I recently did a two part podcast on BNI Podcast.com with Dr. Ivan Misner, the Father of Modern Networking and NY Times Bestselling author. We discussed aligning offline and online networking, both of which I consider to be very important for business. While I suggest you pop over to listen to the podcasts, here are the main points for those of you in a hurry.
In the podcasts, Ivan and I discussed the fact that you can keep track of and stay in touch with offline business contacts through LinkedIn and other social media networks. It works the other way around, as well. Often you get a chance to meet people that you know from online and this can be a great way to really cement the rapport you have from Facebook or Twitter. There is no reason why online and offline networking need to be two separate things . . . in fact, they work best together.
Many people are anxious about social media not because of the networking, but because of the technology side of things. They simply don’t feel comfortable with it, but the fact of the matter is, networking is networking, no matter where you do it. The same rules apply in both mediums and you’ll find that if you forget about the technology for a minute and focus on building relationships with the people you meet, you’ll be just fine.
A few of the networking rules that people tend to forget when forging relationships online include:
Listening – you can’t build a relationship without paying attention to other people, but there are a lot of people who simply don’t understand this and just blast their information and links out there without ever stopping to listen to what others are saying.
Planning – if you don’t know where you’re going, it’s going to be pretty difficult to get there! That means you need to think things through and lay out a plan that you can follow, with concrete goals. I actually discuss this in more detail on the podcast.
Interacting – you can’t jump into social media and then have nothing to do with anyone else. It’s not going to work! You need to be listening (first rule here) and then responding to what other people are saying. This is very important if you want to be successful.
We went over several other rules that you should be following if you are looking to be successful at networking, both online and off. There are many ways to break into social media networking and start building up relationships. Be consistent, listen to what everyone else is talking about and join them in conversation. Also, have a plan and follow it to really be successful.
And, don’t forget the VCP (Visibility – Credibility – Profitability) process that Ivan discusses! This definitely applies to all kinds of networking.
You can listen to the podcasts here, and I would love to hear what you think:
Offline & Online Networking – Part One
Offline & Online Networking – Part Two
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