Successful Networking in 7 simple steps
Clare Dignall
7 simple steps to help you get what you want from networkingNetworking: get it right, and it provides an opportunity for learning and expanding your business contacts. But there are so many ways to get it wrong. Maybe you’ve learnt this the hard way, or maybe you don’t know where to start. Whether you’re setting out into the world of business for the first time, planning a return visit or want to be the best in the job you’re in, this is the book for you.Follow these 7 simple steps to pick your way through the minefield that is networking. We’ll take you from creating new opportunities to maintaining valuable relationships, and show you how to survive any difficult moments along the way.
Contents
Step 1 Creating networking opportunities (#u5f7c39d7-f2e3-5788-ac00-8296a277424a)
Step 2 Network effectively online (#ub9d6326f-ec0d-5dd2-8250-982d8fc71dc8)
Step 3 Secure an invitation (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 4 Be the best conversationalist (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 5 Survive difficult moments (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 6 Work the room (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 7 Follow up on leads (#litres_trial_promo)
Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Step 1 (#ulink_db923b0e-33e9-5e6c-a592-82a1e098f601)
CREATING NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES (#ulink_db923b0e-33e9-5e6c-a592-82a1e098f601)
‘The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everyone else looks for work.’ — Robert T. Kiyosaki, Author
Five ways to succeed
Know your reasons for networking.
Re-acquaint yourself with people you already know.
Value both close friends and acquaintances.
Give, without expecting anything in return.
Learn how to measure your networking results.
Five ways to fail
Don’t waste time networking with family.
Try to make as many new contacts as you possibly can.
Get what you want out of every meeting.
Let your networking take its own natural course.
Network as soon as you can: sort out business detail later.
Networking. Everyone talks about it. But what on earth is networking anyway? Simply put, networking is the process of meeting new people, and maintaining valuable contact with these people, to the benefit of both you and them. It’s not a special business skill, it’s a human and social aptitude that we all have. But one of the most important things that can shape your networking, is knowing what you want out of it. Take a minute to consider the following:
Am I networking in order to change career?
Do I want to start networking after a career break?
Am I networking in order to grow my own business?
Am I networking to grow the client base of the company I work for?
If you want to change career, for example, you should be attempting to ‘break out’ of your existing network to source new contacts. Conversely, if you’re growing your own business, you may want to network in a focused way within one specific target market. Whatever your approach, remember this – networking presents opportunities in unexpected places, so never be closed to a serendipitous meeting, even if it is not in your ‘game plan’.
Identifying your existing network
You may be thinking ‘How can I network if I don’t even have a network?’ Well the good news is, you do, and it probably looks something like this:
Your family: a reliable source of support, information and local knowledge.
Your friends: people you rely on for support and ideas.
Your work or study colleagues, past or present: people who know your work skills can give insights into other roles that might suit you, and possibly new vacancies.
Your acquaintances: people you meet day-to-day – your barber, mechanic, neighbour etc.
Surprisingly, it’s the people you know least that could be most useful to you. Known as ‘weak ties’, these people are at the edges of your social network, so know a different set of people who may present fresh opportunities. The trick in successful networking is to invest time in these weak ties to ensure that, should an opportunity arise, it is your name that they think of first.
Rediscovering your existing network
So, you already have a personal network in place. As yet, it may be untapped. To breathe new life into this existing network, you need do little more than set aside some time and adopt a new way of thinking. All of us are guilty to some extent of dismissing the people we know ‘Oh that’s Mike, I worked with him in IT, bit of a web geek’ and leaving them languishing in the little stereotypes we’ve dumped them in. If you’re serious about networking it’s time to look at everyone you know with fresh eyes. What are their skills you don’t you know about? What are their hobbies? What are their aspirations? Who do they work with? What do they believe are your best talents? Spend time with friends, family and colleagues you’ve not seen lately. Make an effort not to hog conversation or go over old topics. Treat them as if you’ve just met. Listen (you’ll find insights into how to do this in Step 4 (#litres_trial_promo)). You’ll be amazed at what you will unearth.
