There are many, many web sites available to those who wish to explore online networks. How do you select the appropriate ones for your business objectives and get started?
1. Clearly define what you have to give and what benefits you expect to receive from connecting with people online. This may sound obvious, but it is a critical first step. In order to focus, you have to know what to focus on. Requests for support and connections are most effective when they are extremely specific. Who do you want to connect with? What roles? What industries? And what do you have to offer? Think not only in terms of your business development objectives, but other assets -your contacts and expertise. Write it all down - you're going to need it later.
2. Join some of the general-purpose business networking sites. This will get you familiar with the practice and help you start making some connections. Some of the best ones for business development purposes are:
For more guidance on selecting between these sites, visit our Directory of Social Networking Sites and Services
3. Create a profile. Remember, much of the benefit of online networking is that you can build your business "passively", by creating an attractive profile for yourself. In order for that to work, you have to set up a profile that attracts connections and gives people enough information about both you and your company to determine if you might be a good connection. You don't have to write your life's history, but you should provide details about your recent professional history and interests, as well as personal interests which you are willing to make public and use as a basis for connecting.
4. Participate. These online communities don't work unless you work them. You can't reasonably expect to derive value from your participation unless you are also willing to create value. Watch for opportunities to contribute your expertise to the public conversation, or to make connections between others, just as you would want others to do for you.
5. Focus. Identify the niche communities where the people you want to meet are active. If you are able to do this at the outset, you may want to skip step 2 above. But your best avenue for finding these niche communities is to connect with some of the people in that target group in the larger, public networks, get to know them, and then find out where else they connect. Many of the niche communities will not be highly visible as "networking" sites -in fact, they may just be e-mail discussion lists and hard to discover through search engines. You find out about them by knowing the right people.
It's worth noting that online networking doesn't just take place in "networking" sites any more than face-to-face networking only takes place at networking events. The interest in social networking technology by analysts, investors, and members has certainly increased the interest and activity level, but like many other technology trends, its popularity may fade. The practice of building business relationships online will not, though - in fact, it will increase in popularity to the point that it is no longer considered a separate practice, but an integral part of business development strategy.
The explosion in both memberships in these sites and press coverage of this phenomenon in the past year indicate that this technology is now crossing the chasm into the mainstream. As of late 2006, LinkedIn is rapidly approaching 8 million members, and Xing is nearing 2 million members.
The early adopters of the practice will be the ones who are best positioned to take advantage of that growth, which makes now a good time to start.
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David Teten and Scott Allen are coauthors of The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online, the first book on how to accelerate your sales, recruit star employees, and land quality investors with online networks. Specifically, the authors discuss social network sites, blogs, virtual communities, and related tools. You can download the book for free at TheVirtualHandshake.com, the authors' extensive resource site.