You can’t sell anything if you can’t tell anything.
—Beth Comstock
Networking is the process of building and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with other business people as well as potential new customers and clients. While this allows you to tell other people about your business and hopefully win new clients, it is important to remember that it is equally about how you can help other your fellow business peers. The mutually beneficial aspect is all important; some opinions support the idea that giving is in fact a starting point in networking rather than what you can get. As with many things, it is about balance, but giving out the right impression is vital, and you want to give an impression of being equally interested in what you can do to help someone as well as what they can do to help you.
In any part of the entrepreneurial journey, it is absolutely essential to build, maintain, and grow a strong network. These days there are a number of ways to build a strong and effective network. A common saying in the business world is “your network is your net worth.”
There are many different ways and means of networking, either face to face, at industry events, at networking events, or via social media. The good thing about this is in a lot of cases this can be done at a minimal or no financial cost. The key principle is getting yourself out there, using every possible means available and connecting and subsequently building effective and solid relationships with people. This may be out of your comfort zone, but it is a massively important part of business, particularly at the early stages and has to be done.
No matter what stage of the networking journey you are at, whether you have a strong list of contacts, starting from scratch or anything in between there are lots of new people to meet in the business world, many of whom may be in a similar position and many different ways to connect.
Face-to-Face Networking
There are numerous different ways of doing this. Nowadays, it is true that there are more and more business networking events that are available to entrepreneurs. Some are local and largely attended by local business owners and stakeholders, some are on a larger scale with larger attendances, and in some cases will have high-profile keynote speakers. Some entrepreneurs have started their own networking events businesses, where like-minded businesspeople can connect with each other.
This inevitably means increased choice, which has both advantages and disadvantages. More choice does mean you can pick and choose which events you go to; however, more choice can also mean varying levels of quality, and if you are going to take time out from the money-making tasks, you want to ensure you use your networking time wisely and productively. It is always worthwhile checking who will be at the event exhibiting or doing keynote speeches and that will give you an idea of the audience and who you are likely to meet. Ultimately, larger firms may well have a team of people who attend networking events; in some cases, this will be a large part of their full-time job. That is not a luxury that small business owners have, so research, time management, and prioritizing are particularly key in the early stages.
When attending these events, it is important to be fully prepared. In most cases, this is easy to do, and you will be able to research who will be at advertised events and what companies will be represented. The most common thing to swap with someone you meet is business cards; however, there is other promotional material you could also use depending on what type of business or industry that you are in. First impressions certainly count and if you say that you will be in touch, will connect on social media, or will follow up, it goes without saying that you should do what you have said you would. (It’s amazing how many people do not, and you only have one chance to make a first impression.) This does not have to be with the view of making an immediate sale (a sale of any sort could take time but could certainly come later); again, it is with the intention of making connections and seeing how you can help each other. At times, it may be the case that you know someone who can help the person you are networking with. Either way it is all about making the initial, positive connection.
Social Media and Your Own Company Website
Many years ago, communication via businesses used to be done via telephone calls and letters in the mail. Nowadays, things are very different. The emergence and subsequent dominance of social media has added an enormous new dimension to how entrepreneurs can connect and network. So much so that nowadays you can build a business as a social media personality or influencer. As an entrepreneur, you can interact with people who have a large social media following, and in some cases, they can help. Furthermore, endorsements from celebrities or social media influencers can literally transform the fortunes of your business overnight. However, this can work both ways and either positively or negatively depending on what the celebrity, blogger, or influencer says about your product or service. Examples of well-known celebrity endorsements would be George Clooney and Nespresso, Taylor Swift and Diet Coke, Charlize Theron and Dior, Dwayne Johnson and Under Armour, David Beckham and Haig Club Whisky, and Michael Jordan and Nike. This type of endorsement can lead to an increase in direct sales, increased awareness of the product and brand, and increased confidence and loyalty. Ultimately, if your favorite sports player, actor, or celebrity wears a particular brand of clothing or shoe, it will resonate with their fan base and the wider population and will provide a point of differentiation from rival brands.
There are several different social media platforms that you can use to set up a personal profile and a business page to use to start networking, showcasing your business and what you do. This can also be used for advertising and converting networking into business.
Given the sheer volume of people who use these platforms, it is important for any type of business to have some sort of presence online. Given the potential wider audience, varied demographics per platform, potential new connections, networking opportunities, and ultimately business you can engage and attract, it is a “no brainer.” On most social media platforms, you can create pages for no cost and have access to all of their millions of users.
There are some key principles to follow when using social media for your business:
• What is equally important to having an online presence is keeping your content up to date and continuing to be active across all of your platforms. Ultimately, there is no point in creating these accounts or a company website and not keeping them up to date and relevant or by posting regularly. An out-of-date website, or a social media platform that hasn’t been used for a long period, is not a good look, a very poor first impression and certainly doesn’t instill any confidence in your business.
• All of the platforms have a message facility. So, replying to messages in a timely and professional manner is another thing to consider. Again, it’s not a good look to be contacted by a potential customer and for them not to receive a timely reply.
