What Kind of Networking Should I Be Doing?

by Byron Woodson II

There's almost a big debate about what 'kind' of networking someone should be doing. If you peruse the internet for information about networking, most of it is about social-networking. Better put, we could call this online-networking. In the other camp, we could put face-to-face networking.

Online Networking:
Information about online networking, also known as social-networking and social-media marketing, branding and so on, tend to push information about how to use Linkedin, Facebook, blogs and websites to promote yourself and/or your business. Some noteable people in here are this one, this one and this one.

Face-to-Face Networking:
Honestly, I haven't found a whole lot of information online specifically geared toward face-to-face networking. There are a few good books circulating such as Good In a Room, Never Eat Alone, Smart Networking, Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty and a few others. But online there's not a whole lot of blogs that go into depth about how to build a network on a face-to-face basis (except mine of course). But some other blogs of note are Liz Lynch's and Ivan Misner's.

Similarities:
What are the similarities between networking online and face-to-face? Well, you're always talking to people. Whether you're typing to twitter, mumbling on the phone or talking to people at professional dinner, you're always talking to people. This is important to remember in online-networking because it's easy online to slip into thinking that what you're communicating with is a bunch of text.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the people you talk to are part of a network. When you talk to people, you're talking to that one person, and that person as a node in a wider network. So when you burn a bridge, you burn a bridge to tens of other bridges. Be nice.

Differences:
Real-time feedback. It's a lot easier to further a relationship in person simply because more communication happens in person. Body-language communicates a whole 'nother dimension of information that you just can't get online through voice tone, facial expressions, posture and so on. Also the conversations in person can be more dynamic because they happen at the speed of talking, not the pace of your slow one-fingered peck-typing.

Which is better?
It depends on what you want to accomplish. First, let me say that the internet isn't a paradigm shift, it's a tool. Going online is more like moving from a handheld screw driver to an electric drill. Things get faster, but you're still turning screws. Though we have websites, blogs and podcasts, it's still communicating with people. The question about which is better asks whether your audience should be geographically targeted.

If you are only doing business in Omaha, perhaps building a wider face-to-face network will work with an online strategy as a supplement to that. If you're promoting yourself for a job, or a business that requires you to do things for extended periods of time, face-to-face networking is for you.

If you're promoting a business that could be national, online networking is for you. I say this becasue face-to-face networking can build trust faster. The caveat is, if you're the undisputed expert, you can use either strategy. If you're in a crowded market, you need to put a face, a laugh and an interaction to a name, not just a picture.

What Do I Like?
If I had to choose between online networking and face-to-face networking, I'd choose face-to-face. But I like talking to people, so I'm biased. A great little story about why face-to-face networking is better was written by referral guru Ivan Misner here.

[authors note: this was in part inspired by these two posts by Steve Woodruff]