Think of visiting a social networking site as the online equivalent of attending a professional association dinner or large networking event. At the in-person event, exchanging business cards is the first step to developing an ongoing business relationship. In the online world, the request to connect is the first step.
Exchanging business cards isn’t going to do you much good, however, if you never contact the people whose cards you’ve collected and they never contact you. The same holds true for the contacts you make online. The business card exchange—or online connection—is just the introduction. What you do with that introduction is up to you. Just like in real life, you may never follow up with some of the people you meet. With others, you contact them after your initial meeting and they become a part of your ongoing professional network...or even future coworkers or employers.
Even the most active social networkers don’t get very far without adequate follow-up. Because developing an ongoing relationship with your online contacts is so crucial, you need to develop a solid follow-up strategy and take the necessary time to implement it.
The first step is determining the best targets for follow-up. In the world of social networking, there are three types of contacts you’ll come across.
People who have a direct impact on your current job search are your most important contacts. This includes recruiters who specialize in your field, hiring managers and current employees who work at your target companies, and colleagues who share your professional background. This group represents your pool of key contacts—where you want to spend the majority of your time allocated to following up with your social network.
People with an interesting background but who have no impact on your current job search are another type of contact you’ll come across. Although it might be easy to discount these people because they don’t appear to match your current networking needs, it would be a mistake to do so. Even if you work in sales and a particular contact works in accounting, that accountant could very well have gone to school with the VP of sales at one of your target companies.
Finally, you’ll meet people whom you don’t want to follow up with. These are most likely individuals who initiate contact with you. Remember that you don’t have to accept every request to connect. If someone’s profile appears unprofessional or you just have a bad feeling about the person, don’t connect. Connecting with unprofessional people can become a negative reflection on you, as others may judge you based on the people you “know”—even in the world of social networking.
The second step is the actual follow-up. For some, reaching out to virtual contacts is easier because there’s no face-to-face contact. For others, this makes it even more difficult.
Here are some tips to make the follow-up process easier.
Create a system to keep track of your follow-up efforts and their results—. Without an adequate tracking system, you can easily forget whom you contacted, when you contacted them, and what they said. Contact management software such as ACT! (www.act.com) or Contact Plus Personal (www.contactplus.com) is the best choice for this, but you can also create a simple system in a word processor or spreadsheet.
Determine the right approach for each contact—. The way you would approach a recruiter with a job listing on a social networking site is very different from the way you would approach potential hiring managers or other general contacts.
Customize your response—. Creating a canned statement for each type of follow-up communication (one for recruiters, another for hiring managers, a third for general contacts, and so forth) can definitely save you some time. But don’t send a cookie cutter message as is. Customize each one based on the unique situation and target audience for best results.
Get to the point—. Although you don’t want to be too blunt and come across as aggressive or demanding, you also need to be clear what your request is when you contact someone you don’t know. Even if you’re connected via social networking, that doesn’t guarantee that your contact remembers your name.
Remember that networking is a two-way street—. This is particularly important when you consider how you approach general contacts who aren’t expecting to hear from you. Indicating a willingness to share your contacts and knowledge will get you much further than simply issuing a request.
Follow-up on your follow-up is crucial, too—. For example, let’s say that your social networking strategy has resulted in five people requesting your resume: two recruiters, one hiring manager, and two peers who offered to pass on your resume as part of their company’s employee referral program. It’s been one week, and you haven’t heard anything. Instead of simply sending an email asking whether your contacts received your resume, use this as an opportunity to remind recruiters and hiring managers of your unique value. With peers, don’t just ask whether they passed on your resume. Ask for the name of the recruiter or hiring manager.
By implementing a solid follow-up strategy outside the world of social networking, your online contacts could soon pay off in the form of the job of your dreams.