• Your content needs to be clear, engaging, concise, and consistent as well as regular. It is also important to make sure your content has substance and is consistent with your overall brand. It must appeal to the right audience, your target market, and link back to your key messages.
• There is a great deal of insight available about when is the optimum time to post on the various social media platforms, including when they have the highest number of users online to get highest number of views/interactions.
• If your posts and content sticks to these principles, it should attract a good mixture of “likes,” comments, retweets, or shares, which will maximize its reach and influence. As a result, this should provide a good platform for networking and attracting new interest and new business.
With the various platforms available, managing social media can be a time-consuming thing to do; while your content needs to be high quality, time management and prioritization are important here. Where your social media activities go on, your list of priorities depends to some extent on the type of business you are running.
However, this is something that can be outsourced. With the growth of social media and its popularity, this has led to a lot of businesses that offer marketing services and essentially can do your social media activity for you. This can save time, but also you have to consider cost, what quality of service you will get, and how well someone else can represent your business.
There are many different ways this can be approached, but below is a more in-depth look at some of the different platforms that are available, ways that your online presence can be used and maximized.
LinkedIn: This is mainly a professional business platform where you can connect with current and former colleagues as well as connecting with new people. This is a key characteristic of LinkedIn that sets it apart from other platforms. It’s a professional site and you have to keep this is mind when posting content. You can also contribute to industry-specific discussions and join groups where you can interact with peers from your own industry. You can setup your own business page and also write your own articles and post content either as marketing material or to promote interest in your business. All of these activities can lead to connecting to new people. LinkedIn currently has nearly 740 million members across 200 territories and countries worldwide.
Facebook: This platform has huge usage. On August 27, 2012, Facebook announced that one billion people had connected on the platform.
Brands and individuals are to post an unlimited amount of text as well as photos and videos.
Users can like and share posts as well as directly message individuals and businesses alike. A Facebook business page allows you to include opening hours, reviews, and contact information, which in some ways is a duplication of the content you would put on your company website.
Examples of brands:
Nike has over 35 million followers.
Manchester United has over 74 million followers.
Instagram: Another platform with a huge number of users—roughly one billion active users a month. Recently bought by Facebook, Instagram is the “less wordy” social media platform, where users upload photos or video content to share updates. People are attracted to visuals as well as words and brands have a big presence on Instagram and over 50 percent of Instagrammers follow brands. Instagram posts have to be visually stimulating and you have to be creative and captivating.
Examples of brands and individuals:
FC Barcelona has over 104 million followers.
Businessman, movie star, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has over 22 million followers.
Disney has over 32 million followers.
Twitter: It is one of the oldest social media platforms but has over 314 million users with around 100 million users active daily. Setting up a company page is straightforward; however, the format of twitter is different to other platforms. There is currently a character limit on what you can post of 140 characters, but you can still have pictures, videos, and links in whatever you post. So, with this platform, there is an extra challenge of keeping your content short and succinct, while also getting across your key message.
Examples of brands and individuals:
Businessman and front man of the Apprentice in the U.K. Lord Alan Sugar has over five million followers.
U.S. businessman and a member of the panel on Shark Tank Mark Cuban has over eight million followers.
Starbucks has over 10 million followers.
YouTube: In some ways, YouTube could be seen as the heart of social media platforms because it is so widely distributed among the other platforms. For example, 400 tweets per minute contain a YouTube link. If video content is right for your business and brand and for getting your message out there, then having a YouTube channel is going to be worthwhile.
While this is a platform for some of the brands we have mentioned previously, it is also a platform that some have been able to use as a springboard to become “YouTubers”—people who make a living off posting videos which in itself is entrepreneurship. All YouTubers would have started from scratch, have had to build viewers and subscribers, and once you are at that stage, you can start making enough money to make a living.
For example:
PewDiePie is a video game commentator, showing reactions to him as he plays video games, has over 111 million subscribers and over 10 billion views.
Jenna Marbles, who posts videos about being a young millennial woman, has over 20 million subscribers and nearly two billion views.
TikTok: This is a relatively new platform, launched in 2017 for IOS and Android markets, that has gained an enormously increased profile in recent years. As of 2018, TikTok is available in 75 languages in over 150 markets. The app allows users to create and upload short videos that can be slowed down, sped up, or edited using a filter. Background music can also be added, and there is also a lip sync feature. In terms of business use, this app has allowed small businesses to advertise and reach consumers outside of the demographic that they would usually serve. In 2020, Shopify added TikTok to its social media platforms, which allowed online traders to sell directly to consumers on TikTok.
