Raising Your Social Capital: The Two "O" Process
Using Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as part of your research process to find the right contact is quite helpful. Does your networking end there? Not at all Each social network that you engage and participate in should have its own use and purpose.
Linkedin is where you find your professional connections, while Facebook is more friendly and familial, yet a great professional source. too! Twitter, on the other hand, is used by many as a channel to share musings and nuggets of information.
Then you have Tumblr which is great for visual messaging and Gowalla or Foursquare to share new spots you've discovered. While Plancast is a service to share events that you intend to attend in the future. Thanks to all these tools online to offline networking is much easier and fun!
How do you put it all together? There is no real straight answer as it is relative to each individual's purpose. Here are a few tactical items I use to help deepen my engagement with my network and increase social capital by using online and offline tools and strategies:
Research. Find out where your audience flocks for information and which channels they are likely to use. Is your audience stuck in forumnification? How do you reach out to this audience? Engage and behave like a frat boy.
Explore and test. What content is your audience likely to respond to? There is only one way to find out — share. Start with a microblog or a blog. It opens doors.
Event networking wisely. When I attend events I check the attendee list and the topics to make sure it is strategically relevant to the projects I am working on or future projects I'd like to work on. If yes, then I proceed in pulling together a list of the people I'd like to meet and set up appointments in advance.
Blogging gives you access. Obviously the quality of your content and the distribution has a lot to do with the type of people who will take notice and listen. In my experience, positioning myself as a media channel offers first review on a variety of new products and technology updates across mobile, consumer related technology, games, social media and more! The same companies that I write about are usually strategic contacts for my startup clients or an article opens doors to new business. Others who are challenged in expressing themselves in writing are not too appreciative of this channel, yet the value to those who can utilize the power of the blogosphere is priceless.
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