Content Writing

More info

Consultancy

More info

Digital Marketing

More info

Training and Speaking

More info

Friday Digital Roundup

The Friday Digital Roundup is a witty take on the weird world of the internet. With fun stories from around the globe, it’s the only email newsletter you’ll actually read and enjoy!

We do love writing it, but clearly not as much as people like receiving it - just look at the response we got when a technical hitch meant it wasn’t sent out on time!

@roisinduffyVA @roisinduffyva

@Spaghetti_Jo
Coffee and the FDR is how I start my Friday.
Do not engage until I have devoured both

Meschi Consultants @MeschiConsult

When it comes to the end of the week, there is no better way to start a Friday than with a run around the internet with Todd and Jo in the FDR. Just don't let them know I do it from the loo!

Kathryn Lynch-Smith @KikikatSmith

@Spaghetti_Jo
My inbox is full of rubbish newsletters that Im constantly deleting😬 My VIP inbox is for 1 thing only- THE DIGITAL ROUNDUP🤠I dont read a Newspaper or the news online, I just wait for Fridays, when this lands in my inbox- then I know ‘The weekend has landed’🤗

Spaghetti Blog

Tuesday 19th March 2024

It’s Taken Me Eight Years to Get Here…

Thu 26th Oct 2017
By Todd
4Networking, networking, networking events

Social media doesn’t work on its own. Social media doesn’t work overnight. Social media doesn’t work as a sales tool.

Over the last eight years I’ve learnt that. Over the last eight years I’ve come to the realisation that a lot of what social media does is dark, unseen, unheard and undervalued.

Back in 2009 I was tweeting from the cab of a van. I was trying to sell the wine in the back, but I failed miserably.

I soon got bored and told the story of the business instead and accidentally found the answer to social media success.

Ever since then I’ve been sharing my story and updating social media with little bits of my life littered with tips and the occasional promotional post.

  • I talk a lot about social media not being an overnight success.
  • I talk a lot about social media taking time.
  • I talk about social media being the start, beginning and end of a conversation.

But does it bring business? It seems so fluffy and non-salesy!?

This week I went networking. I do a lot of networking. I went to three events and at every single one I was reminded why I spend so much time on social media…

It's Taken Me Eight Years to Get Here, but They Knew Me.

It’s Taken Me Eight Years to Get Here…

On Monday at lunchtime I went to my local lunch meeting. I was the speaker at a small meeting in Leamington.

During the open networking, a lady came up to me and said “Are you Todd?”

I’d never met this lady, but she knew who I was. She asked me for a 121 (a chat at the end of the meeting) and we got to know each other better.

The reason she ‘knew’ me was thanks to our weekly email. She reads the occasional update and was aware of some of the stuff we get up to.

On Monday evening, I was at an event in Bristol. As I always do, I wore my cowboy hat and boots and rocked up to the meeting with some friends from 4Networking.

4Networking Bristol Evening

Again, people knew me. Two people had already asked me for a 121 via email and Facebook before the meeting, and others shook me by the hand and said “It’s great to meet you in the flesh.”

This isn’t unusual for me.

I enjoyed the meeting and the 121s and since then have had LinkedIn connection requests, friend requests on Facebook and new followers on Twitter.

 

The next day I was speaking at another 4Networking event in Weston-super-Mare

It was a BIG breakfast with around 90 people attending.

I had 121s already set up again. Once again people from social media had asked me in advance to arrange a chat; something that’s usually set up in the meeting.

Many people at that event came up to me to say “It’s great to meet you in the flesh.” Some said “I enjoy your content on Facebook.” Others said “I like your videos.”

Without even trying, I already had people in the room who knew me, liked me and trusted me.

Without even approaching people I was engaging in loads of conversations with people who ‘got’ me.

 

Here’s the thing…

All three of those meetings were great for me. All three of those meetings got me into some interesting conversations, and all three of those meetings got me the green shoots of new business.

