Carol Deckert is a networking and netweaving wizard.  Carol joined Charly on our Blog Talk Radio Show to talk about achieving balance in networking.

The main focus of the discussion was using your time effectively when connecting and networking with people – how to ensure you make worthwhile connections whilst still having time to run your business!

Social networking is on the increase and the number of places to connect just keep growing.  Most of us receive 1 or 2 invites a day to connect on one platform or another – and quite frankly, we’re overwhelmed by the sheer ‘enormity’ of it all.

Networking is the process of meeting people, either in person or ‘virtually’, that you would like to develop a stronger (perhaps more formal) connection with.  These connections, in turn will enrich your life in one, or many, areas – depending on the type of contact.

Carol had some great tips regarding the effective use of networking.  Here are just some of them:

You should network where your target audience is.  If your target audience (or market) uses Twitter, ECademy and Ryze – then that’s where you should be networking. It doesn’t make sense to network on Facebook or Myspace if your target market doesn’t.

Use an egg timer to limit the amount of time you spend each day on your networking and only do what you can in that time. This means being focussed and addressing the important requests first…. but you can do it!

Schedule your day to maximise your networking. For Carol, networking at the end of her work day works best – but for Charly, networking at the start of her work day is optimum.
Charly was also asked how she manages to work from home and handle the ‘interruptions’ from family and two young teenage children…. her answer may amuse you!

Carol is networking coach and her site can be found at RUNLancaster and her networking blog. Carol is available for coaching and advice.

Enjoy the show: