Love it or hate it, networking is one of the essential building blocks of any successful career. It doesn’t matter what industry you are working in. Networking is an essential tool for success. Because nothing exists in a vacuum these days. Naturally networking is far more prevalent in the world of business. But even the creative industries rely heavily on networking.
And it is a tricky thing to master. Creating and maintaining connections with other professionals seems easy on paper. But not every connection you make is going to be profitable. And, since time is money, you don’t want to be wasting your time building connections that aren’t going to advance your career.
Today we are going to be walking you through the key steps in building profitable connections. We will cover some of the essential networking basics you are likely falling behind on. With our help you will soon be a networking expert!
The Networking Essentials
The first step in effective networking is ensuring you have established yourself online. In our digital age 80% of networking is done through social media platforms. Primarily LinkedIn and Instagram. LinkedIn is the primary networking platform for more professional connections. It is where you will highlight your professional achievements and be able to find likeminded individuals who have a specific skillset.
Instagram is a fantastic platform for making more informal connections. But make no mistake. It is often the informal connections that end up being the most profitable. You need to ensure your profile on both platforms is up to date and that you are actively posting on both. When it comes to Instagram though you will need to bolster your follower count. This is especially important if you are working in a creative field.
The best way to go about boosting your follower count is to buy likes for your posts. This has slowly become an industry standard for most professionals using Instagram. You can get Instagram likes monthly for relatively cheap these days. And doing so will slowly increase the number of followers your profile has. Boosting your content also helps it beat the algorithm and get seen by more people in the long run.
Physical appearance also plays a huge part in networking. First impressions matter. To that end you need to be taking care of your appearance and overall physical health. You don’t need to be wearing the latest fashion or anything like that. But dressing smart and keeping yourself well groomed is key.
Finding The Right People
The key to building profitable connections might seem very obvious. But it is where people mostly get it wrong. And that is connecting with the right people. As we said, it seems obvious. But is it harder than you think. Let us imagine you are looking to connect with someone who can provide you with leads on potential new business investments. This might seem easy to do on a site like LinkedIn. With so many people claiming to be experts in this field.
But you need to properly vet any connections you are looking to make. Just like you have ensured that all of your profiles are up to date you need to check if theirs are. Do their credentials match up with what you are looking for? And how valid are they? Spend some time doing some digging to see how valid their claims actually are. Did they really work for X company?
Continuing on with the idea of looking for new investments you should see if they have a proven track record of helping people find suitable investments. Can they provide references from their other connections?
The best way to find good connections is through networking events. Meeting people face to face is always preferable over forming online connections. It will allow you to get a better sense of the person. But the main advantage is that you can start building what I like to call network bridges.
When forming a connection with someone online you are often only connecting to that person. Whereas when you network in person the people you connect with are more likely to put you in touch with people who can help you. This is the concept of network bridges. You gain access to someone else’s contacts through them.
Closing Connections
One thing that often holds people back in the networking world is being too polite. Manners and decorum are essential in building good business relationships. But you can’t be afraid to cut people off if they aren’t helping you progress in the way you need.
Now we aren’t saying you should cut them out of your life entirely. It is about keeping a healthy split between your personal and professional life. And business connections work two ways. If a connection hasn’t turned out to be a profitable one then you need to stop sinking time into maintaining it and instead focus on finding new ones.
