Developing good relationships with potential customers, suppliers, industry contacts and the press raises your profile, generates sales leads and creates a 'buzz' around your business. But handling public relations (PR) and networking online can be quite different from doing them in more traditional ways.
Online networking and online PR key issues
It takes time to build relationships and reputation. Online PR and networking both benefit from a slow-burning, indirect approach. For example, a powerful benefit of online networking is the improvement in your website's search engine ranking as your network produces links from other sites. People will only do this if you are a valuable contact with something to offer their customers.
Online networking works best if you contribute regularly and help other members of the network rather than just pushing your own agenda. Similarly, an online PR campaign to publicise a new product launch is more likely to succeed if you have built relationships with online publications and news outlets.
Yet there is a vast range of different networks and communities, publications and social media - it can be very easy to spread yourself too thin. Concentrate on a small number of online networks where you can get actively involved and focus your PR on groups of customers who are interested in what you have to offer. A little market research will save you a lot of wasted effort.
Online networks
The online network you choose depends what you want to get out of your networking. For many businesses, the main goal is to generate sales leads and some online networks are focused on referrals.
But you can also use online networking to find suppliers, share knowledge, carry out market research and for mutual support. Your trade association probably has an online forum or organises online events; business support websites and dedicated business networking sites are where you're likely to find other entrepreneurs, business customers and potential suppliers. Potential customers are also likely to gather on sites related to your product or service: if you sell bicycles, for example, you'll find them in the forums of cycling websites.
You can also make informal online networks work for you. Email is a good way to keep in touch with existing contacts; online social networking can produce business benefits as well. You could even create your own online community on your website by providing a customer forum which you can use to build relationships, encourage repeat visits and conduct informal market research.
Online public relations
Online PR often mimics traditional PR and many business owners issue online press releases and contribute articles to online publications. But the web makes it easier and gives you more options. For example, you can post comments on other people's articles with a discreet signature identifying your business and web address. You can also publish your own blog on your own website.
Social media - online communities such as Facebook - add another dimension to online PR. You can generate publicity and website traffic through social media marketing. You can encourage people to recommend pages of your website to sites like Digg and Reddit, for example, or write amusing or interesting blog entries that community members themselves choose to spread.
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