Having your own company website: Can any business get by without having its own website in today’s world? In most cases, the answer would have to be a “no.” This is an important consideration for any type and size of business, again in terms of research, costs, time management priorities, and whether this is something you may outsource. If you decide to have a website for your business, some of the things to consider would be:
1. Naming your website: This is your company’s web address, and this is what people will type in to go to your business’ website. There are a number of ways of registering a domain name with different web hosting companies. Ideally you would want your website and business name to be the same, so it’s a good idea to check and secure your domain name at the same time as naming your business. (You don’t want to be in a position where you risk your domain name and business name being different.) You also have to decide on the suffix at the end of your domain name. The most common and usually most expensive is .com; however, there are others, such as .co.uk and .net. While you have to consider the cost, it may be an idea to register your domain name with multiple suffixes, and this will not only maximize chances of visitors finding the site but also protect the brand and guard against duplication, where two businesses have the same name, but one has .com and the other .co.uk.
2. Building your website: For the design and building of your website, this is something that can be done by yourself or by a professional. It largely depends on your knowledge and abilities in this area as well as time management and prioritization. Ultimately, you want the end result to be a professional job. A DIY job can be done at relatively low cost; however, the lower the cost, potentially there is less scope to make it look good and to customize. The more expensive packages allow you to have more pages, more scope for customizing, and things like company e-mail and online shops. Another area to consider is making sure your website can be viewed equally well on tablets and smartphones as well as on a computer. Both website building and design are specialist areas, so you may wish to get a dedicated web company to do this while you concentrate on other areas of the business. There are many different options here depending on budget and quality. Getting this choice right is important longer term as well; for example, if you do look at outsourcing, ideally you would stay with the same person as you go through expansion. A sound working relationship is always helpful, but having to swap web designers for whatever reason means starting the outsourcing process (and potentially your website) again from scratch.
3. The content of your website: Your website should be engaging, have good content, and be easy to navigate. Ultimately, if it attracts new visitors, you want people to want to stay on there and have a look around. If the first impression is not right, then the chances are they won’t return for a second look. It is important that the content itself is clear, concise, and relevant and represents the business brand. A mixture of posts, updates, blogs, and vlogs as well as keeping the site up to date is important to maintain engagement. A weekly or monthly newsletter is also an option. Another key consideration is double checking for any spelling mistakes and making sure that your contact details are correct. There is only one chance to make a first impression.
4. Attracting visitors: One of the key things to do here is to make sure your website appears on all of your different marketing materials; for example, social media pages, business cards, letterheads, the signature on your e-mail, and any promotional goods you may use such as mugs, mouse mats, or pens. As well as ensuring you have a good-quality content, it is important to make sure you keep updating your website, possibly including blogs, vlogs, and latest news from you and possibly your industry. This can then be used to circulate around your posts on social media platforms, making sure that what you post links back to your website. Search engine optimization is also important here. This concept, also known as “SEO,” covers techniques that can be used to improve a website’s performance in search engine rankings. This includes optimizing your site to perform well for specific keywords around your business. Other SEO techniques involve writing relevant content to go on your website. There are also “pay per click” services that allow you to buy your way to the top of search engines results for relevant search phrases for your business. There are a few different providers of this service and there are costs attached.
Building on Your Existing Network
You never know how someone you know, may know someone who can offer advice or help you out. When you decide to embark on your entrepreneurial adventure, tell people you know, your friends and family, your business network. They may be able to help, or they may well know someone or knows someone who knows someone who may be able to help in some way.
The benefits of business networking:
• New contacts and referrals: This is arguably the primary benefit of networking. New contacts can also lead to opportunities for joint ventures, partnerships, or new areas for expansion for the business.
• Visibility: You need to meet and build relationships with potential clients and generate referrals so you can continue to generate new business. Attending the right type of networking events will connect you to the right people, and regular attendance will keep you at the forefront of the right people’s minds.
• Problem solving: As well as gaining new business, networking can help you find solutions for your own business challenges or needs. For example, if your business needs an accountant, funding options, HR advice, administration assistance, or legal advice, this can be easily found by networking. Alternatively, if you are looking for investment, then this can also be found via networking. These relationships can be established and can be beneficial, potentially for the long term.
• Sharing knowledge and experiences: Another key benefit is sharing knowledge and experience of other businesspeople and sharing your experiences with them. Taking advantage of the experience of others or sharing your experience can be invaluable and can save a lot of time and money. For example, if you are thinking of starting to import or export internationally, or taking on new staff, talking through the mechanics of this with someone who has experience in this area can be a massive help.
• Staying up to date: The only real certainty in the modern business world is uncertainty. It is important for any entrepreneur to keep up to date with changes in market conditions and market trends. Knowing your market is also key to having a well-thought-out business and marketing plan. If you have employees or your own premises, there may be HR and health and safety legislation you need to stay familiar with. Attending networking events with your peers in your industry will on a regular basis will help you keep on top of market changes.
• Increased morale and confidence: Regularly associating with like-minded businesspeople can be a moral boost at all times, but particularly in the early stages. It can also help boost your confidence, particularly if you are not a naturally outgoing person, to go out of your comfort zone and ultimately build new and effective relationships with your business peers.
Networking is marketing. Marketing yourself, your uniqueness, what you stand for.
—Christine Lynch