6 Tips to Network Effectively Using Social Media
The Internet has changed the way people and businesses conduct their day-to-day affairs. Social media has opened up the world of global interactions. Social media allows you to connect with people in a way that traditional meeting settings would not have allowed. Social media also grants you access to networks and people that would have been unreachable in the past.
Social media networking is one of the most effective ways to network for career and business opportunities if you do it right.
There is an ever-growing number of ways to connect online socially and these are often referred to as channels. These channels include LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Google+, among several others. Each channel serves a different purpose and will allow you to connect with your preferred network in different ways.
Here are ways to utilize social media for networking purposes.
Be Brief but Personal in your First Message
People do not have the patience to read long messages that look and feel spammy, especially if they are hearing from you for the first time. Your entire message should be easy to read on a phone screen. The pros who get the best response rates treat their messages as handwritten notes with a personal touch highlighting the reason you have chosen to connect with them based on their achievements or experiences. When you reach out to connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, make sure you are clear about why you are connecting.
Have a Goal
You need to identify your networking goals. This would quickly make building your network easier as you would be able to easily identify the right accounts due to the goals you have set for yourself and helps to streamline all your actions.
Identify Leaders and Leading Organizations
In any industry, certain people and organizations stand out as the best and brightest. To create a network that can provide you with great opportunities, connect with the leaders in your niche. You can do this by reaching out to them directly; LinkedIn is often the best social channel to do so. Or you can identify mutual friends who can introduce you online. A useful tip is to share good and helpful content that followers in your industry will find useful.
Maintain Professional Relationships
Join a Community
Depending on your interests, there are tons of communities on the various social media platforms that have been created to help you achieve either your personal goals or business goals. Most social networking sites have community areas for people who have similar interests to connect. These communities share amazing resources with their members and offer amazing learning resources.
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Have Similar Profiles Across the Internet
Oftentimes people use different names across their social media platforms, this is not best practice because it makes you difficult to find and this could make you lose opportunities.
Stay connected to RefinedNg for more tips.