What You Know: How To Network Effectively

Shannie Mears is an advertising professional and lecturer, she also founded Girls Lets Talk, a space to connect, inspire & educate women.

1. Do your research

A lot of the time, people say they want to build a network but don’t really know who with or where. It’s important that you do your research before you do anything. Find out about different industries, it could be as simple as going onto google and typing in keywords that interest you i.e. ‘creative jobs in film’ or ‘music jobs everyone should know’. Try and make them questions so that you can get the best results possible from the search. Other research methods might be, talking to people from a range of different places and backgrounds, social media searches on LinkedIn or following Instagram pages. It really all depends, but before you do anything do the research to give yourself some direction and confidence.

2. Find your space

I say its always hard to ‘find your tribe’ but its easier to find your space. This could also be multiple spaces. List out the type of people you want to know or the industry and places you see yourself getting into, i.e. fashion, Television, film etc. That way you are giving yourself more confidence by directly manifesting the people you want to meet and in the right spaces. If you’ve done good research you will also be able to target people or even job roles like ‘head of marketing – google’ that way you can do more specific searches and start to look at where those people hang out or what else they are doing.

3. Show enthusiasm and difference

Once you know who you are targeting and where, it’s time to put that build up to practice. It’s easy to make a CV and list your good traits, or send a direct message telling someone how much you love their work. But to stand out you have show your point of difference. Or how might you get their attention differently. Maybe you bring up something you see they have recently been involved with and give an opinion, or send a letter if you want to be more personal. But no matter what, show enthusiasm and never take anything too personal.

4. Be consistent

When we get zero responses, or feel like we're not getting anywhere, it’s easy to tell ourselves that it’s time to give up or to just forget about it. But no! You are just getting started and you have to be consistent as well as persistent (within reason). Consistency shows character, and what you are willing to do as well as your patience. This is more about building resilience and knowing that sometimes it is a long road. Think of your network itself as a product its not just about meeting people, but it becomes an extension of you - something you have to nurture and grow and keep getting better at. But only with persistence and consistency.

5. Target appropriately

When you are networking, often people think about getting to know ‘popular’ and/or powerful names. Which I completely understand but it’s also important to remember that support and challenges can come from anyone and anywhere. Figure out your target based on what you are looking for and think about the type of relationship you want to build. When we have our peers, sometimes being able to grow with them is great because you are all at the same ages and agree on how to be of value to each other. Other people who might just be people you’ve never actually met but you really want to get to know them better, make sure you have mapped out the value exchange, how can you help them? Do you have something in exchange for the relationship you would like to build. Always think about your targets and be prepared to know what the value exchange is.

6. Be nice

This one is very easy. Be nice to people you never know who is who, or where they are going. You also just don’t know the basis of what people are going through. Be polite, don’t take delayed responses personal and do it because it’s the right thing to do not because there might be something you can get from it.

‘People might forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel’

- Maya Angelou

Follow Shannie on Instagram: @shannieloves