Social Networking Skills

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During the holidays, people sometimes take a break from networking. The holidays, though, are an excellent to time build and nurture relationships. As people tend to be more relaxed during this time of the year, take advantage of these circumstances by reaching out and interacting with various individuals.

To make your time effective during the holidays, consider the following 10 networking tips.

Tip One: Attend Holiday Parties

While your tendency may be to take a break from networking events during the holidays, it’s important for you to continue attending events. Many organizations and individuals will be having holiday parties rather than typical business events.

Holiday parties are a great way to get to know people in a more relaxed environment. The same business etiquette should apply. Have fun and consider these parties as your reward for working so hard during the year to build relationships.

Tip Two: Hold Your Own Party

While many businesses will hold parties during the holidays, people may want a break from the traditional corporate party. You can have your own holiday party either at your house, a restaurant or a bar. Having your own party is a great way to reconnect and keep yourself in front of people. A big part of networking effectively is keeping yourself visible. People will see you as a connector if you hold your own event.

Tip Three: Send Holiday Greetings

During the relationship-building process, it’s important to find ways to continually connect with others. The holidays are a great way to reach out to people by sending a holiday greeting. Whether by e-mail or snail mail, it doesn’t matter how you send your greeting. As long as you send a greeting, you are showing individuals in your network that you are thinking about them.

Tip Four: Set Up Meetings

Reach out to various people during the holidays. For some people, business tends to slow down during the holidays and they will have the time meet with you. Be proactive and reach out to people you haven’t connected with in a while. These individuals will appreciate being thought about and you will have the chance to build these relationships even more.

Tip Five: Accept Hospitality

People will be in a more festive mood this time of the year. They may offer you sweets or other holiday staples. Like any time of the year, accept people’s hospitality. If someone offers you something, don’t turn it down. By accepting people’s generosity, you are showing them respect and will make them feel like they are doing something kind.

Tip Six: Don’t Always Talk About Business

During any conversation, you shouldn’t always talk about business because you want get to know people on a personal level as well. In order to build relationships, you need to know various aspects about their lives.

The holidays are a great time of year to get to know people on a more personal level. When meeting people at holiday events or getting together with existing contacts, spend more time socializing and getting to know them outside of business.

Tip Seven: Show Generosity

During the holidays, people are generally in a good mood because they enjoy the spirit of the season, spend more time with family and friends and look forward to starting a new year. You will find that many of these people are in the giving mood.

Make sure you are also in the giving mood. Take people out to lunch or buy co-workers, friends and colleagues holiday gifts. However you decide to be generous, make sure you are genuine and truly have the giving spirit. If you don’t, people will notice.

Tip Eight: Don’t Drink Too Much

With festivities comes drinking and good times. While it’s OK to enjoy yourself, do so only in moderation. Treat the holidays like any other time of the year by showing good behavior. Don’t go overboard with drinks because you still need to maintain your professionalism and composure. You don’t want people to see a different side of you if you can’t handle your libations.

Tip Nine: Don’t Invite Your Entire Network to Parties

You should be honored if someone invites you to a holiday party. For most parties, the host will allow you to bring a guest or two. Show respect to the host and don’t invite your entire network or more than a couple people. A holiday party is a chance for the host to invite his or her network. It’s not the time for you to invite yours. Don’t take advantage of the host’s generosity and only invite a couple people.

Tip 10: Have Fun

The most important aspect of the holidays is to remember to have fun. While networking is a serious activity, relax and enjoy yourself during this time of the year. Since networking is generally more social during the holidays, you will have the chance to interact with people in fun settings. As long as you still act professionally, you can let loose a little bit and have fun.

Final Thought

The holidays offer an excellent opportunity to build and maintain relationships. Take advantage of holiday parties, more relaxed individuals and the giving spirit.

Jason Jacobsohn is a seasoned networker who believes in relationship building as a key component to business success. He enjoys helping others succeed by making introductions, planning events, and sharing resources. In addition, Jacobsohn enthusiastically shares resources with his network through his e-mail newsletter, “Network Your Way to Success,” and http://www.jacobsohn.com, a comprehensive business and networking resources Web site.

Further, he shares an additional perspective through his blog at http://www.networkinginsight.com

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