Are you student or a business looking to get connected? Don’t know where to start? There are many ways to get connected online or offline, but I’ll tell you about a few useful sources you should definitely utilize.
Known as the Facebook for professionals, LinkedIn is able to connection individuals seeking employees to those seeking jobs. If you do not have a LinkedIn, I highly recommend you get one. One of the uses I have it for is as an online version of my resume, if you use it for nothing else, but please use it for more. Like normal Job search sites, it has a location where companies have posted up jobs, and where employers can input a description and find potential employees. View Stephanie Buck’s crash course for LinkedIn to get a better feel for this professional social network.
I’ve noticed I enjoy the topic of Twitter, seeing it in many of my e-marketing posts! I find that this is an excellent way to get connected to professionals in well-known companies. There are a couple of things you should recognize however. When sending Tweets, try to refrain from saying, “Check out this! www.~.com!” These direct tweets look like spam; I tend not to open nor pay attention to the link.
It is a good idea, however, to start an honest conversation with them and become interested in their posts. Rather than spamming them with your requests and links, try for example: “I found this Tweet you did interesting and I’d like to know more about it.”
Through sincere conversations, you are more likely to get better reactions from your Tweets. It is a good idea, also, to follow people and connect with people who work at the recognized companies that you think will benefit you; however the people you follow may not necessarily be the company VPs. Chances are people who have over 10,000 followers receive messages frequently and you less likely to get a response from them. However, if you are able to find people who work at the company you want to get connected with that may have between 100-and 1,000 followers, you are more likely to get a response.
It is a good idea, however, to start an honest conversation with them and become interested in their posts. Rather than spamming them with your requests and links, try for example: “I found this Tweet you did interesting and I’d like to know more about it.”
Through sincere conversations, you are more likely to get better reactions from your Tweets. It is a good idea, also, to follow people and connect with people who work at the recognized companies that you think will benefit you; however the people you follow may not necessarily be the company VPs. Chances are people who have over 10,000 followers receive messages frequently and you less likely to get a response from them. However, if you are able to find people who work at the company you want to get connected with that may have between 100-and 1,000 followers, you are more likely to get a response.
Meetup
What a great website to find networking events that allow you to meet potential connections face-to-face! One of the Meetups I had gone to last year was a SEO Marketing Meetup, where I was able to meet local SEO professionals and gain a better understanding of the topic through their insightful discussion. Getting connected online is great, but I’m quite fond of the traditional face-to-face “Here’s my business card. Let’s talk more over coffee.” Check out Meetup at www.Meetup.com.
I would not necessary recommend looking up employer’s personal accounts like you would on LinkedIn or Twitter, but you have several resources on Facebook that can aid you in getting connected. Facebook has developed Facebook groups and pages in which people have created professional networking for. An example would be in the image to the left. Some of the groups are open and some of them are closed. Many job openings are posted by students who have just moved to a new company or have recently been promoted. For students looking for work, this is a good way of getting connected with a job. In the past, when I was working on my fundraising project, I actually ended up using Facebook Groups to find people who were wanted to help my team do fundraisers.
Are you already an avid networker? What networking methods to you use? Leave a comment below!