The Road Ahead : Networking at the beginning of a new Decade

In an article at the end of 2008 I talked about how we were on the verge of a new age of networking in the UK, with the move away from referral networks, a more considered approach to networking by businesses and in particular, the growth of choice for businesses using social networks. Little did I know the extent of the changes to come so quickly.

Just one month after writing the article I joined Twitter. Founded in 2006, 2009 really has been the year of Twitter. According to Jason Keath of socialfresh.com, Twitter membership has grown from between two and four million users at the beginning of the year to forty million now. With the increased popularity of Blackberries, iPhones and other Smartphone technology, people can ‘tweet’ on the move…and they like it.

Although I could see big changes in networking to come at the beginning of 2009, the popularity of Twitter and other online networks has moved networking on at a pace I certainly didn’t predict. The worldwide economic climate has also had a big impact on the way businesses and individuals network and its importance to them.

So what can we expect in the year ahead? I want to look at the impact the recession has had and continues to have, on business networking; what we can expect from both online and face to face networks and also the changing importance networking will have for larger businesses.

Social Media

Given the impact that Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have had on business networking this year, the online world seems the obvious place to start.

The most popular social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, are not ‘business networks’ in the true sense of the term, having been created for social use. However businesses are increasingly embracing all of them.

MySpace is the home for bands, artists and others in the entertainment industry. Other businesses have been more comfortable using Facebook and Twitter, but many of them slowly and reluctantly. I still find that most of my clients, particularly those working for larger organisations, are unsure about using Facebook despite the growth of business pages, ‘fan’ pages and pay per click advertising. Those that do use it prefer to focus purely on using it for social purposes.

There are, however, a growing number of people using Facebook for business. The big brands are making sure they have a presence on the site but it’s mainly smaller businesses, particularly micro-businesses, who use it actively.

In my previous article I said that we needed to move away from people simply looking to connect with as many people as possible across all social networks. This is still a problem. It seems to me that many of the people using Facebook for business still try to build as big a network as possible without worrying about building the relationships. That goes for both large and small businesses. People need to start realizing that networking is about engagement not numbers.

If we can get back to real engagement across Facebook and people become comfortable with who they allow to cross the ‘business/friends’ threshold and what they share with them, we may well see more people working in larger businesses open up their Facebook network to work contacts. There is still a lot of understandable nervousness about doing this so it will be a gradual process.

The growth of Twitter has had an impact on Facebook however.

Twitter has an unfair reputation of being a waste of time, with the common put down being “why would you be interested if someone’s having a coffee?” Many businesses are using Twitter very effectively though, with Dell Computers attributing $3 million worth of revenue to their Dell Outlet Twitter account*.

Savvy business people are raising their profile through Twitter, using the network to share their blogs, build their reputation, ask key questions and more. It’s a great way of keeping your finger on the pulse of business and world affairs and to continually engage with your network. Not only that, it’s also incredibly viral, with your followers happy to share your wisdom with their network with just the click of a button.

The quick hit of a 140 character Tweet makes the site more appealing to many time-poor business networkers than other social networks and this is perhaps where Facebook has taken a hit. Maintaining interest and engagement in a Facebook Group set up for your business can be quite time consuming, while you can dip in and out of Twitter quite quickly and painlessly. Some people who have started to develop a Facebook strategy have quickly left it behind and focused their attention on Twitter.

I anticipate that Facebook will continue to grow over the coming year and I do think that there will be more business use. Twitter’s popularity will, however, restrict that use and many people will prefer to simply post on Twitter and let that feed through to their Facebook page.

I believe that simply feeding one social network with your content from another is a mistake. Wherever possible we should treat each social network individually, based on what we are looking to achieve from it. Why use multiple networks for one purpose?

The language used on Twitter looks out of place on a Facebook page and automated feeding of updates doesn’t discriminate. As a result, some people’s Facebook pages have become meaningless lists of one side of various conversations and couldn’t be less likely to engage visitors. I’d love to see this habit die out. Yet we will still see more applications making it easy for us to update multiple social networks at one time, leaving less differentiation between networks and less reason for people to visit each one of the networks of which they are a member.

Many major marketing agencies now have specialists focusing on social media strategy. I do have a concern that the more the bigger brands embrace Facebook and Twitter, the more smaller businesses could disengage from the sites. Whatever size the business, we need to use these sites to speak with our networks, our customers and our prospects. It’s important to have a two-way process and listen as much as broadcast if the networks are going to maintain their popularity.

As well as the social networks, there are specific business online networks, with LinkedIn enjoying the most successful 2009. Based on the principle of six degrees of separation, LinkedIn is, in my opinion, the site that offers the clearest and potentially best rewards from online networking sites. The trouble is that most people don’t know how to use it effectively.

An article in the Wall Street Journal on December 30th reported how LinkedIn have been opening up to third party developers who want to create applications for the site, much as Facebook have. This is on the basis that LinkedIn users spend much less time on the site than users of other social networks, such as Facebook. (Visitors spent about 13 minutes on average at LinkedIn during October, while Facebook users logged about 213 minutes and MySpace users spent 87 minutes.)

While the right third party applications will help to enhance the LinkedIn experience for some, I think that the focus is in the wrong place. Offering users more applications risks confusing many members, as other sites have found. LinkedIn should focus instead on educating their members on how to make the most of the site. The fact is that you should be able to spend less time on LinkedIn than on other sites and still get greater rewards if you use the site effectively and target the right return.

