Communications of the ACM
How and Where People Network
"The people who most effectively utilize online media are also good face to face networkers," says BNI founder and chairman Ivan Misner.
Credit: BNI
Ivan Misner, founder of chairman of BNI, a business networking organization, reviews some of the most popular and effective ways that job candidates can spend their time networking. There are countless networking activities in which to participate but it's not always clear which of these are truly beneficial. Plus, it can be difficult to figure out how much time to devote to networking, both online and offline, in order for it to be effective. According to a study from Misner and his colleagues, the average amount of time business owners spend networking to promote their business is 12-15 hours per week. In addition to face-to-face networking activity at industry events, this also includes online networking using sites like LinkedIn.
Whether a business considers itself local or national in scope has a pronounced effect on networking strategies. Entrepreneurs who think of their companies as national are twice as likely to use LinkedIn (40 percent vs. 20 percent); more likely to use Twitter (10 percent vs. 2 percent); twice as likely to use online social networks (30 percent vs. 15 percent); more than twice as likely to have a blog (25 percent to 10 percent); more likely to value chance encounters (22 percent to 14 percent); and three times as likely to prefer big networking groups of 100 to 1,000 members (16 percent vs. 5 percent). An analysis of the data from the survey suggests that if you have a local, non-scalable business, you can find your advocates and supporters by conventional, local networking. However, if you're trying to promote ideas or scalable services nationally, you'll benefit from the connections that Internet-based networking offers.
From Entrepreneur.com
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