Networking Has Evolved to Social Media |

The Evolution of Networking

Posted on November 2nd, 2009 by nimda in Networking, Social Media

School Clubs

How many of you belonged to “social” clubs in high school? Maybe it was called the Friendship Club, or the Teen Club, or maybe even the Chess Club? And if you went to college, maybe you joined a sorority or fraternity? Even my mother belonged to a friendship club in high school back in the 40’s. You may not have known it, but they were early forms of social media.

High schools and colleges had clubs for everything, tennis, chess, journalism and just about anything else you could think of to gather those individual together who shared interests. Keep this thought in mind.

Business Associations

As we got older and joined the business world, there were other types of clubs. Men had the Rotary Club, the Lion’s Club, and of course there were the obligatory business association groups. At one time these were pretty segregated (men and women) but over time this has thankfully changed. (Yes, I know, I’m showing my age here.) We were enticed by not only the local groups but the many national conventions that allowed us to meet people of like interests. Of course, attending a national convention was not inexpensive.

And we can’t forget the networking function that many chamber’s offer across the country. Business After Hours and Breakfast Get Together meetings have been and remain popular.

Structured Networking Groups

As networking evolved, and as men and women broke the barrier by realizing they could both be beneficial to one another in business, we saw more and more structured networking groups. In the late 70’s we saw early leaders in structured networking ,like Leads Club, Inc. which helped make mainstream networking available to all individual and companies. Most have set scheduled meetings, usually weekly, along with a definitive planned schedule and presentations by each member on a regular basis. Most allow one person per business category. Fee’s vary but most were and still are reasonable enough for all size businesses. In the early 2000’s I owned the DFW Leads Club area and our membes were thankful for a place to not only network with other professionals but to learn how to network at the same time.

I heard someone say not long ago that this was the “old” way of networking. I beg to differ….this method is not dead but has evolved. (or should have) For some, this is the comfortable method of networking. However they are really losing out if they stick with this method only.

Niche Marketing

If you think about it, the business associations we belong(ed) to we joined because of the specialized business or topic of the association. Even the high school and college clubs were dedicated to a specific “niche” Some may claim “niche marketing “ is a new term but the concept has been around for eons.

Those business associations that you belonged to and may still belong to are forms of niche marketing or networking. Even the clubs you belonged to in the past and those you belong to now, are in essence niches. They focus on a specific market or topic. Niche marketing is a topic though that deserves its own blog post, so I’ll save my comments on this for that one. It has also evolved to a fine art in the past couple of years.

Social Media

What does this all mean to social media? In the past unless we were willing and able to spend large sums of money on national conference or newsletters via snail mail or even email, the market area for many businesses was fairly limited. With the internet that of course has exploded and companies now can reach the world with their web sites. But even web sites have evolved. While static sites were the norm for many years, now content has become king. CMS’s, blogs, videos and podcasts have taken over.

This has enabled social media to take its rightful place in the evolution of networking. With sites such as Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and the myriad of others social networking sites, opportunities are now available for companies of all sizes for little or no money. Developing a solid strategy on how to take advantage of this phenomena is crucial to being successful. Just as you would not walk into a Chamber meeting (well, I hope you wouldn’t) and stand there and just starting spouting your marketing speil to people you don’t know and who have not asked, you don’t want to do the same thing on Social Media sites. Networking is and always has been about developing relationships.

Every generation can lay claim to something new in networking. Each generation has been early adaptors in the evolution of networking. It certainly doesn’t mean though that all generations can’t take advantage of every aspect of networking, regardless of who or when it started.. Even the old but still worthy “good ole’ boys” network.

How do you really network? Many people don’t know how to network properly though they belong to networking groups, go to Meetups, and even have joined Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook and other groups. Just because they have lots of followers or contacts does’t mean they know how to network. And just because they know how to use all of the “tools” of networking, doesn’t make them an “expert”. Joining these groups and using these tools is a very small piece of the puzzle.

I plan to cover some of these questions through my next few posts. My next blog post will be “What is Networking, Really?”

What are your thoughts?