What is Networking, Really?

Networking is a buzzword that gets a lot of attention, because it is so frequently misunderstood.

Internet marketers have grasped this concept, stripped the essential concepts from it, and are now passing it off as a “fast and easy” means of promoting scams. Their interpretation of networking means spamming forums, and submitting  blog comment spam, or using other social internet venues to push a purely marketing message.

That isn’t how it works. People seem to think that there is a shortcut to it though, which truly separates the pros from the impatient newbies. Those who work it successfully know there is no shortcut, and that there really isn’t a secret to it. Rather, the key to success with networking is nothing more than following age-old rules for gaining a good reputation:

1. Be yourself – really yourself. Your BETTER self. Put aside your impatience, and just learn to enjoy being there, and find people you like.
2. Take an interest in other people. They call it “social” networking, because it revolves around society and social rules – the same ones that gain a person a good reputation in person. No one likes a selfish person.
3. Be helpful and kind. People want to do business with people they like, and they like people who help them. Find little ways to be considerate and to help where you can without giving away your business. There are always ways!
4. Make sure they know WHO you are, and WHAT you do. Not by being pushy, but by always dropping a signature line so that no matter when someone wants to know, it is always there.
5. Don’t advertise. Find ways to show your credibility that do not involve advertising. When someone asks for a service, answer them off the forum, and be polite about it.
6. Follow the rules! Most forums and venues have rules about ads, and they define ads as anything that exists for no other purpose than to promote your interests.
7. Choose your venues for the right purpose. If you are there to LEARN, then don’t expect to gain clients directly from it. If you want to gain clients, then find a forum where a high number of your prospects are likely to hang out.
8. Many benefits are abstract, and ALL take time to build. When they do build though, they gain tremendous power.

Networking is the process of building associates, getting to know people, developing a reputation as a person of integrity. There is no shortcut for that. You have to get out there, get known, and be the kind of person that others want to turn to in a time of need. If they trust you to keep their interests at the fore, they’ll come to you first.

You just can’t rush it. Networking isn’t a bulldozer that sweeps all before it. It is more like needlepoint – painstaking at time, routine at others, but if you keep doing it consistently and neatly, over and over, eventually a pattern develops that is impressive and awe-inspiring.

It is all about relationships. And those take time to form.