Community Trust Systems™ are where products and services are exchanged on the basis of trust that has been conceived and conferred within a trusted community. Peer review and approval becomes the basis that services are bought and reputation is the determinant for selection. Many examples of Community Trust Systems™ already exist to buy and sell products, such as Ebay and Amazon. Social Networking sites, as an example of a thriving Services Community Trust System™, are now becoming essential places to establish your reputation and credibility. You cannot be active on these systems as a ‘broadcaster’, constantly talking about yourself or trying to sell your wares. To survive you will need to be having conversations with individuals (not push marketing), providing good quality content and aiming to help those that you are able.

Networking on these places requires a different and perhaps more consistent, networking strategy. I have long believed that when you go networking you go to be remembered and that you shouldn’t confuse your network with multiple messages of who you are or what you do. Keep the message simple especially as most of the people you meet (especially online) will be in your Outer Circle.

Designing an online networking strategy to leverage your reputation and credibility

For businesses providing services it is particularly pertinent to be active on social networking sites where businesses are able to integrate into the community, develop a reputation and establish credibility. If your business (and/or yourself) has a good reputation and credibility it is more likely to be trusted by your potential clients, therefore increasing your revenue and sustainability. Community Trust Systems™ require transparency, and the ability of the business to be clear in what they deliver and have an understandable niche. The community members need to be able to trust the networker and be able to advocate their services to others.

A good networking strategy has the following points:
 A holistic strategy designed around business objectives
 Clarity of what the business owner wants to be remembered for – what’s their expertise?
 A clear niche and ability to articulate what the business does
 An offline and online strategy – which networks should you be participating in
 A well structured network
 An understanding of your current reputation and credibility standing in the marketplace
 An ability to leverage time and assess results

Having an effective networking strategy can make the difference in how quickly you can establish yourself as an expert, attract and retain loyal ‘followers’ and impact on your bottom line. When I have worked with clients in designing their networking strategy we have found that their ability to attract advocates and gain results from their networking have exceeded their expectations and has delivered bottom line results. One client saved £7k after one meeting by understanding how to use networking as an attraction strategy rather than using traditional print media.

The greatest results have come from those that have structured their networking contacts as part of their networking strategy. This allows them to leverage their time and seek a better return on the investment that they have made in the relationships that they have garnered. Referrals are when a contact has made a recommendation that one party meets or does business with another. This is often prompted by a specific request. Advocacy is where an individual, usually unprompted, recommends another with so much detail and influence that the advocated person is not required to sell their services. A good networking strategy enables a business to have many advocates therefore significantly reducing advertising spend.

Structuring your network

Most business owners are unaware of the types of people that reside in their network. To be an effective networker you need to understand who is in your network and what relationship they are to you. For example I have over 12,000 business contacts although I do not know them all individually, I am aware of a vast number of them, refer a great many and advocate a few. Belonging to good social networking sites enables me to manage and maintain conversations with my network, therefore enabling me to extend my reach and help many businesses by making the appropriate connections and providing support where ever possible.

Below is a representation of my network split into three areas:

 Inner Circle – these are my advocates and close contacts. This is a relatively small number
 Middle Circle – these are my main referrers and people that I have conversations with. This number extends into the hundreds.
 Outer Circle – there are people that are aware of my business and what I do personally. Introductions and some referrals take place with these individuals. This number extends into the thousands.

Figure 1 Division of networking contacts

Understanding who is in your network and where – helps to develop how the conversation takes place. ‘Conversation’ in this context means how you interact with them. This includes online messaging, blogs, newsletters, and face to face meetings to name a few.

Structuring your network and how it relates to your networking strategy becomes more pertinent when you consider the following representation of your network.

When designing your networking strategy you need to be aware of how you are remembered by your contacts to ensure that you are not confusing them and they take away the message that you want them to.

My Outer Circle are aware that I specialise with working with Mavericks – the wilfully independent. It is important that when networking your message is clear and easy to remember. This is particularly true online where you may be networking within a Community Trust System.

My Middle Circle understands a number of my business propositions, for example I’m a CEO mentor and Leadership trainer/speaker.

My Inner Circle knows a lot more about me, for example that I come from a strategic senior operations background; I have a solid HR knowledge base and regularly provide expert opinion to the national and trade press.

As people get to know me – I aim to turn my Outer Circle into my Inner Circle etc therefore increasing my reach and ability to have advocates. A more intimate knowledge of their business enables me to help and assist them better also. By understanding my network I am able to engage with them more effectively – perhaps using some automated tools or by regular meetings. This enables me to achieve the other aspects of my networking strategy.

Leveraging your time

It is extremely easy to spend a lot of time on social networks and yet receive very little results. This is because it can be difficult to understand how to leverage the network and your time spent on it. It is also possible to be on the wrong network for the type of business that you run and therefore your results will be variable. When you decide to spend significant time on a social network, it is best to understand the etiquette of the network and remember that whatever you do on the network will be visible to your advocates and potential customers. Consistency is the key when networking.

You need to work out how much time you have available to network and the best way to utilise the time. For example the Business Social Network Ecademy (www.ecademy.com) allows members to receive email notifications of their activity on the site. This means that by using your email system effectively you can remain up to speed with what is happening within your network without expending much time and energy. This enables you to spend your valuable time on doing the right things rather than searching on what to do, or meet next.

Another common error is to spend a lot of time offline networking and coming home dissatisfied and out of pocket. This is often because when networking your message is unclear and your 121s are ineffective. There is an art to holding a 121! Our advice to our clients is to ensure that they spend the appropriate amount of time with their network dependent on their business objectives and their relationship with their network. (For example you should spend more time with those in your Inner Circle than those in your Outer Network).

In a saturated and depressed marketplace – where there appears to be many competitors selling the same service or product, having an effective networking strategy enables all businesses’ (but particularly small businesses and consultants) services or products to be advocated, for them to secure more referrals and for the business to cut their marketing costs, increasing their chances of survival.