Virtual Networking

Connecting with other professionals online is emerging as an inexpensive, effective way for entrepreneurs to grow business

Story by Gina Mangan

SOME OF THE BEST IDEAS spring out of the cozy corners of coffee bars.

Teaching professionals how to use online networking sites is no exception.

It’s unlikely Katie Felten had any idea how popular the idea would become when she started inviting folks to join her at a coffee shop for a session on how to use LinkedIn, the wildly popular professional social networking site that has been dubbed by some as “the MySpace for adults.”

About 30 people showed up that first night in 2007 to learn how to tap into LinkedIn’s networking potential. Three sessions later, the number had doubled. One year later, Felton has formed her own company, MKE LinkedIn Live, and is teaching the three-hour LinkedIn 101 course at Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee.

The demand for greater knowledge is testimony to the explosion in the use of online networking sites for business development and professional networking purposes. Running parallel to its social networking cousins Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn alone has grown to more than 25 million users since its inception in 2003. LinkedIn allows professionals to establish a network of contacts, which helps them find people to do business with that they can trust, usually through mutual contacts with others in their network.

But Felten found many professionals were a lot like her after she received her first invitations to join LinkedIn. She had established a network of about 100 people but wasn’t sure what to do next.

“I was like, ‘Now what?‘” said Felton, who was working as an independent associate with Prepaid Legal Services Inc. at the time. “I found that a lot of people were on LinkedIn because everyone else was on LinkedIn, but they didn’t necessarily know how to utilize it.”

The organizers of the 2008 Northeast Wisconsin Entrepreneur Networking Day – or NEW END, for short – realize this, too. Recognizing the value of online networking for small businesses and entrepreneurs, NEW END coordinators invited Felten to co-lead breakout sessions on online professional networking at their annual event, which will be held Dec. 8 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton in conjunction with The New North annual summit.

Building business from the Web
FELTEN’S CO-PRESENTER IS MAGAZINE SoHo founder and social networking guru Cd Vann, who has developed her own networking Web site, Sohobiztube.com, which is set to launch in January. SoHo (shorthand for Small office/Home office) Biztube will be akin to a YouTube for growing businesses. Vann said the Web site will provide entrepreneurs and small companies a venue to brand, position and promote their products and services to other businesses, vendors, clients and customers.

“SoHo Biztube will have some fantastic features similar to networking sites like Fast Pitch and LinkedIn,” Vann said. “But where those Web sites are primarily for individuals in business who want to connect and promote themselves, our Web site will truly be for growing businesses.”
In addition to the formal afternoon sessions, NEW END organizers are setting up a computer work area where attendees can establish profiles for themselves and their businesses on a networking site. The two speakers, as well as professionals versed in online networking, will be on hand to assist, said Autumn Hill, an event organizer and owner of Autumn Hill Creative in Kimberly.

The attention to online networking is a natural fit with the overall objective of NEW END, which is to provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to network with others in the region, Hill said. Organizers are expecting 700 to 1,000 people to attend the morning summit and afternoon networking event.

“We thought it was important to explore these emerging forms of networking, and show how it relates to not just your personal life, but also your business life,” Hill said.

Networking of all forms is important for professionals, especially those who are growing their own businesses, said Tammy Schultz, owner of Virtualtech Web Site Design and Promotion in Appleton.

“People do business with people they know,” she said. “Last year 80 percent of our own business came from referrals.”

Built on connections to others
THE REFERRAL IS A KEY CONCEPT behind networking sites like LinkedIn. After establishing a network of contacts – or “connections” - individual users can view members in their primary contacts’ networks.

“You can tap into your contacts’ networks and see who they know and trust,” Felten said. You can also view their professional profiles, their contact networks, links to their Web sites and their blogs.

 If you find someone with whom you want to do business, you simply ask your primary contact to make an introduction, she said. Just as it is in face-to-face interactions, that introduction is one of the site’s most valuable services.

“Nobody likes to cold call and nobody likes to be cold called,” she said. “Having that little bit of a connection – whether it’s a brief chat at a chamber of commerce event or an introduction on LinkedIn – might save you from having a phone down slammed in your ear.”

Other networking sites commonly used in business include Fast Pitch!, which is similar to LinkedIn; Xing.com; ceoworld.biz for business executives and entrepreneurs; and Plaxo.com. Newer sites, which would include SoHo Biztube, are continuously coming on line and evolving, Hill said. As they mature, they develop niche audiences. For example, MySpace is now largely regarded as a networking resource for teenagers and college-age students, Schultz said. The same can be said of Facebook, although there are likely more business professionals associated with Facebook than with MySpace.

Hill said her LinkedIn and Facebook accounts keep her connected with a variety of business associates, as well as other members of her Business & Professional Women organization.

“I find it very useful,” she said. “Any time I need a resource or have a question, I can shoot it to my network. I was recently looking for an expert speaker to come to a meeting of area business people. I now have a list of 10 different people I can call to come speak.”

Vann hopes to draw upon the memberships of established networking sites such as LinkedIn and Fast Pitch! to grow SoHo Biztube. Users will be able to upload videos that might include testimonials, staff introductions, product and service demonstrations, as well as send out press releases and email blasts to contact networks.

“We want to be the You Tube for business,” said Vann, who said a similar site operating from San Francisco has grown to 5,000 users in just a few months.

Keeping it corporeal
IN LIGHT OF THE POPULARITY of social networking sites of all types, communications professionals said it’s important to maintain face-to-face contacts as well. Online networking should be a supplement to your networking strategy, not a replacement, Vann said. When establishing business relationships, it’s a good idea to require “face time” when geographically feasible, she said.

“The reason social networking and blogging has become so popular is because people boast about being able to be more transparent,” she said. “But the reality is you’ll be as transparent as you think the other person wants you to be. You’re still saying and showing what you want while hiding behind the keyboard.”

Schultz said she also suggests being selective when picking an online network.

“If you’re new to social networking, then pick one site, learn it, know it, use it, have some success with it, and then begin on another one,” she said.

Gina Mangan, a freelance writer based in Oshkosh and raising three children. Readers can email her at gmanganschmitz@new.rr.com.