I love social media, don’t get me wrong, but the downfall of today’s social media is it can give people a false sense of security that they are effectively networking. Spending time on LinkedIn or Twitter is a smart component to your work life, but in order to reap the full benefits of networking, you need to regularly back away from the computer, pick up the phone, attend business networking events, or meet up with a former colleague for coffee or drinks. In other words, network the old fashioned way, the way we networked before we became addicted to so many of these networking sites.
Networking is building relationships; know-like –trust are the 3 key steps to achieving this. How can you get others to like and trust you simply through the computer. I do believe you can start a relationship online and even reinvigorate and reinforce but no-one will ever convince me you can build a sustainable relationship with anyone.without the face-to-face meeting.
The 'cold turkey' truth about online networking. Love it!
If you're regularly using social media, you can often convince yourself that you're on there 'networking'. The truth is (to me anyway) is that networking happens while you're off the computer.
Social media is a great platform to start a conversation, and continue a friendship, once you've made a real connection 'offline'.
Well done.
Jason