Partner Article

The pros and pros of online networking

We’re all familiar with the benefits of face to face networking for building trust and reputation.

It’s a great way to build a rapport with a potential customer. There is no guarantee you willwalk out of a networking event with a business lead, however you’ve opened the door for a future job or referral.

So without the opportunity to look your new contact in the eye and shake their hand, how beneficial is online networking? Well the answer, according to some 4,000 businesses every week in Yorkshire, is very!

The craze for an online networking hour within a specific location or industry was started by #YorkshireHour in 2012 and has since built into an award winning social media phenomenon engaging the region’s business community.

With an average 3,500 to 4,000 tweets during each #YorkshireHour, on Wednesdays from 8pm to 9pm, it has sparked a raft of micro hours popping up everywhere.

Twitter-based networking hours are characterised by a hashtag followed by a region, town or city such as #Yorkshirehour, #Bradfordhour or #Ilkleyhour,which was launched by Approach PR and recently celebrated its first birthday.

As well as connecting with potential new business leads, customers or clients online, networking hours are also a great way of getting involved with the local community.

You don’t need to be a master to start building your network. Just taking a moment to reach out is a big step that will help most people. Sharing useful information and connecting like-minded people are simple actions that everyone will appreciate.

We often hear concerns about making the time for networking online. An easy solution is to use dashboard services such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to schedule tweets in advance. However there is a danger in automating tweets as it is counterproductive to starting a real life conversation with another person.

A more useful way to ensure you’re part of the conversation is to schedule in tweets for relevant ‘hours’ and then contribute to the live conversation, to follow up on responses and interaction with others as they happen.

After networking online for an hour you may not log out with a brand new customer but the more you contribute, the more you build your reputation. Using social networking makes you visible and tweeting informative content makes you trusted which are both ingredients you need to win new business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Verity Clarke .