The Next Step After Networking is Business Relationships

Networking is an important part in our business. I attend conferences, chat with other bloggers, and try to meet as many people as I can online or in person that can help build my network. But building network is not the final step. Everyone can say I know XXXX, but how well do you know them. Are you friends, or just someone who you met at so and so conference? In this post I will show you some of the ways how you can change your one time meet-up into a long-term mutual friendship.

Lets say you meet someone at a conference. You introduced yourselves to each other, it was a three day conference. The first thing you want to do is give away your business card and ask others for theirs. You hang out with the person in other sessions, then of course the confernece ends. But now you know about their website. You should’ve already checked it out. If it is a blog then you should add comments. You have their business card, so send them an email, saying it was nice to meet them at a conference. You keep up with their next conference schedule. If you have any suggestions/feedback for their site feel free to give it to them.

Now you are not just someone who this person met at a conference, but you are one of the few that stood out. Now you will have an easy time getting replies from them if someone you met is a popular blogger. You might even be able to write guest posts easier then others.

That is just for bloggers. Lets look at a bigger picture. Companies! You go to their booths during the conference, you do the casual hello/hi and take the freebie and walk away. These people won’t remember you because you didn’t do anything to stand out. Perhaps it is good to look at the sponsors list before hands. Prepare questions for the company that you are interested in. Then when you approach the table, you are ready to have a good conversation with their representatives. You ask them questions and show that you are interested. This way the company’s rep. will remember you. Almost all of them have their business cards over there. You pick up theirs and give them yours if you think it is necessary. You come home you send them an email. Join their company if it is an affiliate marketing company. Try to become their partner.

What happens now is that you have a potential advertiser and partner. If it is a local company or a company in your area then you can ask to visit their office for your blog. You know take pictures and share the experience with your readers. Always good to build relationships.

Now I have been in good relationships with Market Leverage. We ran a successful contest before, and this is our second contest that we are running now. Check it out here.

Now you need to pick and choose. You can’t just give out your business cards to everyone, and send emails to everyone. Only send emails to those who you actually had a good time talking to. Because otherwise sometimes the emails get a little awkward.

So don’t stop at just networking, try to make business relationships.