In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about asking everyone and how it can impact your social media efforts.

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Ask Everyone....

Monday of last week was a very interesting day for me, I learned a lot more than I expected to. The day started out simply enough, I grabbed some hot liquid caffeine and fired up my email program - and then I saw some messages that were disturbing at first. There were a half dozen plus emails with the same subject:

"Re: Can you endorse me on LinkedIn?"

Now I did know that I had a professional working on my social media profiles so I could appear a bit more snazzy and on top of things. You know - that design stuff that folks like me tend to ignore with gusto, I was having some happy happy work done.

In the list of deliverables there was a line about my LinkedIn profile and "completing" it, but I hadn't paid all that much attention as I approved the work plan and things got rolling. I guess I did know that since I only had two recommendations my profile didn't show up as "complete" and that caused some minor issues at LinkedIn.

So anyway - my wonderful social media person had done something - she had sent a recommendation request to my entire LinkedIn address book. That meant that about 150 people had gotten email from me asking them to endorse me.

I realized this - and for about 1.365 seconds I panicked, but then my project management problem processing skills kicked in and I started to consider what I needed to do next.

The emails I had from folks mostly said something along the lines of "but I hardly know you" with a wee bit of "tell me what to say" - so I wrote back to folks and explained that the request went to everyone in my address book, my apologies, please ignore it. Like many of these folks my Brother-In-Law wanted to help me out but as we had never worked together in a professional capacity he really didn't have a basis for writing a recommendation.

The other thing I thought about doing was contacting my social media pro - but I decided to wait. There was no way to withdraw the requests and there was her deliverable staring me in the face - I had a clear written indication that this was going to be done.

I would never - not in a million years - have simply selected everyone in my address book with a message like that.

No way.
No how.
No wizard for you.

If someone had asked for my opinion of an idea like that I would have called it stupid without hesitation and recommended against it.

But then something pretty amazing started to happen....the recommendations started rolling in.

"one of the smartest men I ever met"
"never fails to shine new light on a challenge"
"If you choose to work with Ross, you'll be in very good hands"
"I would STRONGLY recommend "
"Take him out for lunch and you won't regret it!"

In the space of a few days I went from 2 recommendations on my profile to 27.

As some of you know in private I am a mush ball - I cry at movies and stuff like that - but in business I am generally unemotional, and many folks describe me as a hard ass which I find flattering.

These recommendations - from all sorts of folks - well, ummmm, they got me all choked up and maybe they even made me cry a little bit.

So what did I learn from all this?

First I learned that I had violated the spirit of LinkedIn by connecting with people casually - if everyone in my address book had in fact been a "person I knew well" as LinkedIn strongly recommends I would never have felt any embarrassments.

Second - I learned that a tactic I surely would have put the brakes on if I was asked about it turned out to be incredibly effective, it gave me a wonderful boost of energy and happiness about what I do for a living.

There is no way any plan I had executed would have resulted in 25+ recommendations. What started out as a "problem" turned out to be my most effective social media effort ever, by an order of magnitude.

So I say to you my wonderful Internet Entrepreneurs - if you have the chance, go ahead and ask everyone. Get outside your comfort zone and do something that feels a bit risky and foreign to you. Like me you just might be surprised by the results.

Web Analytics Demystified Seminar

Data Data everywhere & not a drop to drink – that is the situation site owners face when they see a web statistics report. In this session we'll cover how to be an empowered entrepreneur, how stats work, your KPI's, and action steps entrepreneurs need to know.

What: Web Analytics demystified Seminar followed by Yummy Lunch/Question Session
When: Wednesday, December 15th from 11 AM to 1 PM
Where: Augusta Armory on Western Avenue. Directions Click Here.
How Much: $60, $50 for subscribers of Web Enlightenment, covered by money back guarantee. Credit Cards are accepted.
How to Sign up: Click Here to Sign Up Online or call Ross at 684-4000 or reply this email.

The cost for the session is $60 ($50 for Subscribers like you) which includes your lunch - and like everything I do these seminars are covered by my 100% guarantee. If you don't like it, you get your money back.