A few readers recently asked me to address online networking and some of my tips for managing this. So here are the top five things you can do to manage your online relationships so that they translate into off line connections.
1. Are you following me?- If someone decided to follow you on twitter, there is usually a reason. I always take a quick look at who that person is and I always follow back. If I see an immediate mutual interest, I directly message them. If someone takes the effort to find you and follow you, they have some level of interest in what you do. Follow up on the followers and you'll find many new business and networking opportunities.
2. Can you hear me now?- Tweet or do a status update whenever you have something valuable to share. If you just met with someone, trumpet their praises. Then some of their followers will most likely have an interest in following you. Consider usuing hashtags to make your connection stand out even more. Once there was an actor who tweeted about meeting me and used the hastags "the man, take over the world" This led to a ton of other followers.
3. Celebrate good times C'mon- Say Happy Birthday, Congratulate friends on promotions, like people's commenst and pages, retweet, etc. The more of these personal interactions you have, the more likely it will move to an email and likely an offline connection opportunity.
4. Come together right now over me- Look at the collective interests of the people in your social networks and think of an event that many of them would benefit from. The more people who can benefit, the more people who will be willing to attend. This is a great way to get folks off line having a conversation in person.
5. Be a hero- Take 15 or 30 minutes and see if any of your friends are asking for anything. If you can help them find what they need, you'll establish a relationship and have a good feeling all day which is a nice added bonus. When I first got started, all I did was look through list serves and send people suggestions. Within a few months, I had a ton of new clients, colleagues, and referrals. Plus being a hero is fun :)
So there you go. A peek into my system for networking with the crowd online.
If you'd like to learn more about networking in person, I just added an additional discount for Solving for X. Come check it out.
Excelsior!
Great idea...you have some of my favorite people contributing to your blog. I enjoy it a great deal. I'm still working out how to do links neatly but in the meantime will keep it as a post...up now.
Posted by: shopping reviews | October 27, 2011 at 12:29 AM
Great idea...you have some of my favorite people contributing to your blog. I enjoy it a great deal. I'm still working out how to do links neatly but in the meantime will keep it as a post...up now.
Posted by: cheapsalon | November 28, 2011 at 11:26 PM