What to Do with that Business Card You Just Got at a Networking Event

Here is a networking strategy that I like because it combines your real world networking with your online networking. When you receive a business card from another person in a networking or other type of event, as soon as you are at your computer, search for him or her on Facebook and LinkedIn. If that is the case, send a friend or contact request (depending on the site). It won’t take your new networking connection long to forget you. Someone you meet today may not remember who you are two weeks from now. But if you get them on your friends or contacts list, then you can make sure the person never forgets you.

Once you have found your real world prospect’s social networking profiles and added him to your list, a good next step is to join groups that the person belongs to. Post responses to group messages, and post your own information when relevant. You want your name to appear often in summaries of group activity. This will keep your name not only in front of you new prospect but also other members of the groups.

Make sure you are active enough on the particular social networking site for your name to appear on updates. In LinkedIn, for example, if you just make a minor change to your profile, your name will appear in the updates that are emailed to members who are part of your network.

Just think of your online connections as a pool of people to whom you can expose your brand and your message. The bigger that pool, the more opportunities will arise from your online marketing. One good way to do this is to make sure that you add people you meet in the offline world to your online pool.

Here are a couple more sites to check out for legal marketing advice:
www.law-firm-internet-marketing.net
lawfirminternetmarketing.ning.com
workmedia.net