This past weekend, I went down to IZEAfest in Orlando, Florida. (It’s a social media and blogging conference for those that don’t know.) While there, I learned a lot. You can check out my top 10 takeaways over on the ReadPyxl blog if you’re interested : )

One reoccurring theme throughout the event was the idea of giving.

Give to your followers more than you’re looking to get. Share with them. Provide value. Promote others. Give, give and give some more.

Everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me?” So show them what’s in it for them!

No one is going to join your network if you just talk about “me, me, me”. Who cares about you?!

So give to your followers and your network will grow. Someone at the event said, “the best time to build your network is when you don’t need one.”

If you jump on Twitter today and immediately try to start selling me something, I don’t really want to connect with you. However, if you provide value to my network now and truly become a part of my community, down the road when you do need me, I’ll be more likely to want to help. See? The power of giving…

Lauren Fernandez wrote a post today on the PR Breakfast Club about the fall of the community and the rise of the selfish individual. I think we all need to take a step back to look at how we’re reaching out to our own communities and figure out if we’re giving enough and if we’re promoting others enough. Perhaps we all need to start trying a little harder.

I give to my followers by sharing interesting links, by promoting their blog posts, by trying to provide information through my own blog posts and by engaging in conversation with them.

How do you give to your followers? What are some other ways we can provide value to someone else’s network?