Networking Online: Using the Internet to Build

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Networking OnlineUsing the Internet to Build
Maintain Your Professional Network

• Presented by Trevor Lohrbeer
• CEO - Lab Escape, Inc.
• Tuesday, June 24, 2008

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Agenda

• Online Networking Overview
• Social Networks
• Blogs
• E-mail
• Support Services
• Real World Online

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Background

• 1988 Started using Internet
• 1992 Created alt.travel.rides
• 1998 Developed SlamBook!
• 1999 Founded TruePeers.com
• 2000 Used LinkedIn, e-mail - blogs to find
  mentors, 2008 employees, customers

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Why Network Online?

• Find people outside your usual business circles
• Build new types of relationships
• Strengthen existing relationships
• Leverage unknown connections in your network

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Ways To Network Online

• E-mail
• Social Networks
• Blogs
• Discussion Forums

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Networking Stages

• Find contacts
• Make connections
• Build relationships
• Revive relationships
• End relationships

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Relationship Types

• Acquaintances
• Friends
• Colleagues
• Customers
• Vendors

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Relationship Styles

• Elite / Protective
• Close Knit
• Loose / Open

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Why LinkedIn?

• A network of professionals
• 23 million members
• 1.2 million new members / month
• 150 countries
• Average age is 41
• Executive level contacts
• Actively adding new functionality

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Services Provided

• Network Management
• Find Resources
• Learn Information
• Manage Interactions

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Getting Started

• Register
• Build Professional History
• Add Contacts
• Obtain Recommendations

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Interface Overview
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Finding Contacts

• Basic Search
• Search By Industry
• Search By Keywords
• Browse By Company / School
• Browse Your Network

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Basic Search
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Basic Search
Degrees From You
Name Summary
Recommendations
Contacts
Keywords
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Search By Industry
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Search By Industry
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Search By Industry
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Search By Keywords
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Search By Keywords
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Browse by Company
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Browse by Company
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Browse by School
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Browse by School
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Browse Your Network
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Browse Your Network
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Making Connections

• Adding People You Know
• Asking for Introductions
• Passing Along Introductions
• Introducing Yourself Via InMail
• Introducing Others

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Adding People You Know
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Adding People You Know
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Asking for Introductions
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Asking for Introductions

• Pick a goal
• Choose one of your contacts to connect through
• Write a descriptive title
• Write a message to your go-between contact
• Write a message to the person you want to connect
  with

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Asking for Introductions

• CategoryExpertise Request
• In NYC next Tue, can I buy you lunch for some
  advice?
• Jane,
• Good to see you last week. John works in
  publishing and I'd like to get advice on finding
  an agent. Please connect us, if possible. See you
  at next week's meeting!
• John,
• I'm a 45 year old aspiring writer whose written a
  novel about bats. I'm looking for advice on
  approaching and hiring an agent. I'll be in NYC
  next Tuesday. Can I take you to lunch?

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Passing Along Introductions

• Decide to pass along based on
• Source
• Destination
• Request
• Write a message to forward
• Explain your relationship with contact
• Include recommendation / reference
• Include warnings/ advice on approaches
• Build the relationship

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Introducing Yourself Via InMail

• When to use InMail
• Time Pressure
• Weak Or No Relationships
• Include in message
• Why are you contacting them?
• Who are you?
• What are the connections (interests, people)
  between you?
• What value do they get?
• Whats the next step?

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Introducing Others

• Forward a profile
• Recipient must request the introduction
• Forward the introduction within LinkedIn

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Building Relationships

• Request/Give Recommendations
• Ask/Answer Questions
• Send Profiles
• Introduce Others

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Give Recommendations
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Answer Questions
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Example Uses

• Finding Employees
• Finding Work
• Finding Business Relationships Partners,
  Customers Vendors
• Getting Advice Mentors
• Researching People

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Finding Employees

• Post a job
• Search for employees
• Locate references

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Post a Job
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Search For Employees
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Locate References
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Finding Work

• Search job listings
• Search for hiring managers

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Search Job Listings
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Search for Hiring Managers
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Finding Business Relationships

• Search by interest / industry location
• Ask for introductory meetings
• Ask for advice
• Don't hard sell

