Hello my Blogengage Buddies 
I have some personal gripes with the way people chat online. And I thought I could share with you 7 chat tips that will really push up your online cred and make you successful in the long run.
The reason Gary VaynerChuck [WineLibraryTV] is SO successful online is because of his meticulous attention to customer support and to show people he cares. So getting a lot of my own online ethos from watching him for a year or so.
This post is something that I imagine he would write, so take it from me, inspired by him.
[Please note that this tutorial relates to all online chat, and not just to here on blogengage]. Here goes:
- Don’t enter chat and say…
‘Vote for me!’, ‘like my page please’, ‘join my cause’ etc.
I laughed my behind off one day when an acquaintance in ministry said something similar to promote his latest album and I told him the truth: ‘You spammer!’ He never did it again…
- Don’t use ‘pity-seeking’ conversations to seek aid for an orphanage etc.
I’m supposed to be compassionate, I know. But if I have to tell you how many times I got approached/chatted with someone in Africa/India about how they’re suffering, they have an orphanage that’s going to close down etc. The transcript of this chat could be a published book on the Kindle 
Somehow people think money grows on trees in my back garden. This is one way to get ignored.
If I have the urge to help, I’ll help Sammy and Joseph on the corner and hand out half-loaves to them and their friends. The conversations usually start the same and ends the same… with an awkward silence looking for a response. And when the ‘hello?’ comes through… well. The last couple times I just kindly respond3ed that I am not able to help at this time, and asked my ‘friend’ from India to please stop asking me for money. I just got retrenched and what I have right now should stretch to keep things afloat until..
- If you’re not in the mood to chat, …
Turn your chat status to ‘offline’… or ‘away’. And if you are online for business and don’t want to chat to others besides your prospects, do the above and let the people you’re busy with know you are online and available.
- Don’t ignore people.
If you’re on a site with chat, you should be aware of the little notification pop-ups. I know some people told me; ‘I didn’t even know there was a chat function here…’, but at least they respond to the chat. Once again, if you want to log in but you’re not in the mood to chat, make sure you tell people I’m busy’, or ‘away’.
Don’t, under any circumstances ignore a chat. If you’re caught off-guard. Kindly tell the person you’ll catch them another time as you just popped in and can’t really engage right this minute. It will score you lots of points as a flat ‘ignore’ will be very bad for your online cred.
- Be courteous and friendly.
Especially if the person you have on chat is a customer (or even better- a potential customer). A little friendliness and helpfulness will take you a longer way than anything else.
- Don’t enter into chat with an ulterior motive.
Amibaie and Nicole would know what I’m talking about, as I am the very one who did this at the beginning. You enter chat, ask how people are doing and go into an extended (quite irritating) chat that leads to one request ‘will you vote for …’ Do you know those people knew you were going to ask that from the start? Well, now that I’m part of the staff here and a power user, I obviously know better. So should you
- Finish your conversations – say goodbye.
Have you ever been chatting with people and one moment……. They’ve just disappeared. Even if you’re chatting to a person that wants something from you, or you’re the superior blogger/business person: end you’re conversations properly. Granted, sometime connections are lost, but even then, return and end the conversation with ‘I’m off to bed, enjoy your…’, or ‘I have a meeting in ten…’ etc. Trust me, this will still bring your VERY far.
And that’s it. From my own experience and something I’m sure Gary wrote about somewhere on the internet.
Your Turn.
What irks you about the way people utilize chat these days. I’d like to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Andreas Pazer (152)
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Twitter: Ileane
Hi Ivin, I must admit that I do not mind people asking me for votes or tweets when the catch me in chat. On the other hand if the post is not vote worthy or tweet worthy, I have no problem letting you know. Therefore, if someone asks me for a vote, they better have some “vote worthy” content or else I will say NOPE!
Ileane recently posted..5 Popular WordPress Plugins You Need to Ditch Now!
Twitter: ivinviljoen
I hear you Ileane. For me, it’s about engaging. IF you engage and ask me for a vote (cause I may have missed it), then I don’t mind. But I guess ‘play the game’ like all of us and you may not have to ask for a vote.
Ivin recently posted..Turning Your Book Into Social Media Gold
Some great points here. My personal pet peeve is when you can tell someone has entered the chat only to promote something. Especially if they’re new. Hopefully people take heed of your advice!
Matt recently posted..Best Mini Trampoline for Fitness
Need to clean up your type errors in this post or you lose credibility with your readers.
Twitter: ivinviljoen
Hello Tim. Thanks for the heads up. I actually couldn’t fix it after I posted the first time, so it was really a rough draft post when it was posted. We sorted out the access for me so I’ll be able to edit my posts in the future (even if it was posted by mistake). I hope you are satisfied and it won’t happen again
Ivin recently posted..Turning Your Book Into Social Media Gold
Twitter: problogsuccess
Ivin, great chat ethics here. Some are really no-brainers but it is strange why people ignore such basic ethics. I login under stealth mode usually when I know I can’t chat with anyone at that moment. But when I’m green I yell at people that “I’m available”. So it would be really indecent to ignore chat messages.
Well as to voting requests I’ve got many many bad experiences. I reported some users to Brian
Jane | Blogging Action Plan recently posted..Blogging Success: 53 Blogging Mistakes You Should Avoid
Twitter: ivinviljoen
Hello Jane. I personally hate hitting someone up in chat when they’re clearly ‘available’ and being ignored. Obviously not so much now, but when I started out here…
Ivin recently posted..Turning Your Book Into Social Media Gold
Twitter: Daniel
Ivin, yeah I can’t say I totally agree with you… really on any of these points. Chat is a whole different ball game for me. I don’t think we can ‘force’ an etiquette like this on people since they really can use chat however they like. While I agree with being polite, etc. etc. I’m just not interested in hanging around and chatting with people formally. If I need a vote I feel free to ask for one. Hopefully that person knows me, and is confident enough to DECIDE for themselves if they want to vote. It’s easy to ignore chat, and if I’m not interested I will… it’s not rude. It’s the way it is. I think people should be able to handle that without getting offended. Taking offense is a great trap that will snare you.
Daniel Snyder recently posted..How to approach different cultures via Social Media
Twitter: ivinviljoen
Hello Daniel. Clearly there are mixed feeling about this. You don’t have to agree with me. It’s quite allright. Those are just what I think are good manners. If a person ignores me when I chat with him saying hi or asking a question I see it as plain rude. And you’re definitely not going to grow your online business with that attitude. How would have liked it when you ask me for a vote in chat and I completely ignored you. Not very nice is it…? Well, not in my books. But like you said – that;s my opinion.
Thank you for being an active member on Be. It definitely looks like your submissions are doing well – for which I AM happy.
Ivin recently posted..Adverbial Modifiers