Social networking sites have become a public way of displaying your sphere of influence. Networking and word of mouth have been around since commerce began.
The biggest mistake that small business owners often make is to only network “up”. This means that you’re trying to connect with other people in your industry that are more sucessful. This often fails because it is a one sided relationship where you recieve a majority of the benefit. Why would the industry leader want to network with you?
Instead you should network “across”. Identify people in your industry or beyond that share a similar experience level and find ways to support each other. Make it a win-win relationship. Identify the things about that individual that make them special and become their advocate. You’ll be suprised how quickly they return the favor. As a result both of you will be more successful. An army of peers is much more valuable than a few one sided relationships. Combined this army will likely give everything and more compared to what you would receive from networking “up”.
