STEP NUMBER 1:

Create Your Values Foundation.

We all have values, but what are your top four and, if you can, what are they in level of priority?

Carol had been what we call in Networlding “baseline networking” for years. She was at the top of her game working as Director of HR for a large organization. However, the long hours and an intense travel schedule left Carol feeling that her personal life lacked balance. From layoffs and career changes to being sought out for competitive executive positions, Carol had been through all of the ups and downs of corporate life.

As she began thinking about what she wanted her future to look like she thought more about her childhood dream of being a physiologist. Carol appreciated valued-based business and aspired to start an individual psychology practice of her own.

With these goals in mind Carol took the first step in Networlding and identified her top four values:

• Spirituality
• Connection
• Making a difference
• Achievement

With these values in mind, Carol decided to leave her six-figure salary and return to graduate school. By understanding her values Carol will not lose sight of them through her process. With her values in mind she is more apt to meet others with similar values and build a network of people around her that will help maintain these values. She will also vocalize her values more often and make requests to be introduced to people who hold similar and complimentary values.

I was having a great conversation with a long-time colleague and friend, Stephen Meade last evening that lead to a discussion around what creates great social networking. Stephen offered the following insights:

People love recognition, referrals, and revenue. To that end, I love making introductions.
However, keep in mind the 3 C’s when you do so.

Make a referral, but hope you get back:

1. Credit (for the referral, especially when other people use your contact for their benefit, they should give you public credit for the introduction)
2. Contacts (that can help you and your business)
3. Compensation (If and when appropriate, compensation)

I was pleased to see such a simple overview of what often goes unsaid in a networking exchange. So, I ask you, how many times have you connected with someone who reached out to you where you ended up offering support in the form of ideas or leads or even referrals where you got back absolutely nothing?

If you wonder what you can do to avoid these experiences I recommend that you create upfront contracts with your networking partners. Share with them what your expectations are and ask them what their expectations are emphasizing that the more clearly you share intentions the better the outcomes for you and your networking colleagues.

What do you think? Are there other ways you have seen work well to better ensure successful outcomes for your networking? Please comment below and share this with your colleagues to get their input.

1.    What do you think makes a good networker? I think a good networker is made by someone who understands the true concept of what networking should be which is that it is not a superficial relationship. Networking needs to have intention. You have to understand who you are going to make a connection with, how you are going to benefit them and how you will benefit from them as well.

2.    How do you network today most often (internally in your organization or externally, online, etc)? Please share all that apply. I do a lot online but it all starts with face-to-face. From a Networlding standpoint I focus on people who have similar and complimentary values. A few of my close contacts are not online but we do have good relationships and they have good relationships with the type of people I want to know as well.

3.    Do you use networking to grow community and leadership inside and outside of your company? If so, how? I do. In the local community, when I had made the decision to open in Gilbert, I made it my goal to find and make connections with the community leaders. I made it my focus to know these people. When we look at actually building relationships it is, again, important to focus on what you want to accomplish. I am philanthropically involved on a number of causes. It helps the causes, it helps those who support the causes, and it helps me. I have developed many key relationships with the local community leaders by being focused and helping them with what they are trying to accomplish.

4.    How often do you use networks in your daily life? Everyday. Since part of my goal as the head of the company is to develop those relationships it is imperative that I network. I get online as much as I can—on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. I do it everyday on an ongoing basis. I also keep track of who is doing what within my network and make sure they know I am helping them in whatever way I can.

5.    In this “Linked-In, Linked Up” world what do you think will be the nature of networking in the next couple of years? In other words, how do you see networks evolving? I see that all the different online mediums can become an oversaturation. I think we are going to have to step back and take these relationships to a more personal level. I think there will be new things coming out but it still comes down to how much you contribute to the relationship, and you really can’t do much when you are trying to get hundreds of contacts via the online mediums.

6.    Please share one of your best networking stories. When I started out here in the community one of the first relationships I made was with the president of the chamber of commerce. My relationship has grown through her—the connections with the mayor, the heads of the local hospitals, and heads of several of the large local corporations. When I had originally joined the chamber it was with that intent, with that purpose in mind. I told her that when I met her. She is in the process of getting remarried and I am not going to the wedding as she is getting married in Ireland but I was invited to the reception at her home here, of which I am very honored and feel that we have a great mutually beneficial relationship.

Stay tuned for Part II – It gets better! What questions do you have for Alonzo?

“Hi Melissa. We’ve called you in because we are finding that we just are not getting the same results from our marketing initiatives that we used to get.”

I respond, “Yes. I am hearing that from a lot of company heads. What do you think is happening?”

“Well, I think that people just aren’t reading the magazines, newspapers or other publications like they used to; I think, instead they are searching online. for services like ours”

I respond, “It could be. But what other evidence do you have that they have shifted their attention to online search?”

“Because there isn’t a week that goes by that I am sent some kind of email from someone I have met somewhere that mentions things about me like ‘I know you are an avid golfer.’ or ‘In that talk you gave at The Executive Club you shared some great insights on new product devleopment.’ or ‘Congratulations on that 10K race you ran.’ They are getting this information from online sites. There is no question. People are searching online for me and our organization.”

