Are you a lazy tagger? What counts as a BNI referral on Facebook?

Just imagine, you’re down the pub one evening and you overhear someone say they are looking for a great bathroom fitter. What would you do? Would you just shout out “Ray Goodridge” and go back to your drink?

Now, in BNI networking terms, is that a referral? Of course it isn’t. It may well be a genuine opportunity for business, but simply shouting a name without engaging is just going to get you weird looks in the pub, and at your chapter if you try to pass it as a referral.

Yet this happens all too often on social media, where a mistaken belief that simply tagging someone in a relevant post asking for help is enough to secure a referral, which at this stage is simply not.

On social media, tags, recommendations, and suchlike are great and lead to business for BNI members every day, but how and when do they become a referral?

In a nutshell, when the member you tagged says so. Not before.

Let’s come back to Ray Goodridge from Test Valley Kitchens & Bathrooms, a dear friend, one of my Case Study PR clients and a fellow member of BNI Jack O’Newbury in West Berkshire. Ray has had some cracking success on Facebook through being tagged… and something else!

Good practice within your chapter would be that someone spotting an opportunity on any social media platform would tag the relevant member and then share a link to the post (via the three dots, top right-hand corner normally) within a chapter WhatsApp group. Then other members, especially who deal with similar customers, also step in and tag the member.

Already they are at a huge advantage when you consider the normal journey of such a social media post. The member is now being mentioned lots amid those promoting themselves (Oooh pick me vibes) and the simple law of averages could persuade the poster to reach out, even more so when the member himself comments with a “Aw shucks guys, thank you, I’d love to help…”.

Poster replies to the recommended member, they arrange to meet and now it is a referral and only they can decide whose. Most times this will be the first person to spot the post, the first person to tag him and share it with the chapter.

However, something I have seen with Ray is how some members comment to rave about a bathroom Ray’s team had fitted for them. Or as I aim to do, link to the case studies we've written that reveal how delighted his clients are?

Or and this is a canny one: “I know a great guy who can help you, message me for details”. This is clever, possibly too clever, but could trigger a powerful conversation.

Who clinched the referral?

This is where Ray has to ask the potential client. They will know and if they say you had so many recommendations, then obviously that goes to the first person who tagged Ray. However, if they explain it was a more detailed comment made later, then they get the referral.

It is a referral as it is a genuine opportunity to do business. If Ray gets the work, he will also pass Thank You For The Business to the person identified as passing the referral.

When you pass a referral within BNI you are asked to rate it on a scale of 1-5 and the higher the number, the more you have done to secure the business for the member. Typically, this is explained as the difference between passing a referral to someone with a need you’ve passed to a member – that would score just 1. If you sent them details about the member, that could be a 2, through to taking the prospective referral and member for coffee, or bringing them as a visitor to a chapter, which are approaching 5 on the referral scale.

In social media terms it is about the more you do, the more evidence you provide, the more proof that the person you are recommending is worthy.

Takeaway: Aim to be so much more than a lazy tagger on social media, add real value and you will be passing plenty of valuable referrals from social media in no time at all.

How do you secure referrals on social media? Do you have a tried and tested method to share?

Oh, and if you need a great kitchens and bathroom guy…

#bni #bninetworking #referrals #breakfast #newbury

This article gives an insight into some of the processes and training involved in the global organisation BNI. Please get in touch if you would like to visit BNI Jack O’Newbury on a Friday morning for breakfast, at The Chequers Hotel in Newbury, Berkshire, or indeed any chapter.