picture credit to top-10-list.org

When it comes to networking online, you’ve probably seen more than your fair share useless posts. Unfortunately, it’s rampant on social media . . . people posting the same thing that everyone else is saying, or worse, posting about absolutely nothing interesting. While they might be right, it gets boring pretty quickly! If you really want to make an impact in the world of social networking, you need to actually add value to the conversation.

What exactly does this mean? Well, you don’t have to be an amazing genius who posts completely new and innovative ideas 100% of the time, though that would probably help. What you do need is to add your own voice to what you say. If you read about a new method of training staff, there’s nothing wrong with linking to it, but make sure you give your own spin.

It’s also important to avoid being dull. Does everyone really need to know that your dog tripped over your shoe? Once in a while, you can post stuff like this, but there are entire Twitter streams that read like a list of the mundane and unless you’re a good friend in real life, chances are you wouldn’t consider following that person.

Look at your social media networks and what you’ve posted. Now consider what someone would think if they just stumbled across your updates. Are you offering anything useful? Making people laugh? If not, it might be time to reconsider what you’re doing online.

You need to know who your audience is. While others will follow you, having a target market in mind will help you to stay focused. You’ll be able to judge just how relevant the information is for your audience and share accordingly.

You’ll notice that those who are consistently in tune with their target audience and who give great information all the time (think ProBlogger) are the ones who get all the followers. People are attracted to what can help them, so fill that need and you’ll be able to reach more.