Are you good at staying in touch?

Like many others at this time of year we receive a number of letters from old friends summing up the year just gone by. It's great to hear about the stories they share. Sadly this seems to be the only time of year we do hear from some people. So it is great to find that more and more old friends, colleagues and acquaintances are creating profiles and posting updates on social networks and social media sites.

My experience is that online networks are great for staying in touch and a really good way to get started is to connect with the people you already know. You can also reconnect with people you have lost touch with. The major ones for me are Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and Ecademy.

I created my profile on Linkedin about six years ago. More and more people I meet express the view that Linkedin is increasingly more important for business connections.

I joined Ecademy six years ago too and I have found it great for two things;
1. Connecting with some great people and building friendships through the clubs that meet offline.
2. Learning all about online social networks and social media.

I joined Facebook more recently and it is very useful for both social and business communication. I have a personal profile and a business one too. On the social side I am regularly in touch with family and friends who share news and photos. On the business side I can interact with people with similar interests.

Twitter is great for sharing content and signposting others to the useful stuff that people in my network provide regularly.

For more how the online fits into networking generally see 'How to Effectively Combine Offline & Online Networking'.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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Advocacy by Penny Power

I was really pleased when Ecademy founder Penny Power asked if she could quote me on Advocacy in her new book Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me - what online social networking means for you and your business.

Penny was at a meeting when I presented and subsequently wrote about here a couple of years ago on networking for advocates. She wrote about this in her book and what she learned about advocacy.

"The greatest aspect of 'like me' is is the power of creating advocates around your knowledge, people who will 'talk about you when you are not in the room'. To me this is real network value. 'Know me' cannot achieve this ... you cannot achieve this advocacy without having a relationship with that advocate."

Read more from Penny at the Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me Blog.

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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Everyone has something to say

Ecademy have been running a series of blogs about members to inspire others and show the power of social networking. In the 11th Community Story Steven Healey shares his story and provides great a couple of great insights into networking in general:

"To me networking is about listening... everyone has something to say.

To me networking is about doing... unless you take action nothing happens."

If you have the time read the whole story at the link above.

If you are wondering how to get started then follow Steven's challenge:

"My challenge is a simple one - Take the first step.

If you start networking online, and simply create a profile on a website then sit back waiting for the world to beat a path to your door... nothing will happen.

You need to be the one who takes the first step.

Write a blog, and interact with the people who comment... then write another blog.

Write an email, and interact with the person to whom you sent it , then write another email. Greet people at meetings , listen to what they have to say. Repeat until you know everyone in the room. Take the first step if someone needs help and you (or the people in your network) can."

Good Networking!
Dave Clarke
Get 7 networking secrets for business success

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business networking | business networking events | business networking podcast

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