Now more people have become aware of the potential of LinkedIn, I’d like to see it coming into its own as a referral generation site over the next year and I’m already seeing signs of that happening, I’ve certainly received more requests for connections through LinkedIn in the last few months than ever before.


Face to face networks

So where does this leave the face-to-face networks? There have been fears expressed that the growth of online networks and their convenience will make people less likely to want to attend physical events. Although some people have taken that approach, I think the opposite is true.

While online networks help to broaden our connections and raise our profile, I remain a great believer that you cannot build the same depth of relationship online that you can when you see the whites of people’s eyes. The growth in popularity certainly affects the development of face-to-face networking though.

There has already been a move by a number of face-to-face networks to develop a strong online arm to complement their offering. From alliances with existing social networks to the development of their own online networks (as demonstrated by 4Networking’s 4Community in the UK), traditional networks recognise that they can’t be left behind by the online revolution.

The challenge for them is the reticence of some members of traditional networks to get involved online, together with the growth in the number of social networks. People don’t want to be members of too many. With that in mind, they need to get enough members involved to develop a strong enough discussion to make it worth people’s time visiting and to keep them there. If they can achieve that, they can offer their members a much deeper service, connecting them with each other in person and online and bringing groups around the country, or the World, together.

The growth of online networking has also impacted on face to face networking through more meetings stemming from online groups. The Meetup site has spawned a number of such groups, many stemming from LinkedIn, while Tweetups have grown in popularity too.

This has led to a greater diversity of choice of events; with the growth of niche networks predicted in my previous article. There are networking events for people looking for investment, those interested in property, people in fashion, the arts, the media, bloggers, politics, women’s networks… the list is endless.

The choice of events available to businesses wanting to network means that traditional groups, from Chambers of Commerce to referral networks such as BNI, will have to keep on their toes, keep thinking creatively and perhaps look for ways to enhance their offering and continue to innovate if they are to maintain their relevance to their existing membership and attract new members.

The abundance of networking options also affects the membership fees traditionally charged by networking organisations. With a host of events available for free, members of networking groups will want to see higher fees fully justified. The upside of this is that more businesses are looking to see what the return on their networking investment is, and thinking through how they spend their time. It will be a struggle for some larger organisations though, who rely on such fees to stay in business.

The Wider World

The economic crisis over the last two years will provide one source of consolation to traditional networks. While there is far greater choice than ever for people looking to network, there are also many more people who want and need to do so. The sheer number of redundancies will have led to a surge in consultants and micro businesses, people choosing to take their chances and go it alone rather than risk trying to find another job in a tough and uncertain market. The first piece of advice they are likely to have received when setting up their business in many cases will have been, “go out and network”.

Additionally, I expect to see more networking activity from corporate sales teams in the coming years. The budget cuts forced by the recession, together with the rise in popularity of LinkedIn among staff nervous about their jobs, has raised the profile of networking as a route to market. Sales teams are beginning to recognise the need to work smarter and attend more events. Budget holders are also demanding greater results from staff who previously just ticked the box by attending events. Now they feel more pressure to show a return on the investment.

My only concern is the perceived need to show short-term results. Traditionally sales people from large organisations have followed their instincts and looked to sell at events. When they have inevitably failed, they’ve written off networking as a route to market. For corporates to realise the potential from networks, they have to take a much more strategic, long-term view and give their teams the confidence and freedom to build relationships, help others in their network and generate referrals over time.

Similarly, away from networking events, sales teams have a wealth of potential new business introducers within their existing networks if they embrace a strong referral strategy. It’s time for them to move away from looking at referrals as an afterthought at the end of a client meeting and hone a more focused approach. Marketing teams have shown that they recognise the power of word of mouth marketing through viral and buzz marketing, as well as social media. The next step is to develop this into the referral arena. This will take time and I’m not sure that we will see this on a wide scale in the immediate future.


Networking Internally

Of course, networking is not just about sales and perhaps its key role currently in corporate life is in personal career development. This is a trend that I expect to see continuing and perhaps even accelerating.

With less job security and flatter management structures providing fewer opportunities to progress, people need to network to develop their career. There is less of a culture of ‘a job for life’ than even ten years ago and people’s networks both internally and externally play an ever-stronger role in their career planning.

If you work in a large organisation you need to have a strong profile across departments if you want to progress your career. Internal networks play an important part in helping people make the connections and have the conversations they need. Most major organisations have women’s networks and an increasing number of similar opportunities will present themselves. I believe that the ability to network effectively will increasingly become a skill that employers look for when recruiting for new positions.


The Future of Networking

Relationship-building and strong networks are becoming more vital as the nature of business and employment changes. These qualities have grown in importance over the last decade but the combination of social media technology and the economic climate over recent years has accelerated that growth.

We are entering a period where those with weak networks and poor interpersonal skills will find life increasingly difficult. And it will be the same whether you run your own business, are employed by someone else or you are a student looking at your plans for the future.

In a connected society, those people who have the wherewithal to build and leverage a strong and diverse network are going to have the advantage. We now hear more talk about ‘relationship capital’ and ‘social capital’, further evidence that human connections are becoming recognised for their role in business and career building.

The tools are now in place to help people who want to take their relationships to another level. A clear strategy for doing so, together with a strong focus on why, will help make the difference.




*Direct2Dell blog June 2009

LinkedIn Made Easy

In my workshops, talks and coaching sessions at the moment there is a great deal of interest in how to make the most of LinkedIn. This has been reflected in a growing number of books and training courses on the subject.

