Online Networking & the Personal Touch

It doesn’t take much time or expend much energy, but lending the personal touch to networking really makes all the difference.  This is true, of course, to either your online or offline relationships, but for some reason, what comes naturally when engaging offline is so often disregarded online.

Natasha Phillips, in her comment on my launch post made an observation that I was combining the old with the new:

I love the mix of content, which encourages the progressive use of cutting edge gadgets (!) whilst at the same time paying homage to good old fashioned codes of conduct!

I honestly hadn’t thought of it in that way but it makes absolute sense to me.  Why would the practices that have served us well in the past not serve us equally well in the digital age?  When we meet someone face to face, we listen attentively, we read their facial expressions, their body language, the lilt of their voice, and we respond appropriately. In other words, we pay attention to the details.

Why should we behave any differently when we meet someone in a virtual environment?

It’s all too easy to look at your flock of followers and feel pride in your networking skills, but how much could you tell me about just one of those individual followers?  Their location?  Their profession?  Or maybe you can go one better.  Maybe that they have a whole menagerie at home.  They have a passion for vinyl records.  They’re looking for a 2nd hand car as their last one broke down on their way to work last week.

Knowledge of these kind of details can change a follower into a genuine connection.  As I suggested in my first post here, this is not something that you can generate overnight.  This is an ongoing commitment leading to durable, strong bonds between you and your community.  And it’s not something that you can fake either, as in all your networking, it is absolutely key to be genuinely interested in others – attention to the details is just one of those ways in which you can express your interest.  It’s one of the ways in which you can ensure you bring the personal touch to online networking.