Similarly, when you’re getting a haircut or doing the school run, don’t ignore everyone because you think the people you meet at these times are not ‘important’. Engage them in conversation, allow them to talk. Listen. Hey presto – you’re networking. Networking is a way of life; it affects and underlines the value of our interactions with all human beings – you can’t just save it for the moments labelled ‘Networking Event’.
Blood may not be thicker than water
When you are building an effective and supportive network it is important to know exactly who you can rely on in a tight spot. We have all heard the old saying ‘blood is thicker than water’ and many of us assume that our strongest ties are those that are related to us through blood or marriage. But in the world of business, it is often safest to assume nothing. It can be enlightening, at regular periods, to ask yourself the following questions:
Am I happy with who is closest to me?
When we talk about the people that are ‘closest’ to us, we usually include family and long-standing friends in that list. They are the people who have known us the longest, we spend most time with, and in most instances, have partially ‘created’ the person that we are now through long years of parenting, peer interaction, schooling and socializing. We unquestioningly assume they are on our side. But are they? Time to ask yourself a tough question: ‘Am I still happy with how much my family and friends influence me?’ Perhaps you seek the approval of parents or friends a little too much? Are your peers suspicious of success? Are you staying in a job you don’t want because you feel that’s what’s expected of you? If your aim to is to change the way your life looks, you may have to work out whether there are any people, very close to you, that are limiting you.
Who would I turn to in a crisis?
It’s likely that asking yourself the first question will have revealed some unsettling home truths. By asking just one more tough question, you will find out who your real friends are. Imagine yourself in an awful situation. You’ve lost your job, your business is failing, or you’re going through a gruelling period of stress at work. Who, in reality, would you turn to? Without analysing too much, quickly write down a list of the people you would turn to first for advice and help. You may be surprised by what you see. If some of the entries on that list are people that you would never have counted as strong ties – are not family, and whom you see rarely, it may be time to sort that out. These people are clearly important to you on many levels: make it a priority to invest some time in them now. If you ever are to be faced with that worst-case scenario, you want them wholly on your side.
By asking two simple questions, you are likely to have a much clearer idea about who you want ‘on your team’. Some people are just plain good for us – they are supportive, trustworthy, positive and inspiring – in their company we aspire to greater things. Some people are not so good for us and can seriously limit what we can achieve. The trick is identifying who is who, and we’ll find out more later.
A big reason for many people beginning to network seriously is that they want ‘change’. Well, you can start the process of change, and build your confidence too, just from the people you already know.
Build bridges to other networks
One very simple way to give your network’s breadth an immediate boost is to hold your own event. Make it an ‘open house’ and ask your friends to bring a few of their friends. This is a simple way to stretch the edges of your network and open pathways to new ones. Be attentive to the new faces amongst your guests – they will remember a good listener and may end up being valuable contacts or friends.
Surround yourself with those that bring out your best
Ever noticed that you always look better in photos taken with your best friends? It doesn’t apply to just our looks; people that are ‘good’ for us bring out the best in us – our best work, ideas and attitude. If you want positive change, start spending most time with the people in your network that make you feel good. This simple tactic can have a positive effect on your outlook and self-confidence.
So, you are mining all the value of your existing network by rediscovering the people in it and making new mutual acquaintances. Now add some new faces by breaking out of your existing network entirely. But how?
Visit your library: Your local library holds information on business and social events in your area, and many of these will be free.
Business support organizations: Organizations like Business Link in England and Business Gateway in Scotland offer free and impartial advice to people in business or starting their own. Many run free workshops so you can learn new skills and meet like-minded people at the same time.
Research online: Type in the keywords of your field of interest or business and search for upcoming events. You’ll soon find something within feasible travelling distance that suits your budget.
