A great network needs maintenance. If you do not nurture it, it will gradually grow cold, and the valuable contacts you acquired will eventually forget about you and what you have to offer.
Don't let that happen! Remember, you are a superstar networker!
Develop a plan to nurture relationships
You need to keep your weak ties warm, not close. Keeping them warm means finding ways to remind them that you are there. It takes surprisingly little effort to accomplish. All people need is the occasional nudge that reminds them you are still there and you have these skills.
Your activity should be a combination of personalized actions aimed at the highest valued individuals within your network plus group actions that your contacts will see or receive.
Rely on Linkedin
LinkedIn makes this easy for you to do both.
Personalized actions on LinkedIn
LinkedIn makes it easy to have personalized one-to-one actions by telling you when someone in your network:
Has a birthday
A work anniversary
A new job
Just click on the Notifications menu tab at the top of the page to see these.
Group actions on LinkedIn
As you saw in Part 2 of this course, you can maintain your wider network by using LinkedIn Groups to:
Share a link
Post an article
Answer or pose questions
Each action is a little prompt; a reminder that you are still there, and enough to keep your contact warm.
Put Twitter to good use
Twitter is also a powerful way to keep in touch with your wider network. However, like all network activity, my personal choice is quality over quantity. Always bear in mind how much information people receive every day.
You do not want to get a reputation for posting low-quality content. Whether you are retweeting someone else's content, a link to an article, or your own industry-related thoughts, make every tweet count!
The key is, whatever activities you choose to do, be consistent and make them a regular habit.
Let's recap!
Plan time to nurture relationships over the long haul.
Nurturing relationships doesn't mean making them stronger, but rather making sure they don't go cold.
LinkedIn and Twitter are easy ways to stay active and visible.
You have now completed all the course chapters! Congratulations! :)
All you need now is to do the final activity, and you'll be eligible for a certificate! Here is a short video to say goodbye and wish you the best!
