How to Get Your Name and Message Out There

How to Get Your Name and Message Out There It has occurred to me that networking gets a bad rap and that perhaps twitter and blogs and Facebook are the solutions people are looking for to make networking easier. If you dont believe in networking, thats too bad. For the rest, networking is about building relationships. It all starts with finding a common bond. That bond can be personal and that bond can be professional. We wont and dont click with everyone and I suppose thats ok. If you have a business, you are always looking for new ways to get your name out there. Advertising, articles, press releases, TV and radio, personal appearances, the list was fairly limited years ago. Today, there are unlimited avenues to spread the word. We have the internet to thank for that. Thats where social media comes in. It can provide you with access to thousands more people than you would be able to meet otherwise. I follow people on twitter I consider to be good at what they do and the only way I can measure that is by reading their tweets and advice on their blogs. I learn from them and connect virtually with some of them. There is a huge element of narcissism in all of this and could it be, that has always been true, even with Ben Franklin? Do you suppose he was flattered by thenominations to positions and postshe received, to be asked to be on a committee of five who drafted the Declaration of Independence, to receivehonorary degrees from Harvard, Yale and University of St. Andrews? Maybe he was humble, and maybe it fed his ego a bit too. My point is that being known for offering something credible and of value isnt all bad. In fact, it is quite good. Personally and professionally, I think we each want to be known for having something of value to offer. We can spread the word through face to face contact AND virtually. That is, of course, if our audience is playing in the virtual world.