Social networking sites like Facebook and the like were fun when they started. You could be ensured of a reasonable degree of trust with them.
I don’t know if you have noticed lately, but Facebook have been slowly but surely selling off your privacy, and rights to the information you put on their site. They are doing this by just changing their Terms and Conditions from time to time. The changes have been slow and almost calculated.
You have been to all the networking events, chatted to people, exchanged business cards. Even found a few contacts that would be worthwhile leads in the future.
Still after all this, it just doesn’t seem to be working.
So you go to few more events, you have been really listening to people and you have your opening networking pitch perfect, it’s all going well.
However still the results aren’t that great. Sound familiar?
The problem is business networking doesn’t stop once you have left the event. It’s about the longer term networking post event. This is often the most important aspect of networking besides the event.
I don’t know about you, but I have been to face to face networking events where it’s basically been like pulling teeth to get the people in the room to talk and discuss what they do and the benifits it has for me. There is nothing wrong with the event itself, it’s just some of the attendees don’t know how to network.
Networking doesn’t come easy, you can’t just expect to turn up to an event and it happens, you have to work at it. You have to build the trust and connections with people. You have to get people interested in you and vice-versa.
Does small business really need online social media. Is it really going to provide those instant benefits that the media and some experts are raving about.
Online Social networkers (or media) is now all the rave. It’s the new kid on the block, the dream that some many people in business are now chasing as the quick fix. Now I have seen this wave of blind business hysteria all before, it’s nothing new.
Gary Barber
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