Networking is widely thought of as one of the most effective methods of marketing and promoting your business. So what is Networking? There are various Networking Sites available - mainly social, some which you may have heard of are those such as MySpace or Facebook. They are sites which are designed to help people form relationships through the internet. These sites are appearing all over the internet and spreading like wildfire. There are also many other additional web 2.0 tools such as Podcasts, Webinars, Blogs, and Video Casts to name a few. Each of these different tools helps us as individuals or businesses to advertise, promote, inform, share and educate via the internet.
A majority of the social networking sites have free accounts - which makes getting started easy. It’s definitely a cost effective way of getting you and your business out there. Not only are these sites free, but most other networking tools are also free, such as video, podcasts, and blogging. With technology, mobile phones and computers are all feasible when promoting your business.
There is one major pitfall to networking - Time.
Joining, monitoring, and participating, along with managing your email and the all round upkeep of your developing network is intensively time consuming and, whilst highly effective, it often carries over into your working day. But all is not lost. A Virtual Assistant or VA can help you with every aspect of your social networking and time management goals. Managing these essential tasks can be greatly simplified when you work with someone truly competent who you’ve chosen to handle your account sign-up’s, research into the best places to network, manage your profile completions, groups, contacts and so much more. A virtual assistant can enable you to effectively pursue every aspect of social networking. Whether you are an expert who needs more time in the day, or a beginner who has little knowledge in this area, a Virtual Assistant can make ‘all the difference in the World’.
Paying for occasional assistance with your networking will give you all of the benefits of this process without having to work through every time consuming detail yourself.
Over time, it’s possible to build up a large network of contacts, potential clients and colleagues by outsourcing just one or two hours a week on this endeavour. The more time that is outsourced, the quicker the results will start to show. It is important to remember that when starting out, it can often take time to really see these results. There aren’t any ‘quick fix’ networking methods; this method provides long term results toward the establishment of yourself and your business. So although networking is an excellent way of promoting a company, product, service or individual, it is definitely not an instant fix for getting rich fast, nor will your website traffic multiply overnight.
So, what should you be keeping an eye out for when you’re considering outsourcing your social networking tasks?
1) A good VA will first take an interest in your business, products, services, location, target market, website, and pretty much any other aspect of information you are able to provide in order for them to understand exactly what you are all about.
2) They should offer you a consultation - or at the very least, a form to complete so that you can convey a clear picture of your long term goals. Through this, your virtual assistants can then clearly see what you are looking to accomplish with networking.
3) They should then research and locate the most beneficial networking methods, sites and techniques based on the information you have provided.
4) Finally, a plan or schedule should be formulated and presented with suggested options, sites and timescales explaining the choices and benefits of each of these methods.
5) Once the plan is agreed - it’s all systems go, just sit back and let your virtual assistance provider get to work!