One such book is 'LinkedIn Made Easy', an e-book from Linda Parkinson-Hardman which not only offers a very simple step-by-step guide to using LinkedIn but through which Linda is aiming to raise £400,000 for charities The Hysterectomy Association, Kiva and BCCT.

At 42 pages Linda's book is a quick and straightforward approach to LinkedIn, taking you through some of the key steps to using it strategically. At £4.99 it's certainly very useful and it's all for a good cause.

The dangers of using LinkedIn without understanding why.....

The rapid growth in the popularity of LinkedIn has led to lots of people setting up their profiles, building their networks and asking for testimonials without any clear idea of how that network can then help them get the job or the connections they are looking for.

I wonder if the authors of this wonderful cartoon have had a similar experience....is this really the best way to use LinkedIn?

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: The Top Ten Ways to Ensure Your Networks are More Effective and Produce Results

This article originally appeared in The National Networker


Last month I wrote in my blog about a friend of mine who struggles to get any return from his networking despite always being generous with his time, his contacts and his support.

I got a lot of feedback on the piece, with many people either recognizing themselves, or people they know well, in the description of my friend.

So why do so many people struggle to attain a real return from their networking? There are a host of possible reasons but I thought this might be a good time to share some ways in which you can get more of a return from your networking.


ONE
Take a long-term view

When I was MD of Business Referral Exchange someone came to us wanting to open a group in his local area. At the time we insisted that a group needed fifteen members to start meeting. It took him time to recruit and when he had eight he came to us to beg to be able to open the group.

“I need business NOW”, he said.

My advice was to pick up the phone and cold call. If you need an immediate return, networking is not the tool for you. Networks are built over time, trust is a key factor in people recommending and referring you, and it does not appear over night. Patience is a key factor, as is a long-term view.

Long-termism in networking also allows you to think on a grander scale. As you develop and build your network, investing into the ‘emotional bank account’, you are creating a stronger bank of support to withdraw from when you need to. If you take from the very beginning, people will soon stop networking with you.


TWO
Define success

Are you clear in your mind what success looks like from your networking?

It is vital that you understand exactly what new business you want to generate, which introductions you need, what support you are looking for. Once you are completely focused on this in your mind, you will find it much easier to determine which events you should attend, recognise opportunities when they come along and to clearly communicate to others how they can help you.


THREE
Hone your message

If you’re not getting support and referrals from people in your network, stop blaming them and look at yourself.

How well are you expressing yourself? How easy do you make it for people to support you?

We all lead very busy lives. As much as we want to support those closest to us, the harder it is to do so, the more likely we will move on and do other things. Make it simple for people. Communicate the support you need, be very specific and, above anything else, when someone is in a position to help you, ask them. Don’t simply assume that they will recognise the opportunity to help you if you don’t point it out.

Of course, this step only works if you have built the relationship with them first and they want to help you.



FOUR
Stay with it

A short-term view in networking unfortunately leads to people writing off various groups and networking sites before giving them a chance to produce a return. Although things are improving, there are still people who attend groups seeking a set number of leads, rather than treating each event as a step in the right direction. As a result, they end up visiting lots of different meetings, collecting bundles of business cards and never building relationships.

If you have taken the advice above and set longer term objectives, you can join the right networks to take you there, with a clear idea of the commitment needed from you to achieve those goals. It is rare that a network will produce to its full potential in the first few months of membership.



FIVE
Engage, don’t broadcast

The growth of sites like Twitter has shown both the best and worst of networking. At its worst, there are people who use sites like this to simply broadcast their message, without listening.

Just as with event sponsors who expect people to buy from them just because they have a stand and a couple of minutes to plug their product at an event, they will be disappointed when the results aren’t quite what they had hoped for.

Networks have moved us towards a society where communication is two-way rather than one. Companies have to listen to their customers now, rather than just sell to them. Similarly, we need to engage with people in our networks, listen to them and join in conversations.

As people find out more about us and as we help them more, they then let us know when they are ready to listen to us and possibly buy from us or pass our message onto our target market.


SIX
Give and take

‘Givers Gain’ is the mantra of members of Business Network International (BNI) and both sides of that equation are equally important.

Thanks to BNI’s motto, it is now commonly recognised that you need to give to your network before you can expect to receive. And those gifts you offer should be without expectation of return; networks don’t always deliver your reward from the same direction in which you gave.

Where many networkers fall down however, is in being ready to take in return. We can be in so much danger of not being seen to ‘hunt’ that we are frightened to ask for help when people are ready and willing to offer it.

Know who wants to support you in your network and understand how they can. Then help them to do so and accept their help without guilt.


SEVEN
A wider perspective

The power of networks lies not in the people in our immediate vicinity but in those they know. And that power is exponential. If we have a strong relationship with 150 people, who each know 150 people well, that means we are within one strong introduction of 22,500 people.

Yet so many people can’t see beyond the person in front of them. They go to events and target ‘low hanging fruit’, talking about products in the lower range of their offering because they think those are more relevant to the attendees at those events, or turning down invitations because they won’t meet prospective clients.

Build relationships with people you get on with and don’t ever worry about selling to them. Instead, develop their trust and they will introduce you to the people they know.

If they are ever in a position to buy from you themselves, if you have developed the right levels of trust and understanding they will do so. In the meantime, they could be referring you to a number of their contacts, which could be a lot more valuable to your business.