Night classes and courses: If you are planning to change careers or are coming back to work you may need to acquire a new set of skills. Short courses refresh your CV and your network too.
Volunteering: Want to learn new skills, meet new people and on a tight budget? Find your nearest volunteering centre and ask them about opportunities.
It’s generally believed that a person can only sustain around 150 meaningful social relationships; all those people you see on Facebook with 350+ friends don’t really have 350 lifelong buddies; they’ll have a few, the rest are acquaintances.
Ensure that your growing network has ‘balance’ too. Is it made up of both strong ties (people you can rely on) and weak ties (acquaintances who may present an opportunity in the future)? If one group dominates, then it may be time to redress the balance. Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder and Chairman of LinkedIn
, makes a helpful analogy to explain this process of finding ‘balance’: you have one memory card for your digital camera on a six-month trip. Because the capacity is finite, you must choose whether you want to store a few great photos at hi-res, store hundreds at lo-res, or a mixture of both. So it is with your network – you cannot maintain all your relationships at ‘hi-res’, but a huge, ‘lo-res’ network will not provide you with the support you need when times are hard. You need a mixture of both: strong ties to help and guide you on your career journey, and weak ties to refresh your network, provide new information and offer opportunities.
You may not yet be convinced by the idea of networking. Many people still have a suspicion of networking, associating it with dishonesty and aggressive deal-making. For some misguided souls, that’s what networking is: only coming out of the office when you need something, working the event to get the introduction you want, or squeezing your new contact till you get the deal you want. Effective in the short term, but you’ll make no lasting relationships.
Contemporary approaches to networking turn this short-sighted tactic on its head. It’s all about building lasting relationships first, and, crucially, offering upfront value to your new contact in the hope that someday you may reap reward in return. This kind of networker (‘go-givers’ in networking terminology) will meet new people and attempt to see the world from their eyes, listening to their needs and aspirations. He or she will then consider whether they might be of help to the other person to fulfil those needs. Could they introduce someone useful? Do they have some information they could share? This ‘help’ just has to be timely, appropriate, and of value to the other. Establishing relationships on these grounds will gain you lifelong allies.
Now let’s check that we are ‘event-ready’ from an entirely practical perspective. You may have the best attitude in the world but to be a successful networker you will also have to prepare in other ways: what do you need to take with you? Do you need a business card? Do you really need to finish your website before you tell people about it? What practical preparations do we need to make to network at events effectively? In the coming pages we consider some useful practical preparations.
Get business cards printed
Although we live in a hi-tech, increasingly paperless age, it’s a surprising fact that the business card is still a must-have item in the world of networking. The act of exchanging them is a rite of passage in itself, a sort of low-level ‘trade and contract’ between you and the person you’ve just met. The reciprocal movement of exchange also provides a physical ice-breaker and puts the two of you on a level playing field.
If you are networking on behalf of your employer, it’s likely you already have a business card. If you don’t, you need to get some, for without business cards, all your networking efforts will be for naught. If you are starting your own business then ensure you have business cards printed before you start networking. You may think that’s a start-up expense you could do without, but it’s imperative to have some and they needn’t cost much – the web is full of sites printing business cards at very little cost. If you are hoping to switch careers, you may want to consider printing a personal business card, so that you can prevent a job offer being sent to a work email. What’s on your business card? Remember, you may need more information for use internationally than you need in your own country. And you may need information in the language of the country in which you plan to network.
Petersfield Projects
Tony Fawkes M.A. Managing Director
Petersfield Projects
6 Manor Drive, Petersfield, Sussex P03 2PZ
T 01377 201564
M 097015 400400
E tony.fawkes@petersfieldprojects.co.uk
W www.petersfieldprojects.co.uk
Check your ‘back office’
Before you finalize your business cards, ensure that everything you say on the card holds true. There is nothing more infuriating than typing in a web address from a business card and finding that the website is a work in progress, or (much worse) cannot be found. Such a faux pas will speak undesirable volumes about your organizational skills, so before you give out business cards, literally do what a new contact would do. Get someone to ring your phone number and ensure that it comes directly to you, send a test email to the address printed (especially if it’s new), and double-check that the web address printed is operational. It’s amazing how many people get this terribly wrong – with permanent and disastrous results.
