picture credit to Freshfocus.info
If you’ve spent any time at all on social media sites, you’ve seen people linking to others. Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks who just don’t feel this is necessary. The main reason they think they don’t need to share with others is because they feel that all their social networking needs to be about them. I’m here to tell you that talking others up is a great way to promote yourself.
Still not certain? Here are three reasons you need to start linking out to others that you like in the field.
1. You’ll make more friends.
When people see that you are nice enough to share the best blog posts and websites with others, they are going to know that you value others. That’s pretty rare, particularly online, so you’ll rapidly gain friends this way.
Just being nice isn’t the only reason people will start knocking down your door to be friends with you. They will also see you as a valuable resource and someone who has information on what they´re interested in. That’s always a good thing and it means that you will tend to get friends of a higher quality, too.
2. Catch someone’s attention.
Let’s say there is a blogger in your field that you particularly admire and want to emulate. You might not want to actually speak to him or her, or send them an email, but linking to them on Facebook or Twitter is a great way to show your appreciation. Chances are, they’ll notice when you do this, too.
Not all bloggers will link back or even pay attention to you, but many will notice you and if they have the time, check your site out, as well. This is a great way to get people to notice you without sticking your head out too far. And you never know, they might decide you are worthy of link love, too!
3. Offer value to your followers and boost your reputation.
There are a number of people on any social media network who just babble about nothing. If you’re one of the ones who provides great information, you’ll get a far better reputation and that means people will trust you more. When there is trust, you’ll be able to do business much easier and they will refer you to their friends.
Sending out links to valuable information is a part of building trust. Just because you don’t have all the answers doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to give them to your followers . . . look for someone who knows what you don’t!
It’s always a good idea to link to useful resources. You can really benefit a lot. Having said all this, I will increase my blogroll by 50% since I’m finding so many useful resources and colleagues in the Social Media arena. However, I’m not sure how to approach this. What is your advice? Who would you recommend? Do you just link back indiscriminately or do you use a selection criteria?
Great reasons, I too love Social Media.