Businesses continually strive to develop awareness of their products, services and key messages. Whether through door-to-door sales, cold calls, e-mail messages or personal meetings, business development aims to increase awareness and establish relationships.

In the current economy, networking and personal interactions may be more important to business development than ever before. Strong employee networks can help increase awareness of your company. Here are some tips for how to make networking work for you.

1. Create a targeted strategy. As any good chess player knows, tactics without strategy might accomplish advancement, but it may not provide the best path to continue on. Identify which types of organizations and events employees will enjoy while providing connections to persons you want to know about your company. A focused approach to networking ensures participation in relevant professional organizations by the most appropriate employees. Strategic networking decisions with consideration of individual employee interests and personalities can be a smart investment of time and money for your organization.

2. Research potential organizations. Research industry-related organizations and regional committees to learn about their goals, activities, and required time and monetary contributions. Determine their meeting dates and times and create a listing where employees can sign-up to attend.

3. Actively engaged employees embrace networking opportunities. When one member demonstrates enjoyment and benefit from belonging to an organization or attending an event, other attendees feel their enthusiasm and are more willing to speak with them. Be sure that your employees enjoy their professional organizations. If they don’t, perhaps you can recommend another organization that is more up their alley.

4. Social networking is important too. LinkedIn and Facebook are two of the most popular networking tools that not only create connections between friends and family, but also provide insights into extended networks of colleagues and business partners. Employees who list your company’s name on their profile helps increase awareness with others they are networked to. Your company should ensure that if it is listed on an employee’s social profile, that the employee represents the
company in a positive manner consistent with the company’s values.

5. Encourage community involvement. Personal community involvement of employees helps them meet people and network through social circles. Employees who are excited to contribute to their own communities are an excellent form of word-of-mouth and awareness of their company.

If you’re trying to increase awareness of your company, networked employees can be great building blocks. Best of luck utilizing these tips to engage your employees and increase your networking opportunities. If you need help devising a community engagement strategy with networking initiatives, please contact us at tvg@vandivergroup.com.