, activity and buzz of large groups; some will enjoy being the centre of attention.  They may or may not be a Highly Sensitive Person.  They will most likely be an activities person, rather than an avid reader.  Extraverts are often fans of the outdoors, especially for playing competitive or group sports.  (Introverts who love the outdoors will go for long walks either alone, or with a single companion.)  Attention spans are generally shorter; distractions are part of daily life.

So, how can an Introvert excel at networking?

Don’t do Slick; Do Friendly

Friendliness is achievable by anyone.  You don’t need to be slick.  Anyway, slick is out; personable is in.  When you’re engaged in a conversation, the other person will see smiles and nodding; they will hear “Oh?”, “Wow!” and “Tell me more.” throughout.  They will respond to your interested questions; and feel connected when you reveal little, non-threatening details about yourself.  You will feel more comfortable next time with that person, as they will with you.  Perhaps it will lead to a phonecall, and that will feel less like cold-calling than normal.

Clues?  Smile.  Look and sound interested.  Ask open questions.  Reveal a little of yourself.  Don’t try to be the corporate that you’re not.  Be yourself, only friendlier.  If you find this extremely draining, go to short networking meetings.  Breakfast meetings are probably best for you, as they tend to be short.

Do It Online

Involve yourself in conversations that are happening online via Twitter and Facebook, for example.  People will get to see a little more of you.  This is called self-disclosure.  Reveal your opinions on things related to the business world.  (Avoid offending people, when you can.)  When people get to know you, they will refer you and your product or service.  This happens, even with those who have never bought from us.  You know when someone sounds passionate and conscientious about what they’re delivering to the customer; it’s easier to refer such people, than those you’ve never had a conversation with.

When you feel ready, start a few new conversations yourself, with your own blog, or speaking engagement at an event you know will be frequented by those you wish to engage.  Toastmasters is a great way to get comfortable with public speaking, in a completely non-threatening environment. Everyone there is at some stage on the learning ladder, and reviewers are encouraged to avoid negative comments, focusing instead on the positive.

Do It Casual

Think about the more informal (and often smaller) Open Coffee, BarCamp, or TweetUps, if you’re entirely new to networking, or feel overcome at the thought of attending a large gathering,.  Open Coffee (and the like) is a movement akin to Open Source, according to our own Mark Nagurski.  It’s a networking event, organised by local business owners.  I help to run one in Magherafelt, Mid-Ulster – see this explanation for details.  There is no central organisation, just an idea that business people and entrepreneurs should get together for coffee and a chat; collaboration; sharing access to their network of business contracts; making referrals; and informal mentoring and advice.  The event is not defined in advance; attendees create it “on the fly”.  I love it!  See how to set up your own here.

BizCamp is the place to be for the ultimate, low-key, non-pressured networking experience.  Wear what you want; stay for as long as you wish; speak or not; share ideas and ask for advice.  These events are about as far away from the old networking model I experienced when I first set up shop, characterized by mediocre, bored speakers; a room full of (mainly older) people I’d never met (online or offline); and pinstripe suits.  The relaxed nature of the atmosphere, schedule, food and speakers lends itself to easy networking.  Check out BarCamp if you have technology bent – it’s pretty similar.

Do It Yourself

One on one networking meetings can be very effective.  There need be no particular agenda, except getting to know the person and their business, including who they might have worked with and for and what their future plans are.  If you’re going to ask a lot of questions, be prepared to be open and answer a few yourself.  This type of meeting better prepares you for referring that person to someone else.  And, once you begin referring people, be prepared for the welcome avalanche of reciprocal referrals that follows.

Our experience is that networking with “connectors” (people who seem to know everyone) is good for us.  We not only get to know them, but they are adept at picking out what may be interesting in our business, for someone they know.  These types tend to remember what you do, they’ll read your blog before they meet you, they will have checked out your LinkedIn profile before the meeting too.  You should always prepare before attending any type of networking, to get the best use out of your time.  BNI has famously been encouraging this type of targeted networking, called “one-on-ones”, and members rave about their effectiveness.

Do It On the Sly

Seek out opportunities at business seminars, training events, or trade shows, to engage with other attendees.  Start up a conversation in the coffee queue!  Who knows where it may lead?  This is networking on the sly.  Often, people are not there to network specifically, but it does no harm to start a few conversations, or bring along some flyers and business cards.  You’ll be remembered as “You know… Dave, the guy I met at the Email Marketing event?”.  Be helpful at such events.  Solve a problem for someone; volunteer a new supplier; suggest a new marketing approach.