Do you have the appropriate kit?
Networking relies mostly on your ability to listen and converse. However, if you are in a particularly visual field of business, you may want to use equipment to help illustrate what you do. The key here is making the technology work for you, not against you. It’s going to be easier to talk over a tablet than waiting for a laptop to boot up (and necessitate sitting). Do you have comfortable and professional-looking means of carrying whatever equipment you need? Can you get it in and out of its bag easily without interrupting conversation? Think about the reality of bringing hardware into a networking situation with you. It has to look good, look easy and appropriate.
What should be on your business card?
If you have a choice about what goes on your business card, you can make it say a lot about you, or the nature of your business. Be creative, but remember that the business card is an important document:
Provide your contact details: Provide your name and your job title. Then provide your (or your company’s) address, telephone number, email address and web address.
Use a horizontal orientation: Using a landscape rather than a portrait orientation will ensure you will have space to enter your full contact details.
Use a standard size: The standard A8 or 74 × 52 mm is the desired size. Annoying business cards that won’t fit neatly in a standard wallet or card holder will not be filed properly by recipients and could get lost.
Left align all text for maximum readability: Centred text can look naïve and unprofessional, and it obstructs readability.
Use one font: Stick to one font (and its related italic/bold if necessary) to prevent your business card from looking disorganized.
Check and double-check: Proofread your business card thoroughly, and ask a friend to do the same, before you send it to print. One typo in your phone number can result in a very quiet business year if you don’t notice it.
Less is more: Don’t aim to provide any in-depth company or personal information. At the very most, you could include a strapline. You will be doing the talking, not the business card. Look again at the business card here (#u93527593-d608-43a3-b665-3c46b7c252c6) as an example.
You must put effort into planning your networking. Like any other project, you need to plan it, schedule it and monitor success. That way, you’ll spot blind alleys before time and effort is wasted, freeing you up to follow more promising leads. How you plan such a personal thing as networking is up to you. You might create a spreadsheet and enter in your goals, activities, and resulting business in it, with scheduled alerts to meet new contacts regularly. You might create a mind map connecting people and ideas in a more organic way. The choice is yours, but a few key questions will shape that plan:
What do I want to achieve for myself and my business in the long term?
Who do I want to meet to help me achieve that?
How much time/money can I spend per month?
What are my immediate networking goals at each event?
How do I measure my networking success?
Do I need different tactics for different groups?
You will have many of your own questions to add to the above, but this list may give you ideas as to how you might plan your own networking successfully.
Three tools for network planning
If you are under pressure with work or the launch of your own business, you may feel that networking doesn’t feel ‘mission-critical’ enough to waste time in its planning. If that sounds like you, then three simple tools could help you manage your networking effectively:
Scheduling: Set aside a time each week or month to plan and review your networking and block this time off in your diary. That way, you won’t feel that you must ‘find’ time amongst your other commitments – you already have it set aside. Schedule these sessions for days when you know you’ll need a break from other projects; thinking about networking and the opportunities it can bring can be a good motivator if other things aren’t going your way. If it’s in your diary, you won’t be tempted to skip planning either – networking without clear goals can be haphazard and costly.
Funding: If you are starting your own business, or are networking for personal development, it’s a good idea to factor in a monthly allowance for networking. It’s positive to think of this as a necessary start-up cost, rather than an expense you can ill afford – you want to be able to catch up with contacts for coffees and lunches without feeling that you are dipping into earnings. If a once in a lifetime opportunity comes up, having some travel funds in place means you can enjoy the experience, rather than arrive stressed-out about your bank balance and resentful of the whole affair.
