How Networking Has Changed

How Networking Has Changed

Well, as you already know, we have gone through a phase of no-contact, everything virtual, video calls, AI, etc. Things certainly have changed…..but how has that affected the average “networking” so-to-speak?

From my own position, it has made things harder to navigate through and changed the way people “relate”. What do I mean by that? Let me explain.

Let’s take LinkedIn for example — this, to me, was one of the biggest business networking platforms there was. That certainly has changed. Not only are there many more networking platforms, but the whole landscape has changed.

I have thousands of connections on LI that were put in place through my many years of being a member. In the past, you connected with like-minded people, those you met at events or who are in synch with your business, etc. Now, sadly, if you try and connect with people — and they say “I do not know this person” you get blocked. To me, that is bizarre in that LI says to only connect with people you know. Well, if I KNOW them already — then why do I need LI to communicate with them? I could just shoot them an email or telephone call on my own. It defeats the whole point of calling it a social-networking site if you are not allowed to connect with people you do not already know.

Nonetheless, let’s say you do connect with people (as I often do) — nowadays, I get about 75% of people all trying to sell me something — and many times they are trying to sell me the same thing that I already do. So sadly, they have not taken the time to even research what it is I even do, which is bad Marketing in general. On top of that, it is “this much noise” that I must go through to network myself or clients in general, as they, too, are getting bombarded with people trying to sell them something on a daily basis.

What I find baffling, is that many people who do connect with you, for whatever the reason, who do not necessarily know/care about what you even do. Is it a numbers game? Who has the most connections? I do not know. I have written to several people over the course of the last year (and to be honest, I do not even recall who friended who, was it me or them, I don’t recall) but when I do write to them, I sometimes get these horrible replies, “why are you spamming me? Who are you? Remove me from your list” etc. When I reply, “we are friends on LinkedIn” I am told, “oh, sorry, I didn’t realize.” Well, if they didn’t realize or even know who I am — I then cease the connection — since it is visibly pointless in the first place. If we are connected and you are not following my activities or even know what it is I, or my client does, then why are we even connected?

The whole world is on social media these days, especially since the world went virtual, but as mentioned, that just means that navigating through the masses is that much harder.

On top of this, it seems that scammers have come out of the woodwork as well. I have meet people on all social media platforms who not only use someone else’s photos and backgrounds, but they go so far as to set up phony websites, trading platforms, etc. all to scam and steal from people. It is a sad world at times. Whenever someone takes the conversation off of LinkedIn and moves it quickly into a WhatsApp chat, be weary. Also, if they are from a business yet only communicate with you from a gmail account, again, be weary.

There are many things that I could say to be weary of, but the bottom line in terms of “how has networking changed” — it is noisier with a lot more people in the arena. There are a billion “life coaches” these days or marketing people, or social media marketing people, etc. and while they all claim to be experts, few rarely are. Believe me, I get pitched these daily and do my due diligence where I can, and the percentage of valid people are few and far between — so networking has become something even harder to navigate through.

I’ve had potential clients tell me, “We wish to pay you on performance”, which I nicely decline. First and foremost, my time is valuable — I have 33 years invested in my IR/PR/Marketing/Media Relations skills — I am not a newbie right out of high school, therefore, if someone does not appreciate the value in my time, then I wish them luck in their ventures. Second, as I have pointed out, it is clearly a lot more work to market someone (whether it be yourself or a client). There is a lot more noise to weed through and those target audiences are already being bombarded with a ton of things daily (as we all are) so to get them to actually take notice of you is not as easy as it once was.

This is where a good PR/Marketing Firm comes in. It is not just a matter of telling your story, but telling it in a way that gets people’s attention. Making you stand out — why you are important enough to be recognized — this is what we must do — and it is not an overnight task. This is why IR/PR/Marketing is an on-going venture. Times change, people change, the world changes — and we must race alongside of it to keep up……. Now with many things being automated, or even Artificial Intelligence-written, things are moving even faster than ever before, so the struggle is real.

Yes, if we ever get back to the face-to-face normal life, that helps a bit — but I believe nowadays, people realize how much money is saved by being virtual — so if it will ever go all the way back, that I am not overly confident about.

In the meantime, just realize the importance of network marketing, but at the same time, understand the value as well as the work involved in doing it right. It is not at all the way it used to be. It is harder and more in-depth, however, if done right, can add great value to you and your business.

Conclusion

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Patricia Baronowski-Schneider
President
Pristine Advisers
Tel: 631–756–2486 | Fax: 646–933–0177
E-mail: pbaronowski@pristineadvisers.com
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