How to use social media to enhance your business relationships

Is networking part of your marketing strategy? If so, how many networking events have you attended in the last week? How do you choose the right networking events to go to for your sector? Or do you simply look around and see which events are on and hope that it’s a good fit for your business?

Thanks to social media, we can find out a lot more about these events before we commit our time to them. If the event you’re looking at is a regular event, you can check on social media to see if there are any follow up conversations which give away any comments on format, content or even give you any clues as to whether the businesses that are attending are your target audience.

Start networking before the event

If the event is promoted on facebook, you’ll potentially have the opportunity to see if there’s a guest list available so why not check out any of the attendees before you go? Maybe comment on a few of their posts, connect or give them a follow. You’ll have pretty much broken the ice before you meet on zoom (other platforms are available) as you’ve already created the first touch point.

Linkedin, particularly, is full of conversations surrounding networking events, so if you didn’t get the opportunity to download the chat box with everyone’s LinkedIn details, take a look at all those who have liked or commented on such a post. Bear in mind that everyone who has interacted with that post (even a simple like) will get a notification when you interact with that post. You can make yourself more visible to more people by reacting AND commenting, which would show up as two separate notifications.

Do you use direct messaging on zoom?

During the event do you ever take the opportunity to message someone directly? Sadly, due to the very nature and time constraints of online meetings, you often only get a short window to say what you do and who you’re looking for, but if you see someone on the call you particularly want to speak with, or you’ve connected with on social media, simply message them directly and perhaps set up a meeting at a future date - remember that’s what we’re all there for. I hear of so many people saying they were disappointed they didn’t get any business out of a networking meeting and therefore it wasn’t worth the time - I believe it’s so important to appreciate that it’s all about building those relationships, building your know, like and trust factor. I have heard of business happening on the first touch point but it is very rare; using social media to enhance the short period of networking time you get with a potential client can go a long way to building those connections into solid business relationships. 

Follow up on social

So what happens after the online networking event? Did you download the chat box? What did you do with it? Is it stored on your computer for another day or do you take the time to go through it and connect with everyone? If you’ve committed an hour of your time to take part in the event, it seems crazy to me to not follow up and connect with everyone, but I know from my conversations that people get busy after the meeting and often never return to the chat at all. There could be some amazing businesses, possibly even your ideal clients, in amongst those people on the call, or possibly they may know of one of their contacts who would be an amazing fit for your business. Make that networking hour count for so much more by keeping in touch on social media.

Once you’ve connected with them on LinkedIn, facebook, instagram or twitter, you can have a little “snoop” around and see who they’re connected with. This is particularly helpful if you’re considering collaborating with complementary businesses, as often their ready-built audience is a great fit for what you’re offering too.

Who uses twitter lists?

On twitter you can create lists - so why not create a list of people you’ve met at networking events to make it simpler to keep a track of conversations that may follow? Twitter offers a trail of partnerships, if you’re prepared to spend the time on it. You’ll find connections you already have and who they’re connected with and what local (and global) business opportunities there are - if you’re using this platform for research, you won’t go far wrong.

On instagram you could check out some of your new connection’s busier posts and take a look at those who have engaged with their posts. An audience who engages with one person is much more likely to engage with interesting content that you produce - there are simply people who look around these platforms and never engage and those who are more active. It’s these active contributors who you want to attract to your pages and content. You could start liking and commenting on their audience pages to become more visible - yes, this is all time-consuming, but growing an organic following does not happen overnight. If you want to build meaningful relationships with others, you need to take the time and get to know your audience - and along the way you find out so much more about them and learn how else you can help them better. Your audience holds the answer to all your questions about what they need, and this learning process enables you to serve them better and on a much deeper level.

Have you joined the facebook group?

So what about facebook, I hear you ask? You will find a lot of networking groups have their own online facebook groups to accompany them so be active in there. It’s your opportunity to be noticed in the crowd. If you’re simply in there and never saying a word, how will anyone know what you do, know what you believe in and know if they want to get to know you more. A lot of “knows” in there but you get the idea - it’s staying in the forefront of your audience’s thoughts, especially if you’re adding value with your comments. Perhaps someone is looking for advice or a recommendation - could you help? If you see someone struggling with a challenge you’ve been through, offer some support and tips on how you overcame the challenge. Share your knowledge and be a supporting voice and be visible so everyone can see that you’re helping others.

LinkedIn is my favourite networking platform, it’s the one I’ve spent the most time focussing on, it’s the one I learn the most about other people on and in the early days I only ever connected with people I had met in person. What that has done has given me a solid foundation of quality connections. Who remembers the days when LinkedIn would send out a connection request to everyone in your email address book if you weren’t careful! I remember being on the receiving end of many of those requests  and thinking I didn’t want to be that person.

I challenge you to connect

So my challenge to you this week is to connect with everyone you meet on a networking call on their social media channels - it doesn’t have to be every channel, simply pick one and see how many of them come back and initiate a conversation with you - surprisingly few, I’d imagine. Turn it round and be the instigator of the conversation  - don’t sell to them though, please, it is one of the biggest turn-offs. You won’t have to go far on LinkedIn to see a post about how annoying it is when people connect with you and sell to you immediately. All that will happen is you’ll get a bad reputation and people will remove the connection...so don’t do it!

It’s simple, think about how you liked to be approached and do exactly that. We all have a different turn of phrase, that’s what makes us individual and hopefully likeable, so use what is unique to you and go out there and make some great connections!

If you found this helpful and missed the previous blogs simply check them out below and if you haven’t already and would like to, please sign up for my 10 top tips to make your social media more effective here.