A Data Base Does Not a Network Make

By Susan RoAne, Author of several books, including Networking: Beyond the Buzzword.

There seems to be some confusion between a database and a network. You may have collected 200,000 names for your database but you don't have a network of 200,000 people. These people are in your database because you may have an opt-in list on your site or you may have purchased them from a provider or they used a shopping cart on your site to buy your products, books or trinkets. You also may have met some of them. The people you have met, with whom you've had a face to face conversation and entered their data are more likely to be a vibrant part of your network because there has been personal interaction.

The term network implies some relationship or, at the very least, some connection. The basis of the social and business networking sites is that we are connected to the people we know and to those whom they know and so on and so on..

My grammar school friend has a connection to Mayor Daley of Chicago, whom she has known for years. Therefore, I am "connected" to the Mayor of Chicago, although separated by a degree (person). While he might "take a meeting" because my friend may make the introduction and request it, the Mayor doesn't know me at all although we have a link. The people who join my database because they opt in to my list or who follow me on Twitter.com are people who know me but I don't necessarily know them yet we have a connection…albeit a slim one.

In order to build a successful practice, business or down line, we need to be partake of social networking sites that provide those "medium to weak" links because that is a way we expand our networks in this internetworking world. But we must continue to develop and nurture our off-line networks of "real people" who really know us.

Some ideas to nurture the network:

1. Attend sponsored events.

2. Talk to others at these events.

3. Bring enough business cards.

4. Follow up with an email, text, call…or even better… a note.

5. Stay in touch… when you need NOTHING!

Above all, go to have fun! And you will meet more people who are interesting and fun.

Susan RoAne, keynote speaker and author of How To Work A Room®, The Secrets of Savvy Networking and most recently, Face To Face: How To Reclaim The Personal Touch in A Digital World. Her clients include the US Air Force, Chase Back, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Boeing, Wharton School of Business, Procter and Gamble, Hershey Foods.

Visit: www.susanroane.com Follow: www.twitter.com/susanroane.