The Networking Blog

You just opened up a new business. Best of luck to you!

Well, luck isn’t really the key for success here. A good idea is important, timing people will say is crucial, and of-course L-O-C-A-T-I-O-N (usually said three times). But is that all?

We think not.

As a partner in more than one business I think one of the most important things is to let people know you have a business. It’s not that obvious: most people would think that they need to talk (or write for that matter) about their business only with customers and suppliers. This attitude could be the downside of your business, Let’s review this:

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Chester French is a talented two-man show. Let’s hear some of their rock music, and then talk about how they network their way to the fans:

The song you’ve just heard is titled “She loves everybody”. While this song helped them reach out to a larger audience, it wasn’t a huge hit, and wasn’t enough to promote their debut album “Love the Future”.

Traditional musicians rely on their record company to promote their act by using Public Relations offices, posters in record stores, etc.

But D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey took a different path: they’re promoting their music through networking.

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After mapping the first places to start your network, we can be creative on the next places to look at. The idea is that networking should be part of your day and spotting opportunities  everywhere. If all this doesn’t make sense to you, that’s OK.  In this post I’ll try to  demonstrate from my personal experience and the people around me, which are naturally part of my network, how to establish first connections outside your family and friends.

The first thing to remember and to understand is you must be active and consistent about your growing network. This means that connections in most cases won’t built up by themselves. Let’s review the possibilities:

How active are you physically? Do you work out? jog? swim or cycle? If not, you should, and for more than the one reason. Put a side the obvious health advantages  of being fit and the pleasure of it, taking part of any sport is a great way of getting to know people. In other words – establishing connections.

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Everybody heard about Twitter, the ultra-viral micro blogging service. In future posts we’ll show how to use Twitter for networking. Today we’re going to focus on a by-product of Twitter – Tweetups, or Twitter meet-ups in human language.

Twitter is young: it aired only in 2006, when other social networks were already strong in the market. In the last year or so, it’s popularity leaped worldwide.

The short 140 format makes it easy to use and easy to follow. Naturally, you follow and get followed by people you know. Later you become exposed to more people that share a common interest.

After reaching a critical mass, communities began evolving around the “Twittersphere”. This critical mass means that not only geeks use it, but the general public. So, people that get to know each other via very short messages want to get together in real life. So, tweetups were born.

A Tweetup is a Networking Event

Tweetups are usually held once a month during the evening at a bar. This allows for a relaxed and not to formal atmosphere. But the attendants of this event didn’t solely to drink a beer before going home.

Attendants of tweetups are usually people who want to connect. They come also for meeting their virtual friends in real life, but they usually come with an agenda. The name tags with the @TwitterUser mean that a tweetup is a networking event, not a geek get-together.

Many times, the audience of tweetups has a tendency towards the internet sector, and internet marketing in particular, but it’s not a bunch of programmers…

So, tweetups are significant networking events, and especially important for those of you who want to connect to people in the internet sector.

How can I find out about upcoming Tweetups?

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Using links in blog posts is very common – you often cite sources to prove your point or quote an article that you’re referring to. Linking to other people’s blogs is also very valuable for networking purposes. Here are 4 ways of linking.

Why link?

Linking to a fellow blogger draws his attention in a positive way. In his blog dashboard he sees an incoming link from you, and he also sees incoming traffic. He also may get new readers to his blog, readers that came from your network.

This a gesture of good will that is taken positively. It can lead to having him thank you via your blog, or perhaps by a personal email. So, a link is good way of igniting a connection.

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The best and most straightforward way to utilize your blog for networking is commenting on other people’s blogs. Here are a few tips for commenting.

Maintaining a blog is an excellent way to present yourself on the web. Contrary to social media sites, a web log enables you to control the design, write how much you want and set the agenda.

Having your own domain name also enhances your presence on the web and makes it easier to find you via search engines.

So my blog helps me present myself, but we’re here to talk about networking, right?

The best way to communicate with a blog is commenting on other blogs. If you wish to communicate and connect to another person who has a blog, head there and comment on one of the latest blog posts.

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Everyone has a network. Not everybody knows it, and not everyone knows how to use it. In this post I’ll try to show how to map your current network as a first step to expansion in the future.

I believe that the base of every network, online or not, is the people around you. It doesn’t matter (and this is important) if your network is for business or any other purposes. You should always start with the people who know you and are in most cases fond of you.

Family – a lot of people have a hard time regarding to their family as part of their network, which is understandable due to the fact that most people are used to get a hot meal from their moms and not talk business. The funny thing is that in many cases family members can be strategic connections in your network. The advantages of family members are of a wide range. In some cases it could be your parents that naturally have years of experience in their field of work, or a sibling, an uncle or aunt. The family has two great advantages, they are very approachable when in need, and usually one can find a wide variety of professions in the family.

Of course there are  families who network only in the family…

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