Want More Connections? Harness the Power of Likes, Comments & Shares

Online networking is now the norm.

Sure, we will never replace F2F, or face-to-face (where the real connection occurs), but to reach more people, we need to hit social media — and now it’s where a majority of our first connections will occur.

The benefits of virtual networking go beyond traditional connections: We can reconnect with our current or former relationships (think: friends, coworkers) and meet new colleagues and potential employers or clients, and we can preview people before we reach out to them to determine what kind of connection we want to make.

As a career coach, I get a lot of frustrated clients confused about online networking and how it works. It’s actually quite simple: Treat online networking as close to F2F networking as you can. Make a connection online, and then follow up by meeting virtually or in person. And, as in “real life,” not every connection is a profound one and that’s okay. It’s the quality connections that make the difference.

So why are some people better at online networking than others? Why are some people really good at finding and activating new online connections?

Because they’ve learned how to harness the power of three powerful actions: likes, comments, and shares. They know that…