To Find Your Network, To Grow Your Network and To Foster Your Network: Tips for Your Success

Social media has given us many outlets to network with others, but it’s become such a convenience to  network online, that many are neglecting the face-to-face networking that is so vital in career management. Liz Lynch has written a great book on Networking called Smart Networking: Attract a Following in Person and Online. Keith Ferrazzi has written two books on networking: Never Eat Alone and Who’s Got Your Back.

So, who comprises a network? Everyone you know, so in essence, you are networking everyday. But, how about networking events? Find out which events and meetings that your network attends to find networking events that might be helpful in your career transition. Ideally, you want to find out where your target audience hangs out. Have a clear cut strategy for these events and remember networking’s golden rule: GIVE.

I’ll share a few tips for networking:

1. Do have a business card to hand out. Make sure it includes your contact information, your job title, URL (could be your LinkedIn profile, VisualCV, web portfolio, blog, etc.). Create a short tagline that shows your unique promise of value / personal brand.
2. Create your elevator pitch. A great resource can be found at http://www.15secondpitch.com. The feature I appreciate is that they only give you 500 characters total to write your pitch. The Pitch Wizard asks you a series of questions to help you formulate your statement. Memorize this as a way to introduce yourself quickly, so you can focus on how you can give.
3. Find out how you can help others at these events. It could be as simple as sending them an article link to a resource you know about that would help them solve a challenge.
4. Do let people know you are in a career transition and are interested in networking opportunities with companies. Ask if they know anyone in your targeted companies.
5. Collect their business cards. Before you leave, make notes on the back of their business card of who they know, how you might help them, etc. Email or write a follow-up note after the networking event to let them know how much you enjoyed meeting them and be sure to include a line or two where you comment on something you discussed.

Finding networking events seems to be a challenge for most, so I’ll share a few tips here on how to find local events in your industry:

• Your local newspaper will generally list upcoming networking events with dates, times, and locations.
• If you are a member of Facebook, then type in your industry (i.e. marketing). At the bottom of the drop-down box, you will find “See more results for marketing.” You will click on this hyperlink to see the results for business pages and groups. You can further hone your search by adding a location such as your state or city/state. Many times, these geographic-specific groups will host live, networking events and give you a chance to meet your fellow group members.
• On LinkedIn, you will see “Groups” on the toolbar. When you click “Groups,” you will see a dropdown of choices. Click “Groups Directory” and search for industry-specific groups and you can narrow your search by including geographic location. Like Facebook, belonging to these groups may provide you with opportunities to have in-person, networking events.
• TweetUps are organized through Twitter and can be industry-specific groups as well. You can use a service like Twtvite (http://twtvite.com/) to organize a TweetUp or to create your own networking group.
• If you are interested in online networking, Twitter has lots of different chats, including #HireFriday, #JobHuntChat, and more. You can find a growing list of chats at this website link: http://tinyurl.com/TwitterChatList.

Again, your network includes everyone you know, so make sure to remember them on important dates. When you read something that they might enjoy or benefit, send them the article or blog link. Keep them top of mind, so you will stay top of mind with them.

Your network needs to grow. If you stay in a comfort zone with the same people, you may be missing critical relationships that could facilitate new opportunities, whether it be career advancement, the potential to work on a coveted project, and much more.