5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Online Networks

For the last week an important project I have been spending a good amount of time on is: Growing My Online Networks. I am sure there are a number of ways to go about doing this work depending on your goals and purposes, so consider the 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Online Networks offered here, a resource among other resources available to you.

Friend Request LinkedIn Connections If you have professional associates you are connected with on LinkedIn and you consider yourselves friends, why not send them a Friend Request on Facebook? Frequently, business contacts are also personal friends with whom you spend time, so why not utilize Facebook to stay connected with them. What people sometimes forget is that social media sites are also for “networking” otherwise known as “building and developing relationships.

Connect with Twitter Influencers A great way to determine who are the Twitter heavy hitters in your geographic area or across the world is using Twitter Grader. Using this production tool you can access a lot of useful information about specific Twitter users including yourself. You might be interested to know your Twitter Grade…

Twitter Feed in LinkedIn A recent feature to LinkedIn is the opportunity to add your Twitter username. You can take this a step further and connect your Twitter feed to your profile. Although some might be hesitant to do so because not all Twitter content is appropriate for LinkedIn, be selective about the messages you post on both networks; however, I recommend the connection because it is an easy way to make content fresh and current in LinkedIn. Depending on your industry this may or may not make sense, but if you are in an industry where others are active LinkedIn users, then this may be a really good way to keep individuals informed on your professional work.

Follow LinkedIn Contacts on Twitter This obviously relates to the above Easy Way to Grow Your Online Networks. Since Twitter is a great way to provide updates, links to resources, publicize blog updates, and announce new events, you get to know more about what your LinkedIn associates are doing with their time and even potential insight into their future business needs.

Vet Out Twitter Lists If you are a Twitter user–like myself– you know that  you have the ability to create lists in order to bring together the Twitter streams of individuals for which you may have an affinity. First I think it’s interesting to see who the list creators put together — it might be around an industry topic or just “Tweeps I Like” either way, there might be some interesting people you may consider following on the same list. What’s nice about this option is some of the leg work is done for you. So, consider checking out those individuals, viewing their recent Twitter messages — they might be a good person to be connected with to develop a relationship.

I hope these tips are informative. There are lots of places and people offering tips and information about social media. Consider reading as much as you can and implementing what makes the best sense for you. If you have a tip to offer please send along, the more the merrier.