Ooooo the night has finally arrived of the networking event, you have waited for this night for weeks. You have your name badge clipped onto your freshly ironed shirt, your cup of tea or coffee in your hand and you are stood in a room full of people – some of which you have seen before and others you are yet to meet. You have a vague idea of what they do and most people look as nervous as you...
Your friend is at home, no make-up on, wearing tracksuit bottoms and a big t-shirt. Their laptop is in front of them by chance, TV on in the background and they have just ‘networked’ with the head of a worldwide PR agency...
How did that happen?!
Networking has been revolutionised by the Internet. No longer are you required to attend events to mix with a group of people similar to yourself, the Internet has effectively made the world smaller. Online Networking is extremely convenient as you are able to networking with someone on the other side of the world at any time of day, you do it in your own time and your own pace and if you don’t want to speak to anyone – you don’t have to!
Twitter and LinkedIn have opened up the world of work, making it easy to search for people who may be of interest as you are able to search by sector, name and company. People are now more accessible than ever, how else would you be able to engage in correspondence with industry leaders who you might never meet?
Twitter chats are also a popular way to meet with people who share similar interests, for example for PR it would be #commschat.
With online networking you don’t waste time probing them with questions, you can find out exactly who they are, what they do, their current and past positions and sometimes even their relationship status with the click of a mouse.
However it is important that offline networking has its advantages, nothing is as good as a face to face meeting. Seeing someone in the flesh gives you endless advantages, you can assess body language and facial expressions and answers are always in real time. Where has the art of conversation gone? What is wrong with asking people what they do? Spending time with people, asking them questions and expressing an interest can sometimes mean that you forge longer and stronger relationships in the long run. Also it must not be forgotten that meanings can be changed over email or tweets and let’s be honest....just how much information can you put into 140 characters?
Networking is probably one of the easiest ways to market your business and as with most tools in the marketing toolbox it is much more effective when combined with other tools so use a combination of offline and online networking, strike a balance.
Just make sure that when you do it, either online or offline, you remember that you represent the business at all times. However, one of the main advantages with online networking is that there is a delete button...if only we had that in real life!
Article Written by Carli Smith
Visit Inferno Designs for more on Company Branding and Company Web Design.
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