Measuring: Critical to your networking planning is finding a way to measure how you’re doing. Which network events result in the greatest number of active contacts? What are my monthly networking expenses against new business generated directly from it? Which contacts do I spend most time with and are we deriving mutual benefit? Does local networking yield more useful contacts than travelling to events further afield? You may ask any number of questions like this to identify how your networking is ‘delivering’, or combine them to interrogate your results effectively. Over time, you will build up a picture of the events, places and people that are most useful to you now, and others that may become more useful later. Asking questions helps you get the ‘big picture’ of the path you are taking through your networking career, and crucially, how to take charge of planning it.
There’s nothing quite like preparation to smooth your way into an event. Many of the following pointers apply to travel anywhere, but never more so than to a network event where it’s imperative you arrive looking cool, calm and collected.
Do you really know where you’re going?
It’s likely that you will attend network events in places you don’t know, and saying ‘I’m sure I will find it okay’ won’t do if you are going to avoid getting lost. On the night before, identify your route on a paper or online map and locate the nearest bus stops, stations or car parks.
Time your travel to the minute
If you want to ensure that you arrive promptly before cliques start to form you must research how long it’s going to take you to get there. Does the event start during the morning or evening rush hour? You’ll need to factor in extra time for travel. Is there public transport or parking nearby? Some posh events may be held in places that are ‘traffic-free’. In such cases you may have to allow time for walking to a venue – possibly with a laptop bag and in new shoes.
Make a checklist and count items in
To save time and effort working out what you need every time you network, create a checklist (business cards, tablet, phone, charger etc.) and attach it to the inside of your bag to literally count those items in and out. Networking conversations can be scuppered before they even start if you’ve left one vital piece of cable or a charger at the office or the previous venue and you’ve no other way to show your products. Forgetting things looks horribly unprofessional and it’s stressful too – don’t put yourself through it.
Check the weather
Travelling from one end of the country to another to network in one day? Check what the weather will be like where you’re going and dress for that, not for where you’re leaving from. Temperatures north to south can differ wildly and you can look foolish if your clothing looks inappropriate for the weather outside. Invest in a compact brolly that can be stashed anywhere too – nothing looks worse than wet hair.
Don’t be above a dress rehearsal
If this event is really important to you, don’t be above doing a dress rehearsal – actually wearing the clothes you plan to wear, actually carrying the laptop bag for two hours, and actually walking from your hotel to the venue to check how long it takes you in new brogues. You may only have to do this a couple of times at the start of your networking ‘career’. But it can be time very well spent.
Key take-aways
Write down the things you will take away from Step 1 (#u5f7c39d7-f2e3-5788-ac00-8296a277424a) and how you will implement them.
Step 2 (#ulink_4df6e4c0-3a1a-5814-9758-f320d61eb9d7)
NETWORK EFFECTIVELY ONLINE (#ulink_4df6e4c0-3a1a-5814-9758-f320d61eb9d7)
‘Let’s get real about this. Connection is what humans crave.’ — Stephen Fry, Actor, Author, Presenter and Social Media Enthusiast
Five ways to succeed
Check your network’s social media updates every day.
Keep your social media personal profile information up to date.
Maintain your online brand consistently and with integrity.
Customize all default social media invites.
Be mindful of social media law.
Five ways to fail
Prioritize social media over face to face interaction.
Use your personal Facebook page to do business networking.
Post anything, whether business-related or not.
Respond immediately to upsetting social media activity.
Never meet social media contacts face to face.
Networking relies on keeping all your important relationships in a state of health and good repair. It’s a time-consuming activity that needs planning and motivation, especially if your network is a growing one. To help manage large networks while still staying in touch, more and more business people are complementing traditional networking methods with the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
and others. Such sites offer simple ways of keeping in regular touch that take up little time and don’t cost money. They allow you to update your whole network, or a group within it, with what’s new in your world – all in a single action. Such ‘push updates’ can help keep your contacts to feel valued and up to date.
