- Expand your network
Social Media allows you to meet people you may never have come into contact with in person.
Not only does social media reach outside of our physical location, but also outside of our normal networking circles. Represent yourself professionally on LinkedIn, Twitter and on-line generally and you could start attracting larger businesses that just don’t go to local business networking events.
(The image is what my LinkedIn network looks like, each dot represents a different contact and the lines show the relationships that link them together. Imagine this on a larger scale and you'll get some idea what your social business network could look like.) - Save time, money and reach the right people
Instead of visiting all the business breakfast meetings in town, spending time travelling, getting up at an unearthly time, eating a breakfast that’s been chosen for you and paying for the privilege and then thinking did I really meet the people that will buy my products and services? Could this time, money and effort be better spent finding people on social networks who are qualified customer, leads and business partners?- Find the right supplier
- Searching for prospects
If you’re looking for prospects, find out which groups your prospects hang out in by looking on their profile. Join these groups and listen to what people are talking about, what problems are they experiencing and how can you help them?
Imagine you've just met this person at a Business Breakfast meeting, listen carefully to what they are saying, what problem are they asking for help with and only if you have a valid solution share that with them.
Remember if you just talk about yourself and your business you’ll soon end up in an empty room (discussion) with no one to talk to.
Ever been to a business breakfast and just end up speaking to one person and that person you'll probably never do any business with? An added benefit of LinkedIn is that you can listen to a discussion and then think actually that’s not relevant to me and walk away! - No 60 minute advert
Are you one of the millions of people who struggle with speaking in public? Do you dread having to stand up and deliver a professional 60 minute advert that highlights all the benefits of working with you and your company to a room full of strangers and sometimes competitors? Another benefit of social (business) networking is that you don’t have to do this at all.
Perhaps you don’t mind doing this, but perhaps after doing this for the fortieth time that year you’re struggling to think of something new and interesting to say that your other networkers haven’t heard before? Either way, with business breakfast networking you have to stand up and deliver who you are and what you do each time. With social networking once you’ve written your profile, your twitter bio, info on your Facebook page you won’t have to adjust this as often and it could be seen by a far greater number of people looking for your services. - Lay on the beach networking
People who want your services can come and find you. So even if you’re out of the office all week or maybe you’re on holiday, if you have a great online social media profile people will be able to search for you and find you and your company. They can enquire by tweeting or by sending a message and this can be picked up on your return. No costly call-centres to pay and the real benefit here, qualified leads and prospect are coming and knocking on your door, you don’t even have to go and find them yourself. - Is social media the new business networking?
Social media is not a replacement for meeting people face-to-face, listening and talking with them. Social media cannot replace the dedication and time it takes people to build strong, lasting and trustworthy relationships. Building a strong network of like-minded people whose businesses can work together and where customer relationships overlap, takes, time, energy and dedication. What social media can do is further strengthen, support, build and promote these relationships and expand them even further than traditional networking alone can do.
If you are looking for a supplier, why not search for them on LinkedIn? Here you can see the products and services they offer, chose the right location and see what other people have said about them in their recommendations. You can also choose a local business group and ask people to recommend a supplier for you.
What do you think?
Please leave a comment. I would love to know what your personal experiences of real business networking vs Social media business networking are.
If you want to find out how Social Media can improve your business take a look at our open, public workshops...
