Powerful, simple, about 30 million strong: Linkedin.com is an effective professional networking superstore. Just as you would use a hammer for some tasks and a screwdriver for others, Linkedin is one tool. It is most effective for professional online networking. For Linkedin to be effective you need to be on the site every other day to maximize the results, but a minimum of once a week. You have to take care of your network or it will die. Do you enjoy asynchronous communication using a keyboard? No. Stop right here. Use a networking method that you enjoy. Should you still want to use Linkedin.com as one tool, LinkedIn allows you to develop your professional brand effectively. You can read the rest of this article at: http://budurl.com/LinkedinEffective It gives you practical advice to use linked in with a small time investment. If you are more confortable networking on the phone then BlitzTime may be a better choice. I enjoy Linkedin, but have found that using BlitzTime also I meet people and learn far more about them in a 5 minute conversation than just clicking “accept” on Linkedin. Normally I connect on Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook (or all 3) after the phone conversation. On BlitzTime you also have a profile and during your conversation you will normally be logged into BlitzTime.com and see the profile of the person you are talking to. I am an affiliate with BlitzTime and if you check out the site I would appreciate your using my link to the site. Some Quotes on Networking:
- ”I see the more formal LI as my online office, FB as my online living room and Twitter as my front porch.” Rod Jurado CPT
- Networking is not an event, but a process: a way of life. Pat Weber
- “The successful networkers I know, the ones receiving tons of referrals and feeling truly happy about themselves, continually put the other person’s needs ahead of their own.” Bob Burg
- NETWORKING TIP: Lack of credibility is the single greatest reason people do not buy. Carol Deckert
A key point in your blogpost is, “Use a networking method that you enjoy.” I find that each social online networking venue has it’s on personality just as networking face to face. I know for me Blitztime IS the most effective with RESULTS. I think we first met on Blitztime Jim and now we’re connecting on various online venues in a variety of ways. And thank YOU for quoting me here.
Here’s the bottom line for me: I’m quite clear on the results I want and I go where I can get those results.
Thanks for this reminder that anything, like LinkedIn, is just one tool!
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I agree with you both, Jim and Pat. Networking is a way of life, not a one time or ocassional activity. What’s great about the new tools is there are several to meet your preferences and needs. The thing is to choose and integrate a few into an ongoing program you work. They work if you work them.
The Energizer Bonnie