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 Business Networking in Austin Blog
By: Scott Ingram
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Your E-mail Signature is a Networking Tool I've noticed lately that too may people are missing out on the opportunities that a good e-mail signature provides. Setting up an e-mail signature that automatically pops up every time you send a message is really easy and only takes a few minutes to create if you don't already have one. The advantages are numerous.
Here are just a few examples of why you want to make sure you always include your own e-mail signature, and be sure it includes your contact information.
1) If someone is going to e-mail a virtual introduction about you they can just cut and paste your signature. Save them the trouble of having to look-up your contact details and retype them.
2) When your e-mail is received on someone's Blackberry or iPhone it's now just one click to call you.
3) If your e-mail is forwarded to someone else they easily click on the links you've provided to learn more about you and your company.
4) It lets your friends know where else they can find you. Would they have otherwise known you were on Twitter?
Are you effectively using your own e-mail signature?
I'm not suggesting it's perfect, but here's what you'll find at the bottom of each one of my e-mail messages:
| The Networking Rule of 150 The Economist recently had an article titled: "Primates on Facebook," which suggests that even with social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter they still don't change the fact that 'the size of the human brain allows stable networks of about 148. Rounded to 150, this has become famous as “the Dunbar number”.'
I first became aware of the Rule of 150 after reading about it in Malcolm Gladwell's book: The Tipping Point (a great book that I highly recommend by the way). When I mentioned this article on Facebook one of my friends quipped: 'Said the man with 455 "friends."' Sure I may have a lot of connections on Facebook and LinkedIn, but I see the Rule of 150 as being a description of your core network. Certainly we've all met more than 150 people, we may even have quite a few more legitimate relationships than this theoretical 150 person limit. However if you really boil it down to the truly meaningful relationships I would image that you, like me, would come up with a number really close to 150.
Your core network in my opinion is your real network. These are your family, close friends, co-workers that you're close to, etc. The people you spend most of your time with, and have really solid relationships with. This certainly wouldn't include that guy you see a couple of times a year at this event or that event. It probably doesn't even include people you've had lunch or drinks with once or twice. These are the individuals you really spend time with, and who spend time with you where you have much deeper relationships.
So here's an interesting exercise I've been playing with. Exactly who makes up your core network? Who are these 150 people? Are they the right 150 people? There's also the theory that says you're most likely to be like the people you spend the most time with. It's probably a smaller subset of the 150 that this theory applies to, but it's an important concept to pay attention to.
Consider making an actual list to get a better understanding of what your own core network looks like.
That's just my 2 cents. What do you think? I'm very interested in your thoughts and comments.
Happy Networking!
Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com
P.S. I'm considering writing a follow-up post. Something along the lines of: Beyond the Rule of 150 - The Impact of Social Networking Tools on Network Size. I have some definite opinions, but don't want to taint your thoughts with mine... yet. :) | Finding a Job Using Twitter - Guest Post by Chris Garrigues 
There really is value in the various forms of online networking. I asked my friend Chris Garrigues to share his experience in nearly landing a job through Twitter. In the end this job fell through for Chris, but the lessons are no less instructive. Thank you Chris for sharing this story!
When I started twittering back in June, one of my goals was to see if it would be useful in finding a job. I asked Jason Alba of JibberJobber.com fame if it would be and he said:
"For a job search I'd suggest it's not going to be much help (prove me wrong, though, if you can :p). It's more of a long-term relationship building tool... so if had been on for a year, and had built a network, I could see that being really helpful, but for now, it's going to be more of listening to who is out there, what they are saying, and how you could develop relationships with them... just my two cents."
My Twitter job seeking strategy was to follow anybody in recruiting or HR I could find located in the Austin area. My hope was to be “top of mind” for these recruiters if they should find something that would be a good fit for me. I followed several of them and they followed me back. Of course, I also continued pursuing the job boards and working my traditional network and attending events like the ones held by Door64.
As the months went by, I didn't think about Twitter as part of my job search strategy, but more as just one of the tools I use to stay in touch with some key parts of my network. It also became a place where I felt comfortable discussing the presidential election with a diverse group of people. I ignored the advice of Scott Ingram who was concerned that I would offend half the people out there no matter which side I took.
One Tuesday afternoon in early October, while watching my girls at a playground, I sent the following tweet:
"Isn't 'tying McCain to the Keating 5' like tying John Lennon to the Beatles?" (from TPM, but paraphrased) 4:43 PM Oct 7th
One of the recruiters in my network replied:
@DeepEddy Oh that is funny! And look how open minded (sellout!) I am that I can laugh at the jokes from the other side? 4:48 PM Oct 7th
His very next tweets were:
So we need to find a Network Engineer, but the manager INSISTS on an actual BS in Comp Sci (no MIS/IS). I have never met such a creature. ?? 5:23 PM Oct 7th
Most people with Computer Science degrees become programmers/developers/etc, not Server/Router people. Thats how I see it - anyone disagree? 5:24 PM Oct 7th
@davidrees I'm one. We exist. When I started in R&D labs, having only a BS made me undereducated. DM me re this position. 6:12 PM Oct 7th
David discovered that I wasn't in his files, so I sent him a résumé and told him how glad I was that he found my joke funny. By the next day he had told me that I had one of the best IT résumés he'd seen, but it might be a little while before I heard from them since this was the least important of three positions they were filling. Two hours later, he called me back to see if I could talk to the guy the next day.
