Navigating the Digital Dating World: Tips and Tricks
Recently, we introduced you to Laurie Davis, our Renegade Chick of the Week, an online dating specialist, and the founder of eFlirt Expert, a dating consultancy that offers one-on-one services to help singles navigate electronic dating. Davis’ belief, and the strategy behind eFlirt Expert is that online dating is marketing your single-dom. Consider yourself the client, your potential mates as the target audience and think in marketing terms to put your best foot forward. Here are some tips and tricks from Davis and her experts to help you get started:
Think of your target audience and your end goal.
Laurie: When you post a profile on a dating site, you are marketing you single self, so it is important not to just write whatever you think is going to be best, but also to think about your target audience. For example, who is the kind of person that you want to meet, and what is going to resonate with them? You are still being authentic about yourself but you may put a different focus on your profile than you expected. Another thing to think about is what is your end goal? The approach you take is going to be different depending on if your end goal is a long-term relationship versus a casual relationship. This is just like if a brand’s end’s goal when putting an advertisement up is to have you buy a product or connect with the brand on Facebook.
Be specific when writing your profile.
Laurie: The biggest problem I see people make when it comes to profile writing is that they are too generic, and not specific enough. Oftentimes people think that being specific in their profiles about their interests means that they are going to resonate less with others, but it’s actually the opposite. The more restaurant names and hiking trail names and specifics that that you put into your profile, the more that it is going to encourage someone to reach out to you and say things like, “I’ve been there too,” or “I love that restaurant too” or “have you tried this place.” My advice to customers is to make their profiles more interactive.
Consider all media outlets when looking for love.
Laurie: You might meet someone on a dating site, or at the grocery store, but you also might meet them on Twitter or through an app. Opening yourself up to technology options means opening up your heart to all the opportunities where you might find love. Love can happen anywhere on the Internet or off.
Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets are a great place to meet people because it’s such a different experience than on an online dating site. It’s typically a less direct way of flirting and there are definitely ins and outs, but it can absolutely be a venue for love. I enjoyed meeting Thomas on Twitter. It was interesting to see the snapshot of him that is different than if he had written a profile on a dating site. I got to see his profile in 160 characters. I also got to see everything that he had tweeting previously. It was interesting to see what he was saying, how he was exchanging dialogue with people, and how he interacted with me.
Note: Congratulations are in order for Laurie and Thomas on their engagement! Thomas Edwards is Laurie’s fiancé and the founder of The Professional Wingman. Laurie and Thomas met on Twitter when Laurie was first starting her business. Laurie retweeted something he said, sparking an instant online conversation. Some time later, the couple met face to face when Laurie traveled to Boston, where Thomas was living, to visit family and meet some clients, and the rest is history.
Looking to learn more about the ins and outs of online dating? Here are three ways to become a pro:
- Take advantage of the services offered by eFlirt Expert:
- eFlirt Expert offers services that are targeted to help you at multiple points along the way in the online dating journey. For example, you might need help with writing your profile from scratch or simply require a bit of feedback to work on it yourself. Likewise you may have questions such as: What should I write in an email that’s going to catch people’s attention? How many messages should I exchange? How should I get offline? Where should we meet? eFlirt Expert acts as a coach in whatever your needs may be.
- Pre-Order Laurie’s new book: Love @ First Click: The Ultimate Guide to Online Dating, (February 2013, Atria Books/ Simon & Schuster).
- This will be THE guide to online dating. Laurie says:
It is going to give you everything you need to know about writing a profile, reading red flags in someone else’s profile, figuring out how many messages you should have, what you should say in your messages, how to get offline with someone, and safety precautions. It even goes as far as taking your profile down and how you can use technology in your relationship even once you’ve signed off of an online dating site. It also gives tangible examples of profiles and emails, to help you understand what the best process is for finding love on the Internet. It’s first and foremost a guide, but it also gives anecdotes of funny and heartwarming stories I’ve seen online daters do.
- Meet Laurie in person at the Urban Girl Squad event in New York City on September 19th.
- The event, Modern Dating: Makeovers, Headshots and Flirting Tips from the Experts, will feature advice from Laurie Davis herself, a one-on-one makeover session with FaceTime Beauty Concierge, and each attendee will go home with 5 headshots by photographer Melanie McClean. With an emergency date kit gift bag from eFlirt Experts, raffle prizes, including a “Profile from Scratch” from eFlirt Experts and treats such as wine and ice cream cupcakes by Once Upon a Cupcake NYC, this event is one that should not be missed!