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Getting Advice Mentors

• Ask questions
• Use introductions / InMail to ask for advice

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Researching People

• Lookup sales leads
• Lookup potential employees
• Lookup real-world networking contacts

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Finding Blogs

• Blogrolls
• Search Sites
• Blog Cataloghttp//www.blogcatalog.com/
• Google Blog Searchhttp//blogsearch.google.com/
• Technoratihttp//technorati.com/
• Monitoring Services
• RSS
• Google Alertshttp//www.google.com/alerts
• Filtrboxhttp//www.filtrbox.com/

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Making Connections

• Post Comments
• Refer To Other Blogs
• E-mail Authors

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Post Comments

• Contribute to the discussion
• Link to your site, but don't "advertise"
• Provide value to readers author
• When in doubt, don't post

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Post Comments
Does anyone know of additional distinctive
examples?
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Post Comments
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Refer To Other Blogs

• Use TrackBacks
• Make others aware of your blog
• Participate in discussions by posting responses
  to other posts

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E-mail Authors

• When comments only provide value to author, not
  to readers
• To establish a relationship
• As a followup to a comment

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Finding People Through E-mail

• Ask your network
• Ask infrequently
• Ask selectively
• Maintain privacy, use bcc

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Making Connections

• Introducing Yourself
• Introducing Others

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Introducing Yourself

• Same rules as LinkedIn
• E-mail subject more important
• Followup once if no response, but wait at least
  5-7 days

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Introducing Others

• General Guidelines
• Separate E-mails, Sharing Info
• Separate E-mails, Go-Between
• Combined E-mail

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Introducing Others - Guidelines

• Content
• Clearly stated reason
• Explain relationship
• Ask for followup
• Considerations
• Uneven benefit vs even benefit
• Status privacy levels
• Your relationship to each person

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Introducing Others Separately

• Share Info
• Mutual introductions
• Go Between
• Offer to introduce
• If agree, send contact info
• Keep introduced person informed

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Introducing Others Jointly

• Address Both
• Similar to real life
• John Jane
• John, this is Jane, this is
• Address One, cc Other
• Send introduced contact info
• cc introduced on e-mail

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Introducing Others Jointly

• John, I met Jane at the last Meet the Geeks
  meeting and realized that you two need talk. Jane
  does ltsome valuable skillgt and she might be able
  to help you ltdo something usefulgt for ltyour
  companygt.
• Jane's contact information is    Jane
  Smith   jane_at_aol.com   [phone]Jane,
• John has been a mentor and friend for several
  years now. He's currently starting a company
  related to ltsome topicgt. I think it would be
  worth the two of you talking. John can be reached
  at
•    John Brown   john_at_aol.com   (828)
  555-1212Best of luck, and please let me know
  how the connection works out.

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Building Relationships

• Checking in
• Keeping up
• Informing others

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Checking in

• John,
• It's been a while since we talked. What have you
  been up to?
• On my end, I got a promotion last month and now
  manage our local division.
• Regards,
• Tom

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Keeping up

• Read their blog
• Watch their LinkedIn or other social network page
• Send notes of congratulations when a good event
  occurs

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Informing Others

• Personal Notes
• Keep it personal
• Keep it infrequent
• Newsletters
• Ask first if they want to receive
• Make sure to bcc recipients
• Newletter services are best

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Contact Relationship Management

• Value
• Manage followup tasks
• Include detailed contact info
• Add notes
• Usage
• Record how you met
• Record interaction notes
• Create followup task

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Network Relationship Management

• Value
• Manage different relationships types
• Find the best route to an individual
• Share your network with others
• Use for online offline networking
• Usage
• Record all known connections
• Rate connections

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After Meeting / Call

• Send E-mail
• Pleasure to meet you
• Reasons to stay connected
• Contact info for reference
• Looking forward to future interactions, include
  specific event if relevant
• Request Connection
• Based on your networking style
• Don't be offended if connection is not accepted
• Only do for one network

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Build Relationship

• Followup with e-mail
• Continue conversations by e-mail

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Final Exercise

• Exchange business cards with someone in the room,
  then do one of the following tomorrow
• Send them e-mail followup
• Connect on LinkedIn
• Introduce them to someone via e-mail or LinkedIn

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Questions, Comments?

• Trevor Lohrbeer
• trevor_at_labescape.com
• [phone] x707
• Happy networking!