EIGHT
Everyone’s an individual

Just because you have built your network to large numbers, it doesn’t mean that they will all act in the same way and respond to the same requests.

I received some national press coverage last year because someone in my network asked how he could help me. Instead of reeling off a list of prospects I’d like to meet, I mentioned that I’d like to build my media coverage. Why? Because he was the former executive editor of a national newspaper. I knew he would be comfortable referring me to someone else from the media.

Get to know your network as individuals. Offer support based on their specific needs; ask for support based on their individual ability to help or their circle of influence.


NINE
It’s not about YOU

“I want to talk to xxx because we want to work with that sector more”.

I have heard so many requests for introductions over the years which focus on why the person wants the introduction, not on the value they offer to the person they are asking to be introduced to. Remember the all important words, ‘What’s in it for them?’

When someone agrees to introduce you, they are going to enter into a conversation where you are not present. They need to be able to answer the questions that they will face confidently and leave the other person interested in speaking to you and eagerly waiting for your call. That means that they see your relevance to them, how you are going to solve their problem.

Focus on communicating that relevance effectively and people will find it so much easier to refer you.



TEN
Take risks

‘You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs’, as the old saying goes. If you are going to maximize your return from networking, you are going to have to get out of your comfort zone and take some risks.

These include:

- Approaching people you don’t know at networking events
- Risking losing referrals by being specific, rather than covering everything when explaining what you do
- Passing up a quick sale to build a long-term relationship
- Using social networks occasionally to tell people about your successes or ask for help

Whatever the risk may be, look at what you want to achieve and ask yourself a simple question.

Which approach is going to take you closer to your goal?

http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/06/tweetmeme-button/

Endorsements that Count

Online networks have made a telling contribution to business marketing in so many ways over recent years. One way they have done this is to raise the importance of, and ease of gathering, business testimonials.

On sites like LinkedIn and Ecademy, people can leave a testimonial for you at any time. LinkedIn has the added advantage of allowing you to decide whether or not to display that testimonial and even ask for edits.

So, what makes a testimonial valuable? While it might be nice for people to share what a great person you are, how good it has been to connect with you or how helpful you have been, do these testimonials really add much value if read by prospective clients?

The best testimonials are those which clearly demonstrate the effect you have had on a client. What problem did you solve and what benefit did they have as a result of using your services?

I occasionally get asked on LinkedIn to provide a testimonial for someone whose services I have had no commercial experience of. What value can I add in such a testimonial? I can repeat hearsay at best. When asking people to provide endorsements, approach those who can add value.

The acid test, when a prospective client or Champion reads the testimonial, should be the impact it will have on their decision to connect with you.

http://help.tweetmeme.com/2009/04/06/tweetmeme-button/

Networking and Referrals Tips and Advice - Ask questions and post your tips

Although I hope you find my blogs interesting and useful, mine is just one voice, one person's experience and opinion. I also post based on my conversations and experiences.

I want to ensure that you have the opportunity to have your say too, and guide some of the blogs that I write so that they answer your questions.

As well as encouraging comments on the blog, I have now set up other ways for you to ask the burning questions you have or share your own experiences:

1. Ask a question for me to answer on this blog - either by emailing me at andy@lopata.co.uk or Tweeting me at www.twitter.com/andylopata

2. Join my Facebook group where you can post short questions on The Wall or post longer questions and your own tips and thoughts on the Discussion Forum.

3. Join my LinkedIn group and post questions or join the discussion there.

I'm keen to hear from you and help you where I can with your networking. Help me do so and get involved.

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: It's a Question of Trust

This article originally appeared in The National Networker

It wasn’t what he expected to hear, that’s for sure!

I was half way through a 1-2-1 with a new networking connection when I surprised him.

“I don’t trust you”, I said.

The expression on his face was, to say the least, interesting. The meeting had gone well, we had shared a lot of views in common, he had shared some of his marketing processes with me and we had some contacts in common. The conversation had just turned to relationship building in networking and the importance of not selling at networking events, instead focusing on developing rapport and, most importantly, trust with fellow members.

“This is where so many people get it wrong”, I went on to explain. “When someone says they don’t trust us, we take it as a sign of distrust. We paint everything in black and white. We either trust someone or we distrust them. But that’s not the way things really work.

“In fact, we all start out either at, or close to, trust neutral. When we first meet someone we don’t have strong enough grounds to any strong feelings of trust either way. Trust is based on evidence; we need to have grounds to decide whether or not we can put our faith in someone. “

Of course, there are instant factors that mean that we may not necessarily start out at exactly neutral. The all important first-impressions certainly have an impact, get it right and people will want to trust you, get it wrong and you will have a lot more work to do to win that trust.

Similarly, a shared background, shared friends or having heard good things about people will give a strong platform from which to build trust. You still, however, have to prove those initial impressions correct.

This concept of trust is key to networking effectively in many ways. There are still far too many people who go to events and expect trust instantly, without earning it. At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who can’t see the point of networking with strangers and who won’t open their networks to them.

You have to find a balance. Don’t wade in to networking events and just expect people to buy from you or connect you because you are there. Trust has to be earned.

I went to a networking event a few years ago where part of the evening was a short ‘Speed Networking’ session. We were all told to move along the line and take it in turns to introduce ourselves and then ask the other person “How can I help you?” Naturally, it felt completely odd. Asking complete strangers how you can help them is a false position. It’s rarely genuine. That question does not occur that early in a relationship; you need to want to help people, and the more you trust them the more likely you are to want to help.