Introverts need not fear.  Networking is possible, even though you may find a room full of people daunting.  Working alone, especially for the many SMEs in Northern Ireland, can be a lonely journey.  Introversion can emphasize that.  These tactics should help you to increase your circle of useful contacts, advisors and encouragers, and investigate new opportunities, in a manner that is comfortable for you.  I guarantee that this will also result in lifelong business friendships.

For the purposes of this page, elements of the Facebook application will be displayed in title case, for clarity.  For example I will refer to a Profile or Customise.

To Access Privacy Settings

• From the Account menu (currently top right of the Facebook Profile page), select Privacy Settings.

Personal Information and Posts

The options contained on this page allow users to control who can see various parts of their profile.  The parts of the Profile that can be protected include Bio; Birthday; Interested in and Looking For; Religious and Political Views; Photo Albums; Posts By Me; Allow Friends to Post on My Wall; Posts By Friends and Comments on Posts.

In descending levels of privacy, for each element in the list, users can select to allow Everyone; Friends of Friends; Only Friends or Customise.  The Everyone option offers the least privacy whereas Customise offers the most.

Custom Privacy

There are four ways to set Custom privacy; users can elect to Make this [element] visible to: Friends of friends; Only friends; Specific people or Only me.

• Everyone – displays this part of a Profile to Everyone
• Friends of friends – displays this part of a Profile to Friends of Friends, allowing it to be viewed by an indeterminate amount of people
• Only friends – displays this part of a Profile to Friends only
• Specific people – displays this part of a Profile to individuals or Friends list
• Only me – hide from everyone

Below, there is a Hide this from option.  In some cases, it may be easier for users to specify individuals or Friends lists who are not allowed to see this part of a Profile.  Friends are not aware that their viewing is restricted in this way; they simply do not see this part of the screen when they navigate to each others’ Profiles.

Once settings are customised, users can click on Preview my profile to view how the Facebook profile appears to most users.An additional option is available on this new page, to preview how the profile appears to a particular Friend.  This will differ for each friend, the more Customise has been used.  It is an incredibly useful feature, allowing users to be certain what information they are sharing.

Tip!  For those using Facebook for business and personal use, I recommend taking time to customise permissions.  This keeps your personal stuff safe and your business stuff from unnecessarily annoying family and friends.

Contact Information

This page allows you to control who can view your contact information, including IM Screen Name; Mobile Phone; Other Phone; Current Address; Website; Add me as a friend; Send me a message; and Email Address.  The Custom Privacy settings apply (as outlined above).

Two options need a little explanation:

• Add me as a friend – customise the option for others to add you as a friend, from Facebook search results or from your Profile
• Send me a message – customise the option for others to send you a message, from Facebook search results or from your Profile

In both cases, the Custom Privacy settings apply.

Tip!  For those using Facebook for business use, I recommend keeping this part of the Profile as open as possible.  Make it simple for those attempting to get in contact.  For those using Facebook for personal use predominantly, I recommend customising the Add me as a friend and Send me a message options, to limit random bombardment by strangers.

Friends, Tags and Connections

This page allows you to control who can see other parts of your profile, including Friends, Family, Relationships, Photos and Videos of Me; Current Location; Hometown; Education and Work: Activities; Interests and Things I Like.

The Custom Privacy settings apply (as outlined above).

Tip!  Pages and lists of friends  are still public however and may appear in other locations on Facebook via applications used by user and Friends.

Applications and Websites

This page allows you to control what information Applications and Websites share about you, including What You Share; What Your Friends Can Share About You; Blocked Applications; Ignore Application Invitations; Activity on Applications and Games Dashboards and a link to the Instant Personality Pilot Programme.

• What You Share – click to view and edit the options
• What Your Friends Can Share About You – click to view and edit the options

• Blocked Applications – block individual applications from accessing your information or contacting you
• Ignore Application Invitations – ignore Application requests from specified Friends

• Activity on Applications and Games Dashboards – control who can view this.  The Custom Privacy settings apply (as outlined above).
• Instant Personality Pilot Programme - this is an opt-in or opt-out choice.  However, even if you opt out, Friends may choose to opt in, therefore sharing your information if it appears on their Profile, unless your choose to Block Application, as above..

Tip!  Customise each of the options listed above, to keep your information secure and limit the amount of time required to deal with unwanted requests individually.  This feature means you will not even see some requests.

Search

This page allows you control whether or not your name appears in Facebook searches or search engines.  For Facebook search results, the Custom Privacy settings apply (as outlined above).

