We get to help a the wide variety of small business owners; they may not have the time to try the “social site of the week” or every doo-dad on the net. So, we help them keep everything in perspective. In this day in age, small business must take advantage new technologies yet, they must also effectively allocate their online time.
Even your typical internet user is likely to receive a friend request to join an online network about every other day. This can become quite daunting even for the most avid networker.
The real question is do you accept or not? Through the lens of a small business owner, the answer requires some very fundamental questions many of us forget to ask.
1. Do I know this person?
It may sound obvious but many professionals that are new to online networking get in the habit of accepting any and every request to network. Unless you’re trying to build a phone book, it’s much better to have a smaller more powerful network than to have a cache of people who don’t know you. Spam, shameless promotions, and privacy are some of the more apparent reasons to not accept an invitation from someone you don’t know. Yet, the biggest reason is the integrity of your network. We may not think of ourselves at the center of our social sphere but a powerful network of a few dozen key professionals can do the impossible. Think of your network as a brand. Once you begin to move beyond your niche(people you actually know) you begin to lose traction. It’s not as easy to see the dilution as it is the fact that you have 1000 friends on your profile. It may seem chalice but if I receive an invite, even from someone I know, and they have a loose network of a 1000 friends, I am much less flattered and am not too keen on becoming just another “fan” in their army of connections.
2. What is my goal in networking with this person?
Again, the rules for good professional networking practices didn’t change when we moved online. Is the person who’s sending you the invite someone you can help? Can this person help you? You might be surprised how often the answer is “no”. If your objective is to cycle through personal photos and say “hi” on the person’s birthday, that is a very different goal than let’s say, swapping qualified sales leads. Neither reason for networking is invalid it’s just that successful professional networkers have an underlying strategy and clearly define their intentions. Creating a distinction between your personal and professional network will help avoid conflict, wasted time, and keep expectations clear. You wouldn’t bring all of your favorite baristas from the local coffee shop to a BNI or Chamber of Commerce networking event, would you?
3. What service was the invite sent from?
If you don’t see the site from which the invite was sent as useful then don’t accept. Like “space junk”, you’d be surprised how many dormant profiles there are on the net. These profiles are barren and often don’t reflect well on the person or organizations that created them. Even worse, they could be in the top Google searches for you or your company’s name. If you’re not going to actively engage the service it’s better to invest your efforts into just a couple of services you see a ROI in, rather than spread yourself thin.