On the other hand, if networking is to work, there needs to be a willingness to trust earlier than you would normally. Networking groups bring people together to provide focused support, whether in terms of sharing contacts, ideas, expertise or experiences. In normal circumstances, what you share in a networking group is reserved for people you know very well. But networks can’t work effectively if no one gives to the process without some degree of implied trust.

For me, a classic example is people who join LinkedIn and then proceed to hide their network from the people they connect with. The whole purpose of LinkedIn is to share connections. If you have issues with implied trust, only connect to people you do trust. But be ready to share with them. Without that you are limiting the network’s effectiveness.

In May I attended NRG Metropolitan, a monthly networking group, for the first time. I already knew some of the people in the group and the organizers, which gave me a good start in terms of winning the trust of people there. I walked out of the meeting with three very promising meetings in the diary and congratulating myself on a job well done.

Initially I had just gone to the group to take a client who might find it useful to join and to see if I could recommend it. The three meetings were a bonus. Then I stopped to think.

I looked at the chemistry between the members there, which was clearly very strong. I recognised that the group was packed with strong networkers, who understood the value of helping each other. And I could see clearly that there was a high level of trust between the members.

It became clear to me that this group offered more if I committed to regular attendance. I also recognised that I would need to win the trust of the members there if I could achieve that potential, and it would need that commitment. I decided to join and attend regularly.

In June I went for the second time. Offered the opportunity to give a two minute presentation on my business, I told rather than sold, sharing some information about what I do without asking for anything in return. Between the meetings I had 1-2-1s with two of the members and arranged two more for the next month.

The aim is to build trust over time. I don’t go into the group expecting business or referrals straight away, but recognise that the potential in that group is huge if I commit and earn that trust.

It’s not that the group distrusts me, but I’m pretty sure that they don’t trust me. Not just yet anyway.

Can you Tweet with your Hands Tied Behind your Back?

I met with a client last week to look at their networking strategy. They were particularly interested in how online networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, could benefit their business.

As we looked into opportunities open to them, it became clear that they were well set up to use online networks very effectively to engage with their customer base, make key connections, boost their profile and reputation and to drive traffic to their website. They also had the advantage of a member of their team who is a very talented writer and a freelance journalist in his spare time.

One key strategy I recommended was for this member of staff to start a blog about their industry and share some interesting, challenging, funny and possibly the odd controversial story. They could then use Twitter and other sites to signpost the blogs and, assuming the copy was engaging enough, spread the word.

A major obstacle then became clear. The UK/European office of this company has its hands tied by their head office in Australia. There is already a company Twitter account, but if they want to add to it, they have to send the tweet to Australia first for approval. This loses any advantage of spontaneity and engagement that Twitter offers.

Any other blogging or social networking is also restricted by Head Office, who are more concerned with protecting the company brand than the advantages offered by new media.

I do not wish to dismiss the importance of a company's brand and the threat posed by social media. However too many companies are focused more on the control of such media than on the opportunities they offer the business. Those that have taken a risk have, on the whole succeeded.

With the media coverage of Twitter recently, more companies are creating their own Twitter Feed. While brands that automatically have a following may benefit from this, others lose the point. With a few exceptions (such as news feeds) people want to follow people on Twitter. They will warm to and engage with an individual sharing their thoughts, actions and responses more than they will with the one-way broadcasting approach taken by companies.

Why not allow more than one employee to each have their own Twitter account? It shouldn't be difficult to set ground rules to protect the company from damaging behaviour. In the meantime, potential customers are more likely to build brand loyalty from the relationships they build with those individual employees.

Control over social networking hampers their effectiveness and perhaps it is time for companies to trust their employees rather than control them.

Connecting is not Enough......the newsletter

The latest issue of Connecting is not Enough is available here.

The issue includes:

The importance of a 'real connection'
Do you open your network on LinkedIn
Joe Cocker....the Woodstock lyrics in full (or sort of!).

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn: A help rather than a hindrance to jobseekers?

It's official! The media finally seem to recognise that social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, have a serious and constructive purpose.

After all of the horror and scare stories, the balance was redressed a bit by yesterday's London Evening Standard. Under the heading 'Is your online profile good enough to make finding a new job easy?', a full page of the Business Section was devoted to the power of online networks in job search.

According to the article, written by Jackie Switzer and based on a survey by Harvey Nash recruitment consultants and the Department for Work and Pensions, a third of employers in the UK are using social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to connect to potential recruits.

Rather than taking the typical media focus of employers looking for something negative in people's profiles, the article studies how a good online networking strategy can make all of the difference for candidates in a very competitive market.

Dhana Markanday of Reed is quoted as saying, "An extensive LinkedIn profile could make the difference between getting an interview or not", while Rob Grimsey of Harvey Nash calls a jobseeker's online presence "the most important marketing and strategy document you will produce to advance your career."

The article makes it clear that you need to approach your membership of these sites carefully, but not for the obvious reasons.

"Senior people create LinkedIn profiles and then they don't maintain them. That is a missed opportunity", says Grimsey. "Equally they can create profiles which can look too desperate, with thousands of connections."

LinkedIn Open Networkers take note!

The value of a strong online network cannot be underestimated. Not only is it vital for jobseekers, the article also emphasises how recruiters will identify prospective candidates from those not currently actively seeking work, based on strong networking links and professional relationships online.

