 There’s more to social networking than social media
Call us iconoclastic. How can we possibly bash social media in the age of social media—and post it online, no less? Don’t worry. We’re not that obtuse. But we just want to make it clear that networking your business often transcends social platforms. That said, we like LinkedIn. (And we cross-post our blogs, in teaser form, there, so if we bashed them, would they censor us?) It offers lots of opportunities to network, so before we move into other realms, let’s tease out some nice details and features you may not know about. Make LinkedIn work in reverse Once you start feeding it information, LinkedIn can be downright uncanny in its ability to generate lists of “people you may know.” You’ve surely seen this feature, and clicked through it, and probably connected to numerous people this way. But when’s the last time you did this? And did you know that the list is dynamic? That is, as soon as you add a new contact to your network, LinkedIn generates a new list of “people you may know.” Granted, that list won’t be radically different if you just add one new connection. But if you add several, stand back. The results are impressive. This leads to basic LinkedIn protocol, which you should follow if you don’t already: As soon as you make a connection with someone via some other means, find them and connect with them on LinkedIn. It’s a nice, polite practice (We always include a friendly cover note, such as “It was good talking to you today. We look forward to working with you soon; meantime, let’s connect via LinkedIn.”). Plus it’s a great way to help LinkedIn generate a more useful list of “people you may know.” Just like that. So what’s this teaser about “making LinkedIn work in reverse”? Well, if you want someone to check out your profile, check out theirs. Depending upon how they've configured their preferences, there’s a good chance that they’ll get an update from LinkedIn showing how many people have checked out their profile recently, with an irresistible button to click to “See who’s been looking.” Ta dah! You got someone to check you out. This is a good reason to keep your own LinkedIn profile current, well populated, and linked to your own (awesome) website. You want to keep these clickable connections as enticing and organic as possible. Beyond LinkedIn A lot of these options and venues are pretty obvious. Yeah, there are zillions of other social platforms, from Twitter to Instagram. Reddit can be useful for passionately geeky connections. And YouTube is awesome when the content is appropriate. But you knew all that. You also know that trade shows are a natural place to make new connections and re-establish old ones. And their in-person nature is still incomparable, despite trends toward slackening attendance and the shows’ attempts to grow their participation online/virtually. If you’ve read other entries in this blog, you’ll know we’re big proponents of the Live First, Phone Second, and Online Third hierarchy for business development. But here’s one other way to find new clients you might not have considered. We’d stumbled upon this method accidentally/serendipitously many years ago, and it’s still great when the opportunity arises. It goes like this: Sometimes you need to find a new vendor. Yet your search for a vendor can often lead to new clients, and/or new work from old clients. Think about it. If you need a vendor for a project—say, a translator, a graphic artist, a videographer, a Storyline producer, etc.—how would you go about it? Sure, you could post on social. You could start a conversation within one of the LinkedIn groups to which you belong. This happens all the time; you can see it in the threads. But—even as you embark on a very real search for a vendor—you derive added benefit by reaching out, one-to-one (by phone and email), to both clients and other vendors (of different services) in your network. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll find. Not only will you get valuable contacts for new vendors, but you’ll put yourself out there as someone who needs these services done. In other words, don’t regard this assignment as a chore (“I need to find a vendor.”). Look at it as an amazing opportunity to connect and re-connect with lots of people; it’s like your own little private trade show. You’re sure to come away with new client leads, and quite possibly new assignments from old clients. This is just one way to approach business development. Need help with others? Contact us. We’d be happy to oblige.
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