[In an effort to shorten this story I've edited Chris' play by play of the aftermath. Long story short he was told that he had the job, but later had the rug pulled out on the offer based on the CFO's "assessment of the current economic conditions." Chris continued to explore other opportunities as this was transpiring.]
Lessons I can draw from the experience:
- Pursue multiple channels when looking for a job and feel free to try things nobody else has done.
- You can get away with discussing “controversial” issues like politics if you are never mean about it and remain in good humor. I never lost a Twitter follower as a result and even got an interview through someone who had opposing views. You gotta remain likable, however. I wouldn't try it if you aren't capable of being liked and respected by people who disagree with you.
- Never stop prospecting until you have an offer in hand. The job I eventually got turned up during a time that I thought this one was going to come through.
| Develop Your Own Online Networking/Social Media Strategy The number of social/online networking tools is, to put it bluntly, overwhelming. From Business Blogs to Twitter, LinkedIn to Facebook, Plaxo to MySpace and everything in between the choices are astounding. Hopefully you're using at least one of these tools, even if it's only casually.
The trick is to develop your own strategy in how you utilize these tools so they don't take over your life. If done incorrectly the time you spend on e-mail and your social networking activities will consume ALL of your available time. That would be bad, unless that's your business.
So how do you develop this strategy? First an understand of what you're trying to accomplish would be very helpful. Personally I have three primary goals when utilizing these tools.
- Maintain or deepen connections with people I've already met.
- Build visibility for myself and the things I work on and am passionate about, and attract other like minded people to me through these efforts.
- Find appropriate contacts and make connections through referrals/introductions.
- Initiate new professional relationships that make sense.
Once you're clear about your goals you can start to think about how you'll use each tool.
I'll share with you 2 of my own examples:
I've already written about My LinkedIn Networking Philosophy I encourage you to read that. Very generally LinkedIn is a way for me to maintain contact with people I have a genuine connection with. That way if they change jobs or move I don't lose track of them because all of their other contact information changed. I have a way of being in the loop. It also helps me see relational connections. For example if I want to meet the CEO of a prospective company and they're on LinkedIn I can see our mutual connections and potentially ask those individuals to make an introduction for me.
Twitter is quickly becoming my new favorite tool. I avoided this one for a long time because from the outside it sounds just plain goofy and like it will be a colossal waste of time. Turns out it's the best relationship deepener I've ever seen. People I know well who I follow on Twitter I now know really, really well. Even more impactful are those that I kinda know, and have the ability to get to know at a much deeper level. It's a little hard to explain just how this works. I highly recommend you just quickly create an account, follow a few people and see what you think. You're welcome to start with my profile just to get an idea: www.twitter.com/scottingram
Over time I will go deeper into the use of each of these tools (stay tuned!). In the mean time your best bet is to just begin to play with a couple of these sites. Here's a little bit of generic guidance on the order in which you should explore these sites and why.
If you are a business professional this is my opinion of the order of importance of these tools:
- LinkedIn - If you're a professional you MUST be on LinkedIn.
- Facebook - It's less geared toward professionals, but it's much better at helping you reconnect with people in your long ago past. High School, College, etc.
- Twitter/Business Blogs - In terms of priority these are tied. However, what they each bring to the picture is very different.
- Plaxo/Myspace - For the professional I think these are fairly irrelevant. Plaxo doesn't really add any value beyond those listed above (it used to in the past when it was about keeping contact information up to date). As for MySpace it's maybe not my place to say this since I'm not even on it, but I don't see how it adds value for the professional. Please feel free to comment if you disagree.
- All others - Beyond these core tools there are probably hundreds of others. The learning curve and critical mass is typically steep enough that unless there is something in a very specific niche that would be helpful to you it's probably not worth your time to explore these. Again, I'm open to suggestion and hope you'll comment if there are other tools that have been helpful to you.
I encourage you to look beyond this post. I've written at least a little bit about most of these tools, especially business blogging (as that's what you're reading now) and you can navigate these topics using the categories listed below.
Happy Networking!
Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com | LinkedIn Connection Request Best Practice It's one thing to use the standard "I'd like to add you to my network on LinkedIn" boilerplate when making a LinkedIn connection request to somebody you already have a relationship with. I'm sure many would disagree, but if we already have a real life relationship I'm not going to be upset that you didn't change this message.
