Strategies For Effective Online Networking

In order to network with employers and peers to gain new opportunities, we must learn how to market ourselves online. In much the same way that successful businesses market themselves online to promote their products and gain new customers – the most successful of today’s jobseekers have learned how to do the same thing. By creating their own online identities and utilising effective networking strategies, these jobseekers are able to source additional opportunities for themselves and build a reliable network of contacts they can use whenever the need arises. In this category we will look at effective online networking strategies and how best to utilise them, as well as the creation of online profiles to create a successful online identity  

Online profiles are the most basic component needed for anyone to create an individual online identity for themselves. Today increasingly more and more jobs are being advertised online. The most astute and clever among job seekers are tapping into this opportunity and using their online presence and social media accounts to create networking opportunities for themselves while at the same time enhancing their prospects with recruiters and employers

Many estimates put it as high as between 75-80% of all jobs today are obtained as a direct result of networking, and much of this networking is done online. By using the online profiles you create, you can effectively build an online presence that will impress both recruiters and employers alike. Done correctly, you can use the profiles from your social media accounts and jobsite accounts to build yourself a unique online identity. This is sometimes referred to as building your own ‘brand’.  Creating an online profile is the basic building block you need to cultivate an original online persona for yourself

WHAT IS AN ONLINE PROFILE?
It’s simply any website, online account or social media platform you can sign into where you are able to put down information regarding yourself

WHY BEING ABLE TO CREATE A GOOD ONLINE PROFILE IS IMPORTANT
Creating effective online profiles is necessary to have an effective online networking strategy. Not only is it an effective tool you can use to impress recruiters and employers ahead of the interview stage, but you can also use this to network with people online and source new job opportunities. Being able to create a good online profile is the foundation you need to create your own unique online persona

HOW CAN I MARKET MYSELF EFFECTIVELY ONLINE?
When we speak of effective online marketing we are really talking about our online image, or ‘branding’. This is an important tool because we can use this not only for online networking purposes but also to impress employers and recruiters who might routinely check social media and other online profiles during the application process

Marketing oneself successfully, your ‘online branding’, is the key component to an effective online networking strategy

This is achieved through the creation of effective online profiles.  Creating promising job opportunities as the result of a successful networking strategy goes hand in hand with creating effective online profiles. Cultivating a successful online image can be challenging in an ever-changing job market, and taking a methodical and informed approach to this is key to achieving the desired outcome you want and deserve

Do a bit of research
Start by doing a bit of online research about the industry and the people who work in it. Although some of the information may only be stereotypical or archetypical – having some sort of outline about the types of people working in your industry will at least give you a rough idea of how you want to portray yourself when compiling your online profiles

Decide what you want to be known for
Think about what part of your personality impresses upon people the most. From there, decide on the most effective thing to emphasize about yourself in your online profiles. Remember – this is one of the most essential rules of commercial branding. Don’t choose 2 or 3 things about yourself to emphasize, choose 1 thing only

Note it down on a notepad and keep it beside you when creating your profiles

Decide who your target audience is
When considering how to go about building our online image, it is essential that we identify precisely who we are building that online image for. So now we need to decide who our target audience is

To define who our ideal target audience is, we need to consider areas such as:

Age, gender, location

The likes, dislikes of consumers as relates to the products or services of the industry you want to work in

The general interests of consumers, and of the people employed in the industry you want to work in

Having this information will help you better determine not only how to go about creating your own individual brand but will also help you determine the content you want to use to do this

You can get this information by typing the name of the industry you want to work in into the following search analytics engines:

Google trends

Audience finder

Page insights

Instagram for business (will need a business account)

These programs analyse online content and web searches to get their information

Focus on one thing and stick with it
This is a standard rule with marketing – if you try to emphasize several different things about a product, or in this case a person, it will simply cause confusion within your target audience. Decide on a singular factor and find creative ways to introduce this to your target base through repetition. Not following this basic rule will come across to your audience as a mixed message and will only cause your marketing campaign to lose its effectiveness

Choose 1 thing only
Remember – this is one of the most essential rules of commercial branding. Don’t choose 2 or 3 different things, choose 1 thing only to focus on and emphasise in your profiles so that your message is clear and consistent

Make your message consistent
Here we focus on repetition being the most relevant factor rather than the idea of marketing one singular thing about yourself, although the two are really intertwined

Following on from having a singular message or image we want to portray; we must next establish a repetition in doing so. For instance, if you feel the biggest strength you have is your 20 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, and that is the thing you want to be known for – you need to make sure you are emphasizing this in each online profile that you create – even if you’re doing it in different ways on each profile

Doing this over a prolonged period of time will help you achieve your goal of a successful marketable online branding. Another important thing towards achieving this end is linking back to milestones you’ve accomplished or to events you’ve attended over the previous years that can be related to your online image. If you’ve attended the national sales conference for the past 5 years, be sure to emphasise this heavily both with text and imagery in your online profiles if you can, as this is a great way to enforce repetition and build a history that your target audience will identify you with

Be relatable
Next, we need to look at our everyday qualities and interests. Put simply, you need to be a person that if an employer or recruiter came across your online profile without knowing who you were, they would stop to read it. It doesn’t mean they need to like everything about you, or even agree with it (although this helps).  What it does mean though is that when they read your online profile, they see you as a person who is sensible and normal. There are no hard and fast rules to do this, for the simple reason that everyone is different. While the first rule may simply be to be yourself – the second rule would be simply to moderate what people read on your profile by using your own common sense. Some of this will depend on the industry you are looking to get into, while other things will depend on the individual composition of your profile itself. For instance, if you are heavily into a music genre, say heavy metal for example, and you notice that your online profile reflects this and not much else – it might be a good idea to moderate your profile with (neutral and informed) comments regarding other things such as current events, fashion, or sports. Or to include topics from other forms of entertainment such as books and films

Be available
It is normally best to give the appearance of being available when presenting a public image of yourself

When creating online profiles, this applies both in a work-related sense as well as a socially related sense. It doesn’t mean that you need to ever lie to people; if asked a personal question you should always be comfortable being forthright and honest. However not mentioning something, or omitting certain information, can allow people that don’t know you to form their own perceptions of you in way that can be beneficial for you

Plan Ahead
A shrewd and experienced user of social media will be aware of the need to plan ahead in terms of how they manage the content they put into their online profiles. There are no set rules or ways to do this, it’s simply being aware of current events around you; of being aware of events in the industry you want to work in, as well as being aware of how the economy is doing. It’s about trying to anticipate when it’s best to release certain information, and simply using your own common sense and good judgement about when to update your profile as relates to your networking activities

Evaluate
Try and take a moment to evaluate your personal online offerings. What do your online profiles convey about you?

Does your online image reflect the business mentality of the industry you want to work in? How you can evaluate these things is really, really simple – just ask people. Ask the people who visit your social media profile, ask people on your own personal webpage if you have one – ask, ask, ask. It’s really as simple and easy as that. Most people are quite forthcoming and honest when you put straightforward questions like this to them. 2 or 3 basic sentences put somewhere visible on your social media profile or personal webpage telling people that you are eager to get into the (your field of interest) and simply asking them if what they’ve seen of your profile seems suitable to do this. You can ask them what it was about your profile they liked, and what, if anything, you can improve upon. Make sure you ask these questions not only of the people who view your online posts, but also of your friends or family as well. Asking for constructive feedback is very helpful and doesn’t reflect negatively on you at all – if anything it makes you come across as very motivated and business minded. And by getting this feedback it will help you know what’s working for you, as well as helping you effectively map out where you can make changes