Community Networking

Community networking is all about promoting your
business/product/service in a community setting in
online communities like Ryze, Yahoo, Direct Match, My
Space, Circle of Friends and other forums that have like
minded people and marketers in them. You can do
community networking in just about any online group.
Your goal, plain and simple, is to talk to people about what you have to
offer.
You can find people by doing searches and contacting them based on the
information in their profiles. It sometimes takes a bit of work to find people's
e mail addresses, but with Googling and cross checking on the Net, the
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people you would like to talk to can be found. If you know they are already
online marketers (or not), and then gage your approach accordingly.
Community networking can accomplish business development, sales, general
marketing, recruiting, job-hunting, knowledge exchange, strategic alliances,
joint ventures etc. Business development and community networking are
closely related.
Community networking is about partnerships. You are striving for a coming
together, or meeting of the minds. You want to explore the relationship to
see if it can be mutually beneficial, and if the answer is yes, then you work
together to make that happen. It is always easier and less threatening to
talk about partnering rather than purchasing something.
The relationships you are working on developing are an end, not just a
means to an end. However, despite the relationship aspects of your
approach to your prospect, your ultimate goal is still a sale of some sort.
The traditional point of view for the sales relationship you have with
prospects is that the success of any sales person is measured in sales, not
relationships. That's what's wrong with most traditional online marketing
approaches. The relationship part is missing. People delete marketing
messages from people they don't know, and don't have a relationship with.
If on the other hand you do have a relationship chances are they will always
open email from you. That is why your focus needs to be on the relationship
itself and not just the short-term objective of a sale.
What other things can you be doing to establish a relationship while you are
community networking? Research your market, and listen more than you
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talk. Marketing groups are usually really candid with their opinions about
things. This is valuable information for you.
Be viewed as an expert in your field and this will give you more social
standing and greater access to your audience. Speak up and out in a forum,
blog, mailing list, and reach untold numbers of people. Talk about what you
know the best, and if you make it original or thought provoking, you'll be
quoted and linked to. That is great exposure! By the way, while you are at it,
include your business name/site/blog link in every signature in every email,
every Web transaction your do and in every profile you create. Invaluable
exposure.
Word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire through social networks. Make use of
that fact when community networking and you will soon have the world
beating a path to your door to find out what you have to offer.