What are the options?
While there are hordes of social networking sites out there to choose from, three could be said to be the ‘big players’ – at least at the moment.
Facebook
You may be acquainted with Facebook, so we won’t go into any detail. For personal use, Facebook allows you to create your online profile, find and add other users as friends, post photos, send messages and join like-minded groups online. In this arena, its core premise is friendship or shared experience: it’s likely you’ll know, or at least have met, everyone you add as a friend on Facebook. For professional and business use Facebook is a flexible hub for contact details, product or services information, engaging content and interacting with clients. See www.facebook.com (http://www.facebook.com).
LinkedIn
Presence on LinkedIn
is increasingly seen as a ‘must-have’ in the world of business. Users create a personal profile including their curriculum vitae, key skills and expertise, detailed work experience and more. Literally designed to extend and enhance the process of networking, registered users can invite anyone with whom they have some level of professional relationship to become a ‘connection’, effectively providing the user with a database of contacts and their specialist knowledge. Business people use it to stay in touch, stay abreast of the job market, or seek work. Employers use it to list jobs, search for, and check out potential candidates. By showing the user the connections of their connections, LinkedIn
also demonstrates opportunities for introductions through mutual contacts. See www.linkedin.com (http://www.linkedin.com).
Twitter
Twitter is a social networking service whose core premise is that of ‘micro-blogging’, where users post and read messages or ‘Tweets’ of 140 characters or less. To receive Tweets, you must follow people or groups that interest you, whether they be friends, celebrities, brands, columnists, newspapers – or interesting strangers. Tweets are presented in a timeline, creating a concise and immediate digest of what’s happening in the world that interests you. Unlike Facebook, there’s no assumption that you need to know someone before following them. It is acceptable to follow, say, a celebrity, and open dialogue with them by replying to their Tweets. It is perhaps this lure of instant access to high-profile people that has been central to the ever-increasing popularity of Twitter. If you follow someone and they then choose to follow you, a further layer of communication is offered in the form of ‘direct messaging’ or the ‘DM’. These Tweets are not public, but can be exchanged between two parties who follow each other in addition to default public Tweets. See www.twitter.com (http://www.twitter.com).
What are their intended audiences?
LinkedIn
is strictly professional – the work-life you, always at your best; Facebook, though most used for personal updates, is increasingly being harnessed by people to profile their business or profession entirely distinct from their personal Facebook account. Twitter can be used judiciously to post updates that may appeal to both personal and professional contacts – you could think of it as ‘first-date you’ – the whole story, but at its best.
We’ve identified the options, but what, in real terms, do you ‘do’ with social media? What functions can they carry out to enhance and extend your face to face networking?
How should I use them?
Looking at some key areas of social media sites will get you started, allowing you to learn more on the way.
Review your profile: On sites where your employment information, work and skills are displayed, such as LinkedIn®, ensure they’re correct. Ensure that your profile is complete, proofed, and bang up to date.
Check what your contacts are doing: Your daily routine should include checking what your contacts are doing via their status updates and posts on Facebook, LinkedIn® or Twitter etc. Use this information to help initiate and personalise your contact with them. So, for example, you may congratulate someone within LinkedIn® for their new job status update, or, contrastingly, email a contact after seeing their Tweet about an event they’d attended. Opening with ‘Hi, I saw your Tweet about the London event – it sounded great!’ gives you an excuse for getting in touch, and shows you’re taking long-term interest.
Post regular updates: Known informally as ‘pinging’, posting regular updates to LinkedIn®, Twitter and Facebook helps keep you in the front of many people’s minds. Share information and articles through these platforms to offer value to your contacts in an efficient manner. Pinging allows others to passively digest what’s going on in your life and what your hopes are. From your posts they’ll build a picture of your goals and aspirations. If they want to respond, they can and will.
