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.
The secret to successfully Network and regain a personal touch in the new digital world, is to accept that it is never about how many contacts you have. It is always about the number of quality contacts you have. These are people that you can connect with and develop mutually beneficial relations with, whereby you can support each other, share ideas, leads and information.
The need to be a great matchmaker is as important today as it was before the advent of social media. Yes we need to be seen, build credibility for our brand and bring attention to our businesses. So it is imperative that we have a blog, comment on other peoples blogs, retweet things that are aligned with our vision and values and most importantly we must make online intros between people that we feel will benefit from connecting with each other.
These new high-tech methods of networking have opened new doors of opportunity. We can very easily identify and meet the right people and have direct access to our markets. This ability to communicate a relevant message that is of value to our market makes creating awareness about our products and services simple. It allows us to appear to have a very large presence in the market place. When managed properly all this marketing will not cost you a cent, which is ideal for businesses on a tight budget.
Learn to use social media as an effective marketing tool. This will give you access to a system that will allow you to leverage maxim advantage from technology for very little cost. During this entire process, always stay focused on building only mutually beneficial relationships and you will have the added benefit of enriching your life too.
When you read a tweet, blog or an online post and you support the author by offering them a compliment or a different perspective. You are opening up a whole new world of opportunity. You get to connect with new friends online. These are by no means the type of relationship you will need to develop if you want to grow your business. You cannot depend on any of these connections to support you or to help you with meaningful referrals. If you want to really network with these people you will need to pull them out of your social media pool and make real contact with them.
Always have you antennae out; looking for ways to connect people that you feel will be beneficial to each other. As you grow your list of contacts and connections always remember that networking is not about how to get the cash registers ringing. It is about connecting with people and, forming mutually beneficial relationships, where the payoff may only be sharing information, support, advice or introductions. The advantage may simply be the benefit of sharing a cup of tea with someone that will expand your thinking.
The way you can stand head and shoulders above your competition is to commit to blend old school networking with social media. If you are planning to attend an in person function, follow the simple procedure as laid out below:
1. If it is possible contact the organizers and see who is attending the function.
2. Research the people by visiting LinkedIn and see who you want to connect with on the day.
3. Does the event have a # tag?
4. Follow anyone that is tweeting about the event on twitter.
5. Tweet any specific attendees, before the event and invite them to connect at the event
6. Make a twitter list of all attendees and tweet about it. This will make you the go to guy for information.
7. Identify key individuals before the event and research them on LinkedIn, Facebook or Google searches.
8. Subscribe to their blogs or e-zines.
9. Take a look at their pictures online so that you will know who they are when you meet them.
10. All the information you gather before the event will help you to build rapport with these really important contacts at the event.
11. At the event tweet live about the event via your mobile device with the # tag.
This will help you build rapport with other attendees and build relationships with the organizers. They will love the visibility you are creating for the event.
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