In Person Networking and Social Media Marketing A Match Made In Heaven By Tara Jacobsen Friday, March 19, 2010

Social media marketing is all the rage, you have to be under a rock if you have not heard that your business will die a horrible death if you are not using Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. So what has happened to good old fashioned in-person networking?

Having been in marketing a really long time, I have seen must-have marketing properties come and go. In the past, having a yellow page ad could almost guarantee sales and a basic website was enough for most businesses. Now it may feel like you have to have a degree in marketing and communications to succeed, and that humanity has gotten lost.

Working with hundreds of companies on their marketing programs and campaigns, I can tell you for sure only one thing. Each marketing item you do has to be targeted to one person only. If you are sending an email to your huge list, make sure that you are writing it as if there is only one reader. If you are doing a blog post, write it as if your best friend is at the other end of the internet hearing your words.

So how does this apply to in-person networking? Having scads of “internet friends” is nice but will generally not convert to paid business as well as having real connections with other human beings. In my business, most of my sales come from someone who I have met in real life and who I maintain communications with via email or social media.

The beauty of social media is that you can “contact” your database of potential customers and clients on a regular basis without them feeling as if you are trying to sell them something. Sharing company news, upcoming events and interesting information is built into social media marketing and is not offensive if done correctly.

Here are my Top 5 Tips for incorporating social media marketing into your real-life networking:

1. Make sure that you are loading business cards into your Facebook account too! Do not just put someone into your database and figure you have done your job. Do a search on Facebook to see if you can find them and ask them to be your friend also.
2. Once they are your Friend, send them a message reminding them where you met and let them know you were happy to meet them. This can take the place a writing a personal note after meeting a new business contact. Extra credit if you Facebook them AND write a personal note.
3. If you know their Twitter account name, follow them. Then send them a public message by using the @ sign before their twitter name (example @taradactyl). This is much like messaging them on Facebook.
4. Share your new Friend or Twitter buddy with your current contacts on social media. Getting your business connections new Friends or Fans goes a long way towards cementing relationships.
5. Finally, make sure that everyone you know has been found in Facebook or Twitter. It is easy to overlook a longstanding real world client or past client while you are adding all those new people in!

 In-person and social media networking go hand in hand and the more that you bring the contacts from one to the other the faster your business will grow!

Tara Jacobsen is the owner of Marketing Artfully, which works with small business owners and entrepreneurs to help them succeed with their online and offline marketing efforts! [http://marketingartfully.com] Become a fan of Marketing Artfully on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/marketingartfully