Ask or answer questions: People like answering a question authoritatively: if you want a reaction from your social media network, ask a question! LinkedIn® has an answers feature where you can both ask and answer questions, giving you the opportunity to demonstrate your curiosity about business and showcase your knowledge to an interested audience.
Post comments or likes: Make personal contact quickly by commenting on someone’s status on Facebook or LinkedIn®. If you are pushed for time, even hitting ‘like’ or re-Tweeting will bring your name to the front of someone’s mind briefly, making them feel good about the fact you noticed.
Endorse: LinkedIn’s® endorsement function allows you to attest to a contact’s skills and expertise. Use this feature only to authenticate skills that are proven. By endorsing judiciously, everyone wins. Your contact builds a strong and verified skills profile, you give them a useful and appropriate ‘gift’, and everyone feels good about the transaction. Most people you endorse will also reciprocate in their own time.
Social media and privacy
Making social media work for, not against you, relies on having a strong awareness at all times of what you want people to see and what you don’t.
Facebook and privacy
If you’re starting your own business, create a Facebook page for the business itself, entirely removed from your own page on Facebook. Then you can maintain two discrete accounts, promoting your professional image on your business page, while keeping your off-duty presence (and friends) private on your personal account. Keep these parts of your life separate – you don’t want clients to see you in a compromising snap. Furthermore, if and when you do create a Facebook account for your business or profession, check that your personal account is then private, meaning access to your photos and information is only available to those you’ve carefully accepted as friends. Bear in mind that some big companies now block the use of Facebook by staff – even remote staff. If Facebook is your main medium for social media business promotion, ensure that companies you hope to work with are keen on using Facebook.
Twitter
Because you will aim to have followers on Twitter who are both personal and professional contacts, be careful what you write. Be positive. Never swear. If you are having a bad day, don’t Tweet about it. Negativity and cynicism can be a turn-off, and criticism of others can be dangerous. Read on for more information on social media and the law.
What makes a brand? Perhaps an important element is consistency: a strong brand creates clear associations in our minds. Stop anyone in the street and they could probably describe the core values of Coca Cola, Sony or Apple in a few words, and those very words would resemble those chosen by other people. But people are brands too. Consider celebrities: the more successful they are, the more they embody one core persona. You expect them to look and behave in a certain way. We feel comfortable when people are consistent, and harnessing this simple human preference for consistency can be a powerful tool in successful networking. We’ve seen in the preceding Steps that your face-to-face brand is extremely important, and you’ve been working hard to develop it. You also need to do the same with your online presence.
To take networking seriously you may have to work on your online brand; the brand that is you. ‘Google’ yourself on the Internet – it can be an eye opener. This is what a new contact could find if they wanted to do some background research on you. It’s up to you to start creating the picture you want to present: professional, positive and consistent.
Building your online brand
Creating an online brand sounds complicated, but it isn’t: it’s simply the process of ensuring that what people can find about you online is consistent with, and underlines, the persona you’ve worked hard to develop face to face. It’s checking that everything hangs together, and creates a holistic picture of someone trustworthy and professional.
Act on your Google results: Did you see anything up there that you wouldn’t want potential clients to see? If they’re within your control, take them down or lock them down to friends only. Negotiate with friends who’ve posted embarrassing snaps or posts about you. Use your judgement – everyone relaxes on holidays and nights out, so don’t become too obsessive. But if you’re portrayed breaking the law, bending rules, or playing hookie from work, remove this material.
Think of your social media as a suite: Scrutinize your LinkedIn® profile and posts, your Tweets, your Facebook activity, and your blog if you have one. Each of these media serve different purposes with different levels of formality, but underneath that, do you hear a core, consistent voice running through them? If not, you may need to spend more time considering how you want to come across, and keep this in the front of your mind every time you post, re-Tweet or upload. We’ll look at this in detail next.
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