Tip!  Customise the options above, to keep your information secure and limit the amount of time required to deal with unwanted requests individually.  However, if you are using Facebook for business purposes, you may wish to leave both options switched on.

Block List

This page allows you to control a list of people that you have elected to block.  Each person can be blocked by name or email address.

This concludes the list of Privacy Settings.  I hope you have found the blog post helpful.  Any questions, add them to a comment below or get in touch.

This blog posts looks at how to get reviews from customers and where to put them!

1. Set up a Google account if you’ve not got one already.

Add your business details to Google Local (the video explains it nicely). Then, ask customers you know are happy to add a review. The more places you are found online, the more likely you will be found by those conducting random Google searches. This result will appear high in the rankings for people looking for your business, even if your website is not quite perfect yet!

2. Set up a Profile on Lookaly.

This is a reviews site for businesses in Northern Ireland. Review other businesses regularly, in order to keep your Profile and Business name in people’s minds. This will encourage new visitors to your website and hopefully customers to add in a review. The more reviews you have, the higher up your business appears in category listings.

3. Email customers and ask for reviews, including the permission to use them online and offline.

A client did this recently, and has now three very happy customers with delightfully-written reviews to share with the world.  Satisfied customers are usually only too happy to supply a testimonial. Add them to your website and other offline promotional literature.

4. Ask for recommendations on LinkedIn.

One of my previous bosses was so amenable, he supplied two reviews on LinkedIn!  From the Profile drop-down menu, click Recommendations. Specifically, these are linked to you, not your business, and can come from previous colleagues and employers.

5. Add the Facebook Reviews application.

If you are a Facebook user, add this application, then encourage business colleagues on Facebook to add something to it.  Regularly remind Friends that it’s there!

6. Collect testimonials on your own version of happy sheets or customer satisfaction forms.

Ensure that you ask people to indicate that they are happy for you to use the testimonial on online and offline marketing.  These can then be added to your website or other profiles online, or slipped into other promotional material.  One word of caution, keep them up to date; avoid using customer reviews that are years old.

We hope you found this information useful. Please comment to add any thoughts or questions or email info@sensei-winbeforehand.co.uk.

Four tips for saving time on Facebook.  This post focuses on the things that will help small businesses to raise their individual profile and brand awareness.

Make Each Status Update Work Harder

• Tweetdeck and Hootsuite are two third-party applications commonlyused by Twitter users to manage their accounts.  Facebook users can also use them to avoid multiple postings of Status Messages on various profiles, including Facebook.
  • Sign up for an account on either and test out the options.
  • When you post a Facebook Status Update on Tweetdeck, you can now also choose to have the same message posted to a Twitter, LinkedIn or http://www.myspace.com/.  With Hootsuite, you can also choose to have the message posted to Ping, Twitter, Facebook Pages and LinkedIn.
  • Check Ping.fm and Seesmic for similar options.  Ping.fm allows for posting to a vast array of additional profiles.  It also provides a handy desktop client.  Seesmic allows for slightly less options.

Encourage People Back to Your Profile and Page

• Make the posting of every Status Update count.  If you’re citing someone who’s already  a Friend Facebook, give them a shout-out with tags.  No, this is not the same as tagging for photographs.  However, it does two things:
  • Places the Status Update on their wall, thus encouraging them – but more importantly, their contacts – to become aware of you, and perhaps visit your Profile and Page.  The format is as follows:
    • Just been chatting to @Ruth Thompson, who’s got a great blog called Behaviour Eye!
  • Creates a link to that person’s profile.
  • A side benefit, for the person being tagged, is that the reverse happens from your Profile or Page.  People see their name with a link on your Profile/Page, click on the link and are directed to their Profile/Page.

Rate and Link Your Blog with Other Facebook Users

Use Networked Blogs to share your blog and rate and comment on others’.  It’s often difficult to know how people prefer to connect.  Facebook, email, in person?  Give people options!

• Add to My Page
• Set up Options
• Follow and rate the blogs of others

Networked Blogs offers you the opportunity to meet other bloggers via Facebook,without necessarily sharing everything else.  You can rate, comment and help promote their blog among other users, helping to raise the profile of your blog, and in turn, your business.

Once Networked Blogs is set up, it helps keep you in the viewfinder of other bloggers, with little effort.

Promote Your Facebook Profile with Facebook Widgets

There are multiple widgets and ways to share your Facebook Profile with those who may not know it exists.  Explore the options:

• Profile, Photo and Fan badges
• Share pages help people spread your business news
• Developer options

This will effortlessly encourage people to connect with you on Facebook on an ongoing basis.

