As you read this article you might be wondering… What can networking do for me? You’re too busy. You’re overworked and overwhelmed. How do you have the time to add another event to your day? You have a growing business. You have a website, a Facebook page, a blog. You tweet and have been successfully promoting your business on line. You send out marketing campaigns one after another and let’s not forget the newsletter and postcards. Whew, you’re right! You are busy. Is there time left for networking?
The first part of the definition describes those who talk together as an alliance. That means that they are all on the same side. I’ve seen plenty of networking groups that consisted of people who competed with each other. That attitude is the antithesis of a Mastermind group. You’ll have to screen every person you invite to make sure that this principle is understood.
KISS: Keep it simple, Sally. Keep your mission statement short, sweet and to the point. Recommendations are to stay within 3-4 lines for your mission statement.
You can enjoy the interaction with ‘virtual friends’ through your comments, messages, links, videos, and photos. The fun factor offers some pretty enthusiastic engagement. And Facebook offers what every software defined networking guide business wants for their brand. That is, fans and public approval.
The best way to gain an audience and build a name in this industry is to create your portfolio of quality articles. Utilize job boards and social software defined networking to advertise your work. The more traffic you gain, the more offers you’re going to get from companies asking you to produce great articles for them.
But to which events? This can be very confusing, there are thousands of networking events and groups, and even more meetups, happening every day. Folks find their favorites and talk about them as though they’re the most important ones to attend. In order to wade through all that advice and those websites, here’s how to find the right networking event for you.
Sort the list to look for qualities they all have in common (or that most of them have). Any characteristics that a majority of your best customers have? Write those all down and you’ll see a description of your best customer. Most of your networking activities now need to be focused on meeting, serving and building mutually beneficial relationships with more people like them. See my article “How to Use Networking to Find More of Your Ideal Customers and Clients” for networking tips.