But it took me eight years to get here…

Todd Spaghetti Agency

It took me days, weeks, months and years of content to be able to speak at the events, be recognised at the events and to be able to have the trust of some of the people there.

They’d stalked me.

Many of the people I met I had no idea existed.

Many of the people who approached me had enjoyed what I put online but never once picked up the phone or pressed the like button or commented on my content. 

 

Watchers!

The reason I’m obsessed with sharing on social media and helping people with my thoughts, musings and learning on sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram is that I know one day I’ll meet a watcher.

We have 1000s of followers, subscribers and fans. I don’t know them all. But I create content for them. Some I will never meet and some will buy from us because they quietly got to know us.

  • Social media isn’t an overnight success.
  • Social media isn’t a direct sales tool.
  • Social media is just a way to have a conversation, and more often than not it’s a way to show people who want to watch for a while what you’re like.

Likes, reach, retweets, favourites, double taps and views all count.

Someone somewhere is watching what you’re doing, and one day, if you get out there, it’ll count.

The BIG 4Networking Breakfast at Weston-super-Mare

But you have to leave the internet for it to really work.

Every time I go networking I’m reminded how powerful the online world is.

There are plenty of people at networking meetings who don’t get any business from it and there are even more on social media in the same boat.

I don’t plan to be either of those.

I plan to be asked for a chat before I get there and I plan to be known, liked and trusted before I even get in the car to go to the event.

No man is an island and no signal channel is the answer. I firmly believe that networking doesn’t work without social media and vice versa.

 

Eight years ago I was driving a van and tweeting my story, but it was when I met the people or when they saw my van that it really worked.

Don’t do just one thing and never rely on one marketing channel.

“It’s nice to meet you in the flesh” is a great way to start any conversation, wouldn’t you agree?


Tags associated with this article

4Networking networking networking events

6 comments on this article

  • Phebe at 10:34am on October 27th 2017

    Love this article! Read your posts most weeks and always find them so refreshing. Look forward to reading many more 🙂

    1. Todd at 8:40am on November 1st 2017

      Aww… thanks Phebe. That’s so lovely to hear!

  • .303cal at 9:13am on November 25th 2017

    TBH I don’t even know why i’m here, one moment I was at ‘uksnowmap.com’ and the next I’m here reading your story, a story that I genuinely enjoyed reading, a story with everything I didn’t ‘need’ to know but wanted to find out as a result of having read the first sentence.
    I was drawn in by, like the OP above mentioned, refreshing words and as i’ll add myself, a transparency of honesty IMO is what I found.

    mat.

    1. Todd at 13:49pm on December 5th 2017

      Haha… #UKSNOW rocks! (No snow here, Matt).

      Thanks for your comment and feedback. Always appreciated. Feel free to add yourself to our emails for future honesty updates!

  • Judith at 13:07pm on December 10th 2017

    Oh so true Todd!

    For the last five years I have been cutating a fabby Contemporary Arts Fair Discover:Gather:Give in Stratford and very slowly building on line support, but it is at #Cafdgg that I meet the people in the flesh who know me on line – I love the thrill of matching a person’s on line voice to the real person in front of me!

    Without #Cafdgg on line I would never have the opportunity to follow such interesting people, and without #Cafdgg I would not be able to network with artists, craftspeople, patrons and visitors which I enjoy so much!

    A great blog Todd, thank you!

    1. Todd at 16:21pm on December 11th 2017

      Thanks Judith and awesome to hear it’s all going well for you! Isn’t it great being surrounded by great people?

Post a comment

We'd love to know what you think - please leave a comment!

99 Simple Marketing Tips

99 Simple Marketing Tips You Can Use to Treble Your Business

Struggling to know where to start with your digital marketing?

We’ve got a tonne of ideas that you can put in place for your marketing – directly from our past 8 years growing an engaged following and strong business.

What You’ll Get

Over 16 pages of content

Short, simple nuggets

Ideal for SMEs and start-ups

Download Now