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Guest post by: Rob Lawson Become an Author

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With social media comes a whole new way of connecting with others. As our friend list builds on Facebook, we realise that that keeping a relationship adrift with the written word is now a perfectly acceptable and viable alternative to meeting for coffee or picking up the telephone. Posting on somebody's wall or replying to their blog post is just as acceptable as a teleconference call. In fact, we may have contacts that we have never even met or that we have never heard speak, but are as valuable an acquaintance as others whom we've known for years - especially when it comes to the business world. Social media is leaving the MySpace era of tweens and teens behind, and is now a perfectly acceptable mode of business networking.

Everyone has been on either end of social media networking - either finding that person through a friend of a friend that you just know will be a valuable link sometime in the future, or getting a contact request from that person you met at a conference a few months ago. Building and maintaining those important business relationships becomes that little bit easier with social media.



It's an ocean out there...

Firstly, there is the obvious access to a world full of business and contacts. What if the person that fits the contact you need ‘to a tee' actually lives overseas? But nonetheless, they have the experience, qualifications, and personality to make your business idea or project become reality? Once upon a time, the chances of you coming across them when you needed them would have been minimal. Now, with the Internet connecting us with a simple click or ‘Accept', people that were normally inaccessible are now very available. Online business networking means that the big wide world of business just got a little bit smaller.

Relationship building made easy

Preserving those business networking relationships can be done as long as we have an Internet connection. If we hand out business cards or give out our number at a business conference, we have to sit idly by and wait for the phone to ring. Social media allows us to take initiative and take action. A quick hello on a Facebook page or a Twitter account can keep you in contact with those that are important to you, without wasting any of your time or theirs. You don't need to go through their receptionist and stay on hold, and then chew their ear off for half an hour on the telephone to ensure you remain foremost in their minds. Social media allows us to stay in touch in our time.

Build yourself up

Using social media to strengthen professional relationships also means that you can establish yourself (and your business, if you have one) online. Take Linkedin, a social media and business networking website that is specifically designed to help you maintain contacts and build new ones through already existing contacts. For example, Linkedin will give you suggestions of new contacts based on how many of your contacts know that person already. If three of your contacts have Harry in their list, then it can be assumed that Harry has something to offer too, and you him. With over 65 million users in more than 200 countries, it gives you the opportunity to establish your professional profile online, and stay in contact with business networking links from across the globe. The website aims to connect the world's professionals, and is an easy, simple way to creating and establishing your business profile online, and building professional relationships.



Communicate and build

Maintaining professional relationships through social media are as much about the straightforward connection between the two persons rather than the actual business transaction (if any). Keeping in contact through social media websites is simple and is an undemanding way of representing yourself and your business. For example, re-tweeting an interesting and relevant blog post to a business contact's Twitter profile is an non-invasive yet attention-grabbing act that can strengthen that your professional network. And it works the other way too - by having your own professional account on different websites, you are opening yourself up for more people to have access to your skills, qualifications and ideas, putting yourself in a better position for any career opportunities that may arise and for better business networking. Social media is a great starting place for those wanting to build their connections, or for those with already established contacts, and can be both a place to promote your own professional profile, as well as be used as a useful community resource.

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