What is your core message?
With all of the opportunities to network, both online and at events, and with an ever-more blurry line between what is ‘professional’ and what is ‘social’, keeping a clear vision in your mind of how you want to be perceived has become increasingly important.
Online networks, bundled under the tag ‘social networking’ have taken this to extremes. I get frequent Facebook friend requests from people I’ve never met, and I know a lot more about my business contacts than I could ever have expected in the past.
That’s fine. I have the power to choose with whom to connect and where, which I exercise. I also have the ability to decide what to post onto which network, which I do. I exercise restraint where appropriate and I let people find out more about me as a person where I feel comfortable doing so.
That’s because I understand what I want people to say about me, and my personality forms as much a part of that as my expertise. I work very hard to ensure that the personality represented online and at events is a fair reflection of ‘me’. I say I work hard at it, but it’s really not that difficult, because I believe I act naturally wherever I am.
It would be much harder work if I tried to present completely different personas in different settings. Trying to be all things to all men becomes much harder when your networks merge in the way social networks allow them to do today.
The experience people have of you should be the same wherever you meet, online or off.
We network across a wide array of channels today and we have to maintain a consistency across them all. If you know what your core message is and how you want to be perceived, that should help guide your personal brand.
You then need to ensure that you live up to that personal brand wherever you are.
Andy Lopata
Labelled ‘Mr Network’ by The Sun, Andy Lopata was called ‘one of Europe’s leading business networking strategists’ by the Financial Times. The co-author of two books on networking, Andy‘s third book, ‘Recommended: How to Sell Through Networking and Referrals’ was published by Financial Times Prentice Hall in July 2011.