The last word goes to Matt Burney, who was made redundant from his Sales Director post at the beginning of June.

"When I was told I was being made redundant, I posted it on LinkedIn and Twitter. Within six hours I had nine meetings arranged."

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: Ten Years Later

This article originally appeared in The National Networker

Last month saw me celebrate a ten-year anniversary. On 11th May 1999 I started work for Business Referral Exchange, then a new networking organisation founded six months previously and with just four groups running in London, Hertfordshire and Essex. At the time networking as a formal activity was little known in the UK, with a few independent groups supplementing the networking offered by Chambers of Commerce and community groups such as Rotary.

How times have changed! Networking is now a key activity for millions of small business owners across the World and, with the rise of social online networks, is being recognised as a key skill for everyone, from jobseekers to global corporates.

Last month’s personal anniversary started me thinking about the changes I have seen in networking in that time, how the popularity of networking has grown and what we can expect over the next decade. Approaches to networking, behaviour within networks and even where we network and with whom have all changed. I still think there is a long journey to travel before everyone who needs to network recognises its true importance and does so effectively and efficiently.

That, I suppose, is why I write this column every month!

Why have we seen such a rapid growth in networking over the last decade? There have been a number of influences on its increased popularity, and our approach to it. These influences have certainly been strong in the UK, although I think similar patterns have explained the same developments in other countries.

The first influence is the growth of micro and small businesses. Large organisations have been downsizing their workforce for some years, predating the current recession. In fact the move away from relying on employees to bringing in contractors has been growing over the last decade. Many people have been encouraged to leave the security of employment in exchange for the greater rewards of contract work, leading to the establishment of thousands of small businesses.

The current economic crisis has accelerated this trend as hundreds of thousands of people have been made redundant. I believe that one of the long-term results of the credit crunch will be a second surge in numbers of small businesses. It is widely recognised that job security no longer exists in the way it has previously and the ability to be responsible for one’s own future has become more attractive.

The upshot of a growth of small businesses is an increase in networking. One man bands and micro businesses do not have the budget for advertising, PR and sales teams that larger organisations have traditionally relied upon. Instead they quickly realise that they have to grow and reach out to a network of others to find clients and develop their business.

Moving away from working within a large team, surrounded by people to turn to when answers are needed, and towards working in their own homes, feeling isolated from the World, also compels people to look towards networks. Networking groups have been increasingly seen not just as a source of new business, but as a replacement for the ‘water cooler moments’ and support systems that a large office provides.

Another key influence on the direction networking has taken has been the increase in social networking technology. Ten years ago there was little to no online networking, other than groups and forums on sites such as Yahoo. Today you get an invitation to a new site almost every day.

The popularity of predominantly social sites such as Facebook and Twitter has brought the benefits of networking into the wider public consciousness and has been reflected in an increased awareness of professional sites such as LinkedIn. You can now find people on LinkedIn who would not have been found on any other network as recently as last year.

The growth of such technology has made networking accessible to many more people. A decade ago networking was purely for business and took place either at breakfast or early evening, excluding many people, predominantly women, with childcare responsibilities. Now you can network at your convenience, at any time of day or night, through online networks.

The growth of online networks will also impact on the willingness of people to network and their behaviour in networks over the coming years. The ‘Millennial’ Generation, or ‘Gen Y’ have grown up with social networks as the norm. They will expect networking as part of their career and job development and more companies will recognise the benefit of collaboration and networks as this generation reaches senior management levels.

What will be interesting will be the impact of new technologies and new generations on behaviour within networks. When I started work in networking many people were driven by short-term sales targets and brief, transactional, interactions. Over the years the importance of relationship building became a higher priority for many and people began to recognise the futility of trying to sell in an environment where people haven’t come to buy, and realise that referrals carry more weight than individual sales.

With the growth of online networks, however, there has been a backward step. Many people treat networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn purely as broadcast tools. They don’t seek to engage people in conversation or build quality relationships. Instead they focus on getting as many connections, friends or followers as possible and rattle out broadcast messages to them.

The more ‘sophisticated’ among the new networkers boast of a strategy where they drive people to their own website and then to ‘squeeze’ pages where they can encourage a transaction. There is little attempt at conversation or education, once more it is all about the sale.

This approach lacks any sustainability. While some people might thrive, as they have done with other related forms of internet marketing, if too many people follow this approach it will turn away newer converts to networking and those who seek relationships. Very few people join networks to be a notch on the bedpost or to be sold to, therefore any network where everyone seeks just to build huge numbers of connections or sell without looking to help others first will lose members rapidly.

Also people will soon become disaffected with the pursuit of numbers as they realise that numbers alone don’t produce benefits, and find how difficult it is to maintain relationships in a network that has grown too large. I have already seen a number of people shelve Facebook and LinkedIn contacts publicly as they attempt to rationalize their networks and more people will begin to do this.

Moving forward, I expect to see a number of changes in networking behaviour over coming years.

The most important change will be a more strategic approach to networking activity. There needs to be a shift from networking as an afterthought, or as a response to invitations, to a goals-oriented networking strategy. People won’t be able to cope with the number of choices available, both online and in person, and will select which networks suit their personal and business goals. They will be happier to commit to those networks which make sense for them and spurn other invitations.

Such an approach will see a growth in niche and peer-group support networks. There has been a growing understanding of the role networking has beyond sales, and how strong that value is. Mastermind groups will grow in popularity and there will be a shift in the ‘numbers’ game, with people preferring smaller networks of like-minded people to getting as many people together as possible.

