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Do you remember the very first time you went to a local networking event? You probably had a few butterflies in your tummy at the thought of walking into a room full of strangers. And what about standing up to talk for 60 seconds about your business – how scary was that the first few times?!
Fast forward to today and it’s hard to remember just what you were scared of, isn’t it?
But a lot of business owners are just as nervous about networking on the internet, and feel uncomfortable at the thought of their personal details being ‘out there’ for all to see. However, keeping a blog, or belonging to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other online groups, all require that you provide some information about yourself. If you don’t, you really won’t reap the many benefits of networking.
One of the main objectives of using social networking as part of your marketing strategy is to show the human face of your business, without throwing all professionalism to the wind. Here are a few ways you can be cautious and overcome those fears at the same time:
- Don’t publish your main email address, use a hotmail or gmail account to avoid getting spammed
- Never, ever publish your personal address or phone number on public pages.
- If you feel uncomfortable about befriending, connecting or following anyone, it’s absolutely OK to say no (most times, they don’t even know when you do this).
- Don’t put anything on the internet that you wouldn’t want your mother to read about!
- Set up a Google Alert for your name so you can see what is circulating on the internet about you!
Once you feel more comfortable about networking online, you might even start to enjoy communicating with all your new ‘virtual’ contacts. That’s the very time you need to remember #4 above! Be friendly AND professional, at all times.
About Louise
Louise Barnes-Johnston has been working in social media marketing since 2007 after realising that it was a powerful marketing tool which would enable her clients to raise the profile of their businesses on the internet, even when working to a limited budget. Her specialism is in researching social media practices; trying out the most effective online tools and then sharing the best of them with her clients.
