Coronavirus Career Advice: How To Grow Your Network While You Are Social Distancing at Home
The coronavirus global pandemic has vastly shifted the way we approach our work. As we practice social distancing at home, many businesses and entrepreneurs have been struggling to pivot, and adapt to the new climate.
Despite these hardships, I’ve tried to view this time of social distancing as a rare opportunity to do a ton of backend work, and specifically, grow your network. Growing your network can take time and energy that you simply may not have during “normal” work circumstances, and I see this time as an opportunity to really give yourself and your business an incredible boost.
If you’re interested in taking your work to the next level, here’s how to grow your network while you are social distancing at home.
1. Stay relevant
Depending on what you offer, this may be easier for you, or it could be more challenging. If you’ve been one of the few people who run a business that is still necessary and relevant during these times, you’re one of the lucky ones.
If not, you need to focus on how you can still offer something that is relevant, sensitive to what’s going on, and useful. This may mean coming up with a new angle for your digital marketing materials, focusing on something different for you social media posts, or finding a new use for your product.
2. Spend time fostering genuine connections
Growing your network can be a slow go, especially at first, but small increments add up in the long run. You should spend time every day joining social networking groups related to your work, reaching out to other people in your space, and showing your support for other businesses.
Growing by a handful of followers may not seem like a big win, but it’s definitely an excellent place to start. And if you’re consistent, you’ve very likely to see a big return on your investment.
3. Make it personal
When your customers, fans, and competing businesses come to your social media sites, you want them to stick around, and keep coming back. One way to do this is to share personal insights. It doesn’t have to necessarily be emotional or groundbreaking, but sharing images and videos of “objects” will only get you so far.
People will want to be in your network if they feel like they know you, want to emulate you, or feel like they can rely on you.
4. Use digital marketing to your advantage, and make it count
This is an excellent time to take advantage of digital marketing, and use these tools to your advantage. You can use digital marketing to elevate the things that you’re doing, and to reach out to new members of your audience.
What do I mean by make it count? Make sure you’re hitting the right audience with your ads, and that the people who are watching them are the people that matter.
If you want to take your digital marketing efforts to the next level, I have a wide range of services to help you excel in digital marketing, and use these powerful tools to boost your business. I can help you transform your business with my Side Hustle Training Course.