So now that these companies are “awake in the network” what can we do to make social networking more successful? Simply, focus on mutually beneficial opportunities versus the “what’s in it for you” mindset. What would this look like? Taking the time to really get to know what unique problems your prospects and clients are experiencing. From the conversation above, I know that my prospects and clients want to know what to do to keep up or even ahead of the curve around social networking. My goal is to not just push my services but to provide solutions that address their current needs. One quick example would be the upcoming presentation I am making to heads of pubic relations for about 45 top colleges. I spent the last weekend analyzing each school’s website to see who was on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I then went through each participant’s LinkedIn profile to see how developed each was or was not. I did searches on Google on each school to see what they were doing outside of their main site. I was looking for a good snapshot of the quantity and quality of their social media activites.

Now I have a much better understanding of the gaps they have created and are in need of being filled with suggestions I can offer and by doing so, ad great value. The process is the same for you and your industry. What else can you offer here? What gaps are you seeing in your industry? What solutions do you have to offer that others would benefit from receiving?

Fortune 500 Series: FedEx delivers success through social media …
By Jennifer Leggio

Blogger, Jennifer Leggio showcases The FedEx Citizenship blog that provides insights from their employees into FedEx global citizenship programs and the The FedEx Cares Week blog is an internal blog that chronicles the annual global philanthropy event by having team members share their stories about the community service projects. …

Hill and Knowlton’s New Blogging Code of Conduct

Hill and Knowlton publish their blogging “Code of Conduct.” This is a nice model for other organizations to use.

The Top Six Reasons Companies are Still Scared of Social Media

This article showcases the reasons why companies are afraid of social media. Whereas they are typical reasons that make sense, the article is good at aggregating the most common reasons. The hurdles for companies are getting lowered by organizations like SAS who take on the risk, trusting and encouraging their employees to blog and prove that it is still better to be “out there” than to hide behind corporate walls.

My Take

I spoke with a couple of social media experts this week and found that, once again, myopia is still alive, well and living in peoples’ minds still. By this I mean that many see social networking as their ticket to great success. They think that because there are so are confused how to make social networking work that there is a huge market out there and that they can just put a shingle out that states they are social media experts overnight. Recently someone shared they had a construction worker friend who is now teaching LinkedIn.

I’ve been teaching people social networking for more than a decade and up until last year many still didn’t understand the basics of business networking. Now there are five times the number of experts on the subject than there were even three months ago. What a strange time this is! It will be interesting to see how all this shakes out in the next couple of years. I remember when I use to hold networking events and there was an over abundance of bankers; then came the plethora of coaches. Now everyone is a social networking and new media expert. Hmmmmm.

What does it look like to build trust online? Maybe showing rather than telling will be more helpful. Let me start with an actual campaign I am currently implementing.

Event: A live event in Chicago teaching social media

Target market: Lawyers

Date scheduled: Last two weeks in October

1.  I started by going through my network on LinkedIn
2. I limited my search to those in my network
3.  I discovered I had 318 lawyers in my network
4. I created what I call a two-step email–first a query to find out if there was interest, and
second, if interested, an email to present the workshop offering.

I have used this approach, again and again, to connect with people that I know as well as those I don’t. My approach is to ALWAYS be as authentic as I can be and to create a connection.

What else? I also really work on my emails to these new connections making sure I make my request simple and short. So a script might look like this:

Dear X,

I am currently in your network and wanted to reach out and ask if you might be interested in a social media workshop I will be hosting in Chicago at the end of October? I have over seven years of experience helping thousands learn to leverage social media tools like LinkedIn. Please let me know if you would like me to send more information.

Best,

Melissa Giovagnoli

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But, of course, each campaign you create is unique and should be as tailored as possible to create the best “first impression.” That takes some time and thoughtfulness, but, if you build a network of connections, one good first connection conversation, at a time, you will go a long way toward starting a “trust continuum” that will have a long-term payback.

Reid has kept that question at the center of his life as he continues to grow LinkedIn into an organization that benefits millions allowing them, as he puts it, to become “sofware entrepreneurs.” He illuminates the fact that the working world is changing making every person “somewhat entrepreneurial” especially when one is looking for a job.

Reid, as he has stated in past articles (I read as many of them as I can) has said that he is still trying to get people to realize the day-to-day benefits of LinkedIn. Well, this article pulls Reid’s vision forward just a little more. For me, I see LinkedIn as much more than a software tool for job seekers. I see it as an integral part of building successful careers, businesses and communities. But, of course, it is also incredibly beneficial to job seekers! Stay tuned!

Don't be Greedy: Everyone Can Easily Leverage the Power of LinkedIn

This Friday I will be hosting a webinar at 6 Figure Jobs.

You will learn how to:

• Get better LinkedIn Introductions.
• How to create a winning profile that has companies contacting you
• Use the most recent LinkedIn tools (they update at least monthly)
• Learn all about the best connectors and how to get their support
• Search strategically based on the unique skills, background and even interests you bring
• How to get to the decision maker in almost any of your targeted companies
• Reaching SVP’s, CEO’s, Directors, etc.
• How to use the Groups feature of LinkedIn that offers wonderful new, powerful connections

Bonus 1: All attendees will receive the Networlding LinkedIn Tutorial Guide rated as one of the best guides for learning and optimizing LinkedIn.

Bonus 2: For the first 20 who sign up you will be sent access to Networlding’s e-learning tool which provides thirty lessons for learning LinkedIn, a $149 value.

Webinar:Teleconference and web based access to the career coach’s on-screen presentation and tutorial via WebEx.
Cost: $50 *  To register, go to www.6figurejobs.com.