Social Media is about expanding your Traditional Networking Strategies
Effective networking has been one of the cornerstones of building great businesses, since the dawn of time. Before the explosion of social media it was a pretty simple process and was conducted face to face, at events designed to build relationships and meaningful connections.
All the new social media options available now, have completely changed the game. There are so many new options available. New ways of opening doors and ways of finding people to connect to are popping up every day. All these changes are effecting not only the way we connect, but also the pace and scope of the connections we can make in a very short space of time.
These changes have seen a massive paradigm shift in how we function, communicate and do business, both online and offline. It has now become more important than ever to be highly versed in the art of effective networking. Building quality relationships and making real meaningful connections is still important. But the new high tech methods of networking has now made it far easier to find the right people to connect with and the process of making contact with them is far more streamlined.
No matter how technologically advanced we get; it will always be human beings that will make the final decisions. The principles of networking will always apply. The more people you really connect with and the more people you can offer mutually beneficial opportunities to. The better and more effective will be your network. Technology is not changing this it is just changing how we get to make these connections.
You can now be sitting in your bedroom at 3 am in the morning communicating with someone anywhere in the world. Technology has turned us into a completely 24 hour society, where different time zones are virtually irrelevant. If you are willing and able to put in the effort, you can connect with anyone, anywhere at any time.
The trick to using this amazing new technology effectively is to use your social media as a method for communicating any bulk messages or ideas. Never ever send out a bulk non personal email that has no soul or meaning to the recipient. This spray and pray strategy does far more harm than good. People are so overwhelmed with emails and information that when they receive unsolicited messages they actually get turned off by the sender of these bulk messages. The only way to do this effectively is to apply one on one scaling and to ensure that you are sending out personal, meaningful messages that are aligned with the recipient’s values and needs.
We live in such a now world, with instant popcorn, microwaves and instant everything that we expect networking to be instant too. Nothing could be further from the truth. Building relationships and connecting with people takes time. A superficial connection with thousands of people is of little or no value.
To become really successful and turn yourself into a super achiever requires searching through all your connections. Identifying the ones that you feel will contribute to your future success. Then developing a focused strategy to communicate with and build long term connections with these people.
The art of connecting, referring, helping people and sharing information about products and services has not changed. Networking remains a mutually beneficial process where people share ideas, leads, information, resources and support each other. None of these universal truths has changed. The main thing technology has changed is the pace of discovering the right people to connect with and number of contacts we can make in a very short space of time has grown exponentially.
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