Time is always of the essence. We all have the same amount each week, each day, each year. However, how we choose to spend our time is what defines a profitable business person from a busy professional. If you are an entrepreneur, I know you are always thinking of ways on how to grow your business for free and fast. Guilty! I've been there; done that, now what? The following article takes a look at why and how you should create a business networking presence online. Yes, networking online is worth your time and we will give you 6 simple tips to help you create and establish a powerful online presence that will get you the results you need. Let's look at the why first.
1. People communicate differently. Some people want to type their way into your heart, others prefer the phone and some still prefer face to face contact. Networking online appeals to people who check email, search online and just people in general who grew up with personal computers or other devices that connect us to people fast. Fast, is the reason you want to have a powerful networking presence. People are in a hurry to find what they want and they generally buy from the first vendor who responds, offers a "good" price and follows up.
2. Why Not? It doesn't hurt to have a networking presence that works for you. Networking online can work against you if you are not disciplined to set a specific amount of time to update your profiles, interact with friends or business contacts. You can get sucked into what you think might be prospecting, but could very well be a time suck.
3. Before you venture into 5 or 6 different, business networking sites, evaluate prior to joining. Start with a search as simple as adding the following keywords into Goolge search engine: business networking site. Visit all of the business networking sites on the first 2 pages of Google, which should provide you with 20 or so sites to visit. You should have a reaction to the homepage almost immediately. Find a button or link that allows you to take a tour. If you want to consider sites that might be starting up, then go beyond page two in the search results. Sites that appear within the first 20 results are sites that either have the funding to grow by advertising or sites that have grown organically, which is a good thing for you either way. You want to be a part of something that will generate leads or possible business connections/opportunities for you without much effort from you. Once you have your list of 5-6, you may want to check out how do the sites compete against each other at compete.com. If you type in the name of two competing websites on the home page of compete.com, you will get statistics that will show whether or not the network is growing.
4. Content is King. Your content on your profile and your ability to keep your friends or contacts connected, will remind your contacts of your products or services. Next, keep it positive, even if you enjoy a little bit of sarcasm. When reading, people might not understand your tone or message.
5. Networking within your sphere of influence is just as important as earning new friendships or contacts. Life as an entrepreneur is a numbers game. The more people you meet, the more your brand, product or service gets in front of potential clients/customers. If you are a big business and you're establishing a networking presence, you have yet another tool to communicate with your clientele in a manner that suits his or her communication style.
6. Manage your time. 5 or 6 networking is a lot. So, you may want to consider ping.fm, which is a service that will update your networks for you. In some cases, spend 30 minutes per day making new contacts. Some contacts may not want to network with you, which is fine. Not everyone will be in need of your product or service at the time you approach them.
Articles like the one written above can be found on Bizintros.com, which is a startup, business networking community that encourages business professionals to share their expertise and build their referral network among local and global professionals in various industries. On Bizintros.com, you gain instant access to exclusive groups and educational content that will help you build a better more profitable business.
