By Paul Castain

At the core of my social media strategy is a firm belief that virtual relationships need to transition to real time. But you’ve heard me say that before, haven’t you?

Today, I want to lay out a very simple way for you to provide more value to your network and position yourself as more than just another “friend” “follower” or “connection”

Introducing  . . . “The Social Networking Mixer”

Here’s how you do it:

1)    Grab yourself a free conference call line on a service like http://freeconferencecall.com I’m not affiliated with them. I like resources that are truly free with no catch.

2)    Identify 5-6 people from your network. I don’t like more than that because it becomes less interactive and at times just really hard not to talk over each other.

3)    Set aside a day and time where you’ll have 60-75 mins.

4)    Consider a real simple agenda like:

10 mins of introductions

40 mins discussing a topic of your choice. Can’t think of one? Consider ripping off the one I provide in the free PDF I’ve put together for you. You’re welcome!

10-25 mins of resource sharing. Note: Resource sharing is when each participant brings (get this) a resource such as the name of a good book, a website, publication, study, statistics, free service etc

I’ve put together a free E-Book with the rest of the steps and more detail.

What are your take aways if you try something like this?

1)    You differentiate right off the bat. Not too many people doing these calls.

2)    You help introduce people who need to know each other. Matchmaking is always cool no matter how you slice it!

3)    You and your participants will learn quite a few things as people share their ideas and resources.

4)    You work both your facilitation and public speaking muscle groups.

5)    You actually connect and build trust.

6)    You foster a spirit of “community”

7)    You get to feel good about doing something good.

So there you have it. A very simple, free strategy you can utilize to build something you need going forward . . . brand equity!

Assignment: Download the E-Book and set up your own Social Networking Mixer.

Invitation: You are cordially invited to start trying new approaches. Don’t abandon the things that have made you successful, just expand your repertoire!