Using this to connect with somebody you've never met, and have never had any previous interaction with on the otherhand is rediculous. Yet I get them all the time. It's what prompted my previous post about My LinkedIn Networking Philosophy.
Today I bring you the best connection request I've ever received. With permission here is Sherry Lowry's request from late last week:
Scott, I'd say at this point i may be more of a FAN than a friend, and I'd like to change that.
Interim, I'd also appreciate adding you to my professional network on LinkedIn -- and ALSO buy coffee when you have time to connect live in Austin.
I like everything i've learned about you - and none of it has been first-hand. It seems well past time to know more DIRECTLY about you and what you want next in your own future.
- Sherry Lowry, MCC
Granted Sherry and I have a number of mutual connections so this wasn't the coldest of cold introductions. However, she's obviously taken the time to understand my networking philosophy and made the entire request about me and not herself.
Work to incorporate these 3 points into any cold connection request or introduction:
- A connection point that you both share and/or why you think it makes sense to begin a relationship
- Specifically how you think you can add value to them (What's in it for them?)
- Suggest a specific next step. This could be an e-mail dialogue or scheduling a time for coffee or a phone call.
I'm looking forward to my phone conversation with Sherry tomorrow morning.
How do you introduce yourself into stronger connections?
Happy Networking!
Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com | My LinkedIn Networking Philosophy I'm frequently sent LinkedIn invitations by people I don't know. Generally speaking I do not accept these connections, but have in the past written a long winded response explaining why not. Frankly I'm a little tired of doing that so I thought I'd share the philosophy on my blog and just link to this in the future. Plus it might also help you clarify some of your own thinking about how you use LinkedIn.
There are two schools of thought on LinkedIn. There are LIONS or LinkedIn Open NetworkerS and then there are the rest of us. (Does that make us closed networkers?) The real debate is between quantity and quality. LIONS believe in quantity and that every connection is valuable because you just never know. I believe in quality networking and work to have some type of relationship with every person I'm connected to.
Having a relationship is a tough thing to define. Typically if my fellow networker is here in Austin I want to have had some type of face to face interaction with them. Typically I want this face to face to have been just the two of us (lunch, coffee or some other one on one encounter). If this type of connection isn't possible due to geography or some other type of circumstance I want there to have been some type of meaningful dialogue. Maybe we spent 40 minutes together on the phone or have gone back and forth a descent number of times via e-mail in an online discussion.
I try to hold to these standards because when someone uses LinkedIn the way it is intended and finds a connection to someone they'd like to meet where I am the connection, I want to be in a position to make that introduction. If I accept just anyone's connection it's very likely that I have little or no credibility with the person you'd like me to introduce you to. The only thing we share is our LinkedIn connection.
This is simply my LinkedIn networking philosophy. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it just how I play the game. I encourage you to develop your own philosophy. Take the time to learn about the rationale behind being a LION and decide which is best for you. If you choose not to be a LION this does not by any means make you a "Closed" networker. It probably just means you're more focused on real relationships which is where the real business and real opportunities will come from.
If you are reading this because you tried to connect to me and I sent you this link you are on the right track! Many who initiate blind LinkedIn connection requests have no intent in ever building any type of meaningful relationship (and would never take the time to read all of this). The fact that you've just read this shows you're clearly not one of these folks. Now that you've gotten this far please send me an e-mail or LinkedIn InMail. I'm sure we can find a way to resolve the issue with our current lack of relationship.
Happy Networking!
Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com
P.S. If we're not connected and we should be please send a connection request: Scott Ingram's LinkedIn Profile | Keep Yourself Out of Social Networking Trouble As I get closer to writing my series of blog posts about social networking for the business professional based on my own recent experiments I thought you might like to read a great post by my friend Liz Handlin. She wrote a post called Social Networking for Professionals where she gives 6 tips to keep you out of trouble.
The most important thing you need to realize about social networking is that it's public. Anyone, and I mean anyone can see what you've written now and in the future. You have to consider what you're posting ALWAYS.
For example I would love to Twitter about who I'm meeting with; prospects, clients, etc. This would be a huge help to those in my network who follow me who could benefit from an introduction to some of these folks for reasons I might not have even thought about. But two things stop me from sharing this much detail. #1 the privacy of those I'm meeting with. Without their permission I'm not sure that this is appropriate. #2 If my competition were smart they would follow me, and this information would incredibly useful.
That's just one example of a present tense situation. Where it gets really tricky is considering how something you post now might create a problem 5 years from now. You just never know. I don't say this to scare you away from the great online social networking opportunities for professionals right now: LinkedIN, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, etc. Just tread very carefully and make sure you consider each and every action.
Now go read LIz's post, you'll thank me.
Happy Networking!
Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com | | |
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