Networking can seem like a daunting prospect. Not everyone is an extrovert, ready to pitch at a moment’s notice to sell their new product, their innovative idea or even themselves as a great prospect for employment or investment.

It is, however, an integral part of business and a necessary skill worth developing. After all, you never know when the opportunity may arise. It can happen at any time, in any place, with anyone. 

Benefits of networking

Knowing how to network effectively is vital. It can help small businesses and entrepreneurs grow a strong audience and customer base, it can secure a large client for a major conglomerate or it can encourage significant investment for a new tech startup. It works both ways of course – potential customers and investors want to work with people with whom they feel a connection and shared values.

Turning on the charm doesn’t come naturally to everyone but this necessary aspect of business becomes easier with practice. Rehearse your ‘elevator pitch’, to give you confidence in quickly and efficiently describing all the key messages and major points of all the things you have in your arsenal. The more you push yourself forward, the easier it becomes and while it can make a huge difference for your business, on an individual level your communication skills will drastically improve. Eventually it will become easy to articulate your professional aspirations or effectively explain the benefits of your brand or product. 

From the traditional to the digital

The easiest way to expand your network is by going outside and meeting new people.

Certain events such as product launches, gallery openings, or charity galas are well known for being the place to meet the right kinds of people, but in this digital world there are even more options.

Apps like Meetup, Funzing, and AllEvents, have both social and professional events, and the Eventbrite website allows you to search for specific business events in your area. You can filter by your areas of interest and find appropriate gatherings. Be it hiking, wine tasting, or learning a new language. 

Facebook groups can be useful to find events, as well as reading reviews and recommendations  written by previous attendees. Adding to the mix, there is a unique business app reminiscent of Tinder, known as Shapr. This app further enhances your ability to find like minded professionals and fosters face-to-face interactions, which are crucial for cultivating a valuable network. 

Connections Over Common Ground

What’s important is to build a genuine personal acquaintance before any professional interaction. Business may be about products, profits, portfolios and price, but in reality it’s all about people. 

Finding something in common goes a long way to building a relationship with someone new. Are you part of a similar community, do you like the same music, have you visited or lived in the same cities or do you play or watch the same sport?

There is a reason that traditionally the golf course has often been considered the place that business takes place. It provides a tension-free, relatively low-stress environment, allowing you to see how others conduct themselves in a competitive environment.

Networking in strange places

Once you have common ground, you can expand onto business related topics and the world of networking opens up to you. Anywhere and anyone is a potential business connection whether you are hiking the Appalachian Trail or sharing a chalet on Mont Blanc.

It could be the mum you stand next to outside your child’s school waiting to pick the kids up. Perhaps the guy sitting next to you at dinner at your best friend’s birthday party. Is there someone at your church, mosque or synagogue who works in your field? Gyms are also great networking spots, since regulars can build up a rapport with one another. 

A great example is sporting events. From the outset there is a common interest and the potential to talk about things that are happening at the event. Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation and Forbes contributor, suggests arriving early to walk around and decide with whom you want to network. 

Network with people while you’re waiting in line for the newest gadget, perhaps by connecting with them about the product you’re waiting for, before you segway into business talk. 

Certain airlines even have an option to choose who to sit next to based on their networking profile, so that you can make the most of being at 30,000 feet.

Social media networking 

Social media offers millions of connection opportunities every day – professionally, the most important is arguably Linked In. The most effective methods involved in forging a relationship with the most appropriate people include putting in significant  time and effort. 

Research is important. Where are the places that your potential stakeholders are hanging out on the platform? Which groups? Which pages? At first, it’s important to follow what’s happening – who is posting, who is commenting, and who is engaging? Then, start to engage yourself, make insightful comments and observations so that your name gets noticed, before beginning to contribute more and more yourself. 

It only takes one engagement, comment or response to break the ice and open the gate to a potential connection. This method may take more time, but it’s more effective than randomly adding people with whom you’ve never interacted.

Has networking changed?

The art of networking hasn’t died, it’s just evolved and changed with time. In a post-pandemic world, where we are more used to meeting on a screen, social media and apps and digital platforms have become a huge support for initial interactions. In truth, however, they are mainly a facilitation of an ultimate face-to-face meeting. All the tweeting and DMing in the world cannot replace looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand.

Business will always, at its core, be about people meeting people, and we will always live in a world where sharing a beer or a coffee, breaking bread and chatting over dinner are always going to be fantastic methods of cementing relationships.