We will also see more engagement in networking by individuals and large organisations. Women’s groups have led the field in both areas, striving to even out inequalities in business and in the workplace by encouraging women to work together and support each others’ development. Their successes will encourage others to explore the benefits that networking can bring and evidence of someone’s networking activity may soon take pride of place on CVs as people look for their next career move.

Times may have changed over the last decade but there are still many changes to come. Networking has grown in respectability and popularity over that time, the next step is for an increased understanding of the ‘right’ way to network. A move from quantity to quality and from activity-driven to goal-driven networking is the next natural step.

We’re heading in the right direction but there’s still a long way to go.

Getting Started on LinkedIn

I have just put together a simple presentation to help you take the first steps needed to get started on LinkedIn. These are the first steps to navigating the site and making the most of it. Once you have built your network and got used to these steps, there is so much more the network offers.

Please note, you will need to view the presentation in full screen (the second button from the end on the bottom row) to see the screen shots.

Getting Started On Linked In

View more presentations from Andy Lopata.

CONNECTING IS NOT ENOUGH: Will you be my Friend?

This article originally appeared in The National Networker


Have you experienced that strange sensation recently? A feeling of importance, of celebrity, of previously unmatched popularity. It’s the feeling that the lucky kids at school all understood but that the rest of us could only dream of.

All of a sudden everyone wants to be your friend.

From Facebook to LinkedIn, from Plaxo to Fastpitch and from Xing to Friendster, people are asking to be friends. And they’re not just people we know, have met or who share mutual friends. They are people from all over the World, with varied backgrounds and different interests. Yet they all want to be our friends and share in our lives.

Do you embrace each and every one of these new-found friends? Or do you find something uncomfortable and disconcerting about all of these requests from strangers?

Once you have befriended them, your popularity knows no-bounds. They want to follow you to every party you go to, and want to invite you to the ones they’re attending. All of a sudden you are a member of countless social networks…….and your network is the same on each one!

There are many people who embrace this method of networking. They believe that the more people you connect with, the broader your network, the more successful you are. For the more extreme, they count success in terms of ‘notches on the bedpost’. Others do take a more level-headed approach, recognizing that they do need to interact with many of these new ‘friends’ but that there is value in broadcasting to everyone else they are connected to. Not so much networking as marketing.

It might not surprise you that I favour a different approach to my online networking. My approach takes three stages, each one making it far easier to manage my time on each network effectively, interact with people in the best way possible and able to connect with everyone who genuinely wants to connect with me.

Stage One –

Understand WHERE you want to be

With so many invitations coming through now, there is a danger of stretching yourself too thin. I have received two more invitations to new networks in the short period of time I have been writing this column. Unless you plan to make membership of social networks a full time occupation, it would be impossible for anyone to be an effective, active member of every network available, so be selective.

There are probably four types of online network for me. Those I will never join; those I join, upload a profile but never visit again; those I join, upload a profile and visit occasionally and those I commit to.

The networks that I commit to are the ones who draw me in, encourage me to contribute and demonstrate a value to being there. For a long time LinkedIn was a network on which I had a profile and visited infrequently as there was such little apparent activity on the site. Over the last 12-15 months two things have happened to change that. The network themselves have added more functionality, allowing you to achieve more through the site, and more people have been drawn to LinkedIn, making activity there more rewarding.

Therefore, you do need to join a few networks and try them out to find out where you are at home, where you feel most comfortable and which ones demonstrate that membership will deliver a return for you, whatever that may be.

That leads us nicely onto

Stage Two –

Understand WHY you want to be there

In my opinion, the most effective way to exploit the sheer number of networks is to use each for a different purpose. If you simply join a lot of networks and use them in the same way, you will find yourself repeating the same activity again and again. Can you really afford to spend your time doing that?

People have talked for a long time about wanting a site, or some software, that replicates your content and profile across networks. I know such software is being developed and wouldn’t be surprised to find out it already exists. You can already post a ‘tweet’ on Twitter and see it duplicated on Facebook and elsewhere.

That’s all very nice but doesn’t it take away the ‘human’ element of social networking? Have a look at the Facebook page of someone who feeds their tweets through. You will see a lot of activity, much of which doesn’t make sense in isolation and using jargon from one network (Twitter) that makes no sense to Facebook users not accustomed to it.

The redesign of Facebook into a Tweeter-style feed is going to encourage this activity more. It means that people using this technology will have fewer reasons to visit Facebook and will no longer be ‘networking’ on it. Facebook will simply be reduced to another broadcast mechanism, rather than a tool for effective engagement and interaction.

If you want to broadcast, that’s fine. My approach takes a slightly different direction though. I believe that each network can play a different purpose. For example:

Facebook is a very human network and provides the opportunity for your professional network to find out about the person, and for your personal network to find out about your profession. It is a great tool for deepening relationships and, used wisely, building trust.

LinkedIn’s primary purpose is to aid connections. You can find out how you are connected to the key people you want to meet, and secure the introductions through your existing network.

Networks such as Ecademy, Xing and FastPitch encourage you to build the breadth of your network by making new connections. These are great fora for meeting new people, finding out about them and developing the beginnings of a relationship. They also allow you to build on those relationships through various events, clubs and ongoing conversations.