Update: recently, I also wrote a Guest Blog for Jordan over on PPCNI about Facebook Pages and Fan Interaction.

This blog post will explain the key features of Profiles, Pages and Groups and how they can be used to help promote your organisation or business.

What Makes a Good Business Person’s Profile?

• When you navigate to Facebook.com and set up a Profile, it should be for an individual, not an organisation.  Facebook is clamping down on this.  Make sure your Profile showcases you and your expertise, not that of a business.  Sure, set up a Page or Group, while logged in on that Profile, to keep the connection with you and your business.  But, don’t confuse the two.
• Add your name and contact details, including an email address, telephone number, IM details and web address.  Crucial stuff, but often missing.  It’s annoying to have to go to the website to find this all out, when people have made themselves available on Facebook for the purposes of networking.  Final point on your basic Profile.  Set Looking for to Networking.  That way, people who are searching for other networkers will be clear as to the purpose of your Profile.
• Add a picture, for pity’s sake.  It’s hard enough for those of us who are busy people to remember all the faces.  It gets tiresome to see pictures of two-year old Management Consultants.  It’s disorientating then to turn up to a meeting and see all these big people running around, when we were expecting toddlers…  It doesn’t really much matter if you’re bungy jumping in your speedos or posing in the pinstripe.  As long as I can see YOUR face.
• Using the Applications button (bottom left) add tabs to fill out your Profile.  For example, an Events tab, if you run any type of Event.  It takes minutes to add one event and they are easily shared across Facebook.  This spreads the word fast.  About 40% of recent attendees at a social media event heard about it via Facebook, most of which don’t even use normally Facebook for business purposes!
• Add an RSS/Feeds tab if you write/maintain a blog on your website.  See the first blog post in this series for instructions.  This will help redirect people back to your website, which is one of the main goals of using any social media tool for business.
• If you use Twitter, use the same tool as in the above point to display your tweets.  Again, this redirects people back to your website, as well as letting them know what’s in your mind and what you’re up to.
• Finally, content.  Do not maintain an empty Profile.  Delete it.  Otherwise, go make a list of all the sites where you find useful information, legislation, government news, other news, related stuff, about your industry or niche and use that as a source of information.
• Don’t forget to pay attention to what other people are sharing on Facebook.  Do this by clicking on the Facebook logo (top right) each time you login.  Share stuff.  Like stuff.  Comment on stuff.  Try to make it relevant to your followers.  However, there’s nothing wrong with sharing stuff that’s just good and useful, even if it’s not entirely related to your industry.  Show a bit of personality and interest in other things.  What goes around comes around.  People will do the same for you.
• Engage in discussions and debate.  Agree and disagree.  Give advice and share websites you love freely.  Above all, be nice.  No-one likes a troll.  I get lots of engagement/help/shares/free promotion on Facebook.  It’s because I’m nice. 
• Help people attract followers to their Profile by indulging them with one of the most fantastic new tools, tags.

What Makes a Good Business Fan Page?

• All of the above, mostly.  Profiles and Fan Pages are very similar.  Especially, ensure you add Applications to display on your tabs, for Events, RSS/Feeds and Books.
• Use your logo or recogniseable business artwork as the Profile pic.  Avoid using a picture of you.  This is where you promote the organisation, the business.  It helps with brand recognition if they keep seeing the logo on their Updates page, every time you add a new item.  This should help too when they get literature in the post, or visit your web page.  Keep the look as consistent as possible.
• Add an Events tab.  It makes me weep to discover that you do events, which you don’t post on Facebook.  Really.
• Help others out. ALOT.  When you meet new people at networking meetings, go find them on Facebook and Friend them.  Then, post up a wee link to their site, or other online presence.  They’ll love it.  Trust me.
• Add photos of stuff happening at your business.  Or, of products, new lines, new staff, new premises.  Conferences, open days.  You get the drift.
• Use tags, all over the place.  I helps get new followers for you, as it places a matching tag, on the Wall of the person you’re tagging, if you follow.  Check this out as soon as you tag someone to see what it looks like.  Friends of the person you tagged suddenly become aware of you Fan Page, simply by visiting your Friend’s Wall.  I love getting tagged.  Thanks, Tracy Gilpin.

What Makes a Good Facebook Group?

Facebook Groups.  The jury’s still out on this one.  Suffice to say that we set up a Facebook Group to begin with and ditched it very soon after finding out that Events were only available on Fan Pages.  I’m not especially qualified to write about Facebook Groups, nor interested.  So, read this instead.

I may blog What Makes a Bad One next!!  Any thoughts?  Answers on a comment below please.