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Beyond Business Cards: Mastering Virtual Networking in a Remote World6 min read

Virtual Networking in a Remote World
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Image via Forbes

In today’s increasingly remote world, virtual networking has become necessary for career success. The popularity of social media allows you to connect with other practitioners and experts worldwide.

Whether you’re looking to expand your network, build new relationships, or make meaningful connections, mastering virtual networking can help you elevate your career in the future. 

In this article, let’s explore why mastering virtual networking is vital. Also, discover some best practices and strategies for mastering virtual networking and making meaningful connections in a remote world.

Why is Virtual Networking Important?

Mastering virtual networking can significantly benefit your career journey. It enables you to connect with other practitioners and stay current on the latest trends. You can also share skills and find new job opportunities through your relations.

On top of that, having local and global networking helps you generate leads, potential clients, and partners. This benefit will be excellent if you work alone or as a freelancer. It can also help you find business partners who share the same goals.

However, virtual networking is not a one-night game. It will require you to enhance your profile and create valuable content. For example, you can add explainer videos or written posts to boost your credibility.

In fact, 80% of experts or professionals value networking as crucial to support their career success. Here are some other benefits you can get with virtual networking:

  • Build and enhance professional branding online
  • Get opportunities to learn from and connect with other practitioners
  • Increase ROI, visibility, and credibility on online platforms
  • Improve communication skills
  • Get more access to valuable resources
  • Elevate career journey globally

Best Practices for Mastering Virtual Networking

Virtual networking may seem challenging, especially if you must build an online presence from scratch. But save your worry. The following best practices can help you overcome the daunts!

#1. Specify Your Niche

Before building your online presence and starting virtual networking, it’s best to identify and specify your niche. You can choose some that resonate with your expertise, such as digital marketing, data analytics, web design, etc.

You can always choose more than one specialty. For example, digital marketing is closely related to copywriting. If you have experience in copywriting or email marketing, then you can add those niches to your profile.

Specifying your niche allows you to plan better for the future. You can plan what portfolios to make and what content to create. Most importantly, you know who you want to reach for virtual networking.

#2. Polish Your Online Accounts

Once you decide on your niche, polishing your online profile is the next step. It requires optimizing your online profile and social media content, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

You will get busy creating a self-introduction, adding specialties, making content, and uploading relevant portfolios. With all the necessary improvements, polishing your online profiles can take longer than you think.

However, you can gradually post content and gather portfolios along the journey. You can improve your profile by creating a catchy self-introduction and including your expertise and experiences.

#3. Post Valuable Content on Social Media

One of the most challenging and time-consuming processes is creating valuable content. Posts in various formats, such as videos, images, infographics, and written content, are the lifeblood of your accounts.

You can create a content calendar to maintain a good flow of content publishing. Choose what content and when you will upload it. Also, pen down some content ideas to create and publish later.

For example, here are some LinkedIn tips. The platform is excellent for expressing your opinions and sharing informative content. You can evoke engagement with insightful posts or interactive content.

Meanwhile, Instagram and YouTube are best for storing your masterpieces, such as self-made designs, video collaborations, testimonials, etc.

#4. Be Active in Online Groups

After polishing your social media accounts and uploading enough content, you can continue joining online groups. This is your attempt to get relations and reach relevant people in your niche.

Facebook and LinkedIn are excellent social platforms for joining groups. You can enter multiple groups and actively give responses, especially comments. Along with that, you can ask questions to build an online presence. 

If you find experts or specialists relevant to your profile, you can connect with them. Consider reaching out through direct messages to introduce yourself and explain your purposes. This tactic is effective in making relationships with professionals.

#5. Join Virtual Events and Conferences

Another way to expand your professional circle is by joining virtual events or conferences. Today, it’s easy to find online events. You can also search for webinars easily on social media and enroll there.

A thing to note is that you should be active in online events. You can join the discussions and ask questions or insights directly to the speakers and other participants. 

If you find relevant people, you can contact them on social media. Introduce yourself and tell them why you want to connect with them. Also, explain your expertise to help you connect better.

#6. Find and Reach Relevant People

You can also find relations manually. For example, if you have favorite influencers or YouTubers, you can connect with them by sending professional emails or direct messages. You can use AI-driven tools to find emails.

On platforms like LinkedIn, you will find recommendations. You can leverage the feature to find relevant people and connect with them. Always consider sending a direct message after they accept your connection request.

You can talk further and explain why you want to connect with them. You can discuss their projects, achievements, or content to start a conversation. Show your appreciation and explain how both of you can be good connections.

#7. Ask for Collaboration

Collaborating with your connections is an effective way to elevate your personal branding. You can do guest posting on their blogs or features on their social media content.

Collaborations with other experts help you gain a higher opportunity to expand your branding to more people. This way, you get a higher possibility to make more connections and expand your virtual networking.

Ensure that you maintain a professional attitude with your networks. It helps you maintain good relationships with them. Better still, you may also generate referrals from your existing connections.

Takeaway

Virtual networking gets even more necessary in the digital age. We can’t deny that today jobs and career opportunities are easier to find on social media. So, expanding your networks locally and globally can benefit you in the long run.

Building an excellent online presence is key to growing your network. The above seven steps can be your ultimate guide to mastering virtual networking. You can enhance your online presence with exemplary dedication.

It may take a while to master virtual networking. But all your efforts and time-spend for building connections will always pay off one day. Most importantly, virtual networking helps you pursue a better professional career ahead.

Author

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order). 

Twitter: @breadnbeyond

Email/Gravatar: andre@breadnbeyond.com 

LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro

Andre Oentoro

Andre Oentoro

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).

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