By taking that type of approach to your online networking, it means that you can be more selective about

Stage Three –

Understanding WHO you want to connect with there

Following the approach above, you would only invite existing contacts to link to you on Facebook or LinkedIn, while having other networks you can direct newcomers to. Let them develop the relationship on one of the other networks before taking it to the next stage.

An additional benefit to this approach is that it is easier to find and connect contacts in your ‘deeper’ networks. One of the problems of building mass connections is finding people if you’re not looking by name. Keeping these networks smaller makes that task much easier.

The numbers of social networks is going to continue growing as niche networks become more popular. With the increase in popularity of Ning and similar sites, more of your contacts will develop, and invite you to, their own personal social network, while face to face networks you belong to and industry bodies will all invite you to theirs.

Without a strategy to approach these invitations, you run the risk of becoming overwhelmed and turning your back on social networking completely.

Now, that wouldn’t make you too popular!

How do you choose which online networks to join and who joins you on them?

Every day I receive new invitations to either join or connect on different online (social) networks. Some of them are well known, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, others less so. The fact is that the numbers of social networking opportunities are continually growing, and it would be impossible for anyone to manage a network on all of them, unless that was their full time post!

This begs the question of which do you choose and with whom do you connect, where? I met with leading figures from three of the larger networks last week, LinkedIn, Xing and BT Tradespace. Each of them is looking for their own way to stand out from the crowd, to be different.

One of the most striking things for me is the number of people who, once they're connected with you on one network, want to connect with you everywhere else. If this is the right approach to networking, what do we need all of the different networks for. How do you use them differently? Or don't you bother?

In my mind I have different uses for each network.

Remember that networking is about both breadth and depth of relationship. Some networks are well suited to growing your network. For me, Ecademy is the main 'network growth tool' but Xing and BT Tradespace can also serve a similar purpose.

Other networks are better served helping you deepen your existing network. In my case, I see Facebook as a great tool to build existing relationships by opening the doors of my private life to strong business connections, and the doors of my business life to strong personal connections.

LinkedIn, in the meantime, is a great tool to leverage existing networks, and to help your connections gain your help and support when needed. Using their three degrees of seperation principle of looking at their connections and asking for introductions is incredibly powerful, if done professionally and with focus.

The problem lies in the way these depth networks are diluted by mass connections. I can't put my hand on my heart and say that my LinkedIn or Facebook networks contain only people I know well, I have accepted too many connection requests for the want of somewhere else to connect for that to be the case. Quite how 'LinkedIn Open Networkers', who have thousands of connections can make trusted introductions I just don't understand.

I have realised that the time has come for me to rationalise my online networks and start to connect with different people in different places for different reasons. It will take me some time and I want to do so in a way that won't cause offence to people I move or spurn, but it needs to be done if these networks are going to achieve anything like their potential for me.

I know that there will be many who disagree with this approach, and others who are even more confused than I am. I'd love to hear all views, and some other strategies.

It's time to create some sense from the confusion.

Tweeting for new business...?

First of all, please allow me to wish you a belated Happy New Year. I may have been quiet on the blog through the first couple of weeks of the year but I certainly haven't been hibernating. I've been working on a number of exciting projects throughout the Christmas period and all will be revealed over the coming weeks.

Let's start the year as we mean to go on....with a question.

If you are a member of social and online business networks, such as Facebook, Ecademy and LinkedIn, how often do you update your status?

Introduced following the early success of Twitter, status updates can be used in a number of ways. Ridiculed initially as people told us the minutiae of their lives, from when they were going to get a cup of tea, to nipping to the loo or reading a magazine (or even all three together!), they now offer a great opportunity to gain deeper insight into what our network does.

Understanding what other people do is one of the challenges of effective networking. A title or elevator pitch can rarely do it justice. However, 'Tweeting' your latest actions, or updating your status with details of the clients you are working with and what you are doing for them can play a key role in educating your network.

Similarly, personal updates, from the films you are watching to the sports you follow help people get to know the individual better. And we all know how important it is to remember that 'people buy people'.

Above all of this, you can post requests on these updates. Sometimes, those requests, or your updates can lead directly to new business. It is the most simple and effective form of marketing possible.

This morning I received an email from Theresa Summers, inviting me to connect to her on LinkedIn. I first met Theresa about three years ago when she was the guest at a BRE meeting that I was visiting. She showed that she really understood networking, wanted to learn more and was incredibly enthusiastic. We have remained in touch ever since, although we have met rarely and her business has changed since I last saw her.



Connecting with Theresa, I noticed the status on her LinkedIn profile. It said, "Theresa Summers is looking to connect with people who could utilise moving classroom training to e-learning" and had been posted just 45 minutes earlier.

E-learning is an area I am very interested in and wanted to explore later this year. I looked on another social network, Facebook, where Theresa and I are connected, and saw she was online. Within a few minutes we have agreed to meet and discuss how we can work together to accelerate my e-learning programme.

It probably took Theresa less than one minute to write a status update that could hopefully lead to some very profitable business for her.

You won't win business every time you Tweet, or update your status. Some of the time it will fall on deaf ears (or blind eyes). Sometimes you will be building people's knowledge of what you do or who you are.

And sometimes it might lead to a referral, or a direct piece of business.

LinkedIn - The Common Craft Approach

Those fine folk at the Common Craft Show have turned their attention to how to use LinkedIn. This is a fairly simple overview but I know a lot of people who have growing networks on LinkedIn but don't really know, or think, how to tap into them.

Maybe this will get you started...