I would define networking as the resource that allows you to generate interesting professional contacts related to the sector in which you operate.
Networking can be in-person and 2.0. Examples of networking 2.0 occur on the social networks Linkedin, where you can connect with the best professionals in your sector internationally or on Twitter, as examples.
Likewise, an example of face-to-face networking, let's say in the tourism sector, is the Fitur tourism fair, where the professional world of tourism (from many parts of the world) meets. Networking can be done at a fair, presentation, conference, or any type of event related to your sector.
World Networking
Networking has great advantages for a company:
- Meet potential clients, partners and/or suppliers
- Generate a group of contacts from your same business environment with whom to exchange valuable information and with the possibility of finding new business opportunities
- Create trust, visibility and credibility towards your brand
- Find opportunities to develop synergies
- Meet entrepreneurs and professionals who share your activity
Below I detail 8 tips, according to my experience, with which to achieve networking that you will get a lot of benefit for your brand:
- Prepare an annual agenda in which the fairs, conferences and events that best fit your sector appear (this is a good time to do it for 2013!).
- Before attending these fairs or events, seek information from the participants and schedule an appointment with them. They tend to be very busy places and if you don't have an appointment, it's difficult to network.
- Try to attend these events looking professional and with a smile.
- If you attend a conference, find out about the speaker in advance through the corporate pages and contact them through social networks or email announcing that you will attend their presentation with great interest. Once there, introduce yourself.
- One of the most common mistakes is not carrying business cards, so don't forget them!
- Set a goal of meeting at least 4 people at every meeting you attend.
- Make a list of the topics you want to discuss and what you want to achieve, keeping in mind that you will have very little time to present your presentation, therefore have your speech well prepared to sell your project.
- Track the networking network you create. Subsequent contact is essential. If you accumulate cards and then don't look at them, you will have wasted your time.