The phone has become one of the most useful gadgets in our lives. Whether we use it for games, social media, streaming or even reading, it simplifies everyday life. The phone is a gateway to a world of networking. There are so many ways that we can keep in contact with one another which is essential for staying connected during times like these. And, if you normally work remotely, travel often, or host virtual events, then these tips will apply to your business all year round. Here are some easy ways to network your way to success using only your phone.
Network From Your Phone
1. Contacts
Probably the most simple way of staying in touch is through your phones default contacts application. When you meet someone, you should ask for their contact information that way you can create new bridges. This is amazing for personal close networking since these people won’t be strangers at all.
2. LinkedIn
Probably the most used professional networking platform is LinkedIn. This platform allows you to add people, message them, share stories, like their content and provide a descriptive person to your name. Whether you get it as an app or just use Chrome, LinkedIn requires nothing more than a phone. It is a good way to ask your own network for help and access to better opportunities.
3. Social Media
According to Dataportal, there are over 4.2 billion social media users around the world as of 2021 which is more than 51% of the entire population. This includes apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
All it takes is a quick simple message to start a conversation and who knows where that can lead to. Of course, it is beneficial to add pictures and write posts so people understand who you are. In order to network through social media, you must establish a presence along with a message that says who you are, how you found them, and what you want.
4. Covve
Perhaps I am being a little biased here but Covve is the best networking platform for individuals that want to organize their work and personal life. With the Covve mobile app, you are able to create alerts, send messages, call individuals, send news articles, and even scan business cards. How cool is that!
One of the best ways to use this personal CRM is through its article feature. With AI-powered features, if there is an article published that might impact someone in your network, you will get a smart alert to send it to them and start a conversation. Build relationships with multiple individuals and network your way to success from only your phone.
5. Honorable Mention: Alignable
This application is more for the Business to Business market and can be an owners best friend. With alignable you are able to grow your network, build your business profile, recommend, message, and refer other businesses straight from your phone. You just create your page and talk about your business and what they do. Then go on and network other businesses that could possibly partner and help yours out.
Networking Gameplan
So far, I’ve given you a broad list of options ranging from close and personal contacts to a business to business networking application. In this section I will lay out a game plan that I’ve personally used to network simply on my phone.
This game plan involves a combo of Linkedin and Covve which combine perfectly together. Linkedin will allow me to establish a virtual presence while Covve will allow me to organize all the networks I gain.
Step 1: Create and Establish
Before you can start networking, you must create a Linkedin account which includes your name, profile picture, phone number , email address, and most importantly your resume. Assuming you already have a resume, inserting it in Linkedin will allow you to become an easy target for professionals looking to hire.
Step 2: Expand
This is the step where we add all the individuals that we know. Whether it’s friends, families, or co-workers we need to make sure they are on our network system. Now we can go ahead and add your interest which is all the companies you would like to work in. This will give others a visual of the companies you like which could benefit you.
Lastly, what I like to do is add strangers, but not just any strangers. For a college student, I would narrow it down to as many people that I can get that go to my University. For professionals, look at similar industries, adjacent companies to yours and shared interests.
Step 3: Engage
Once we have a huge list of new networks we can engage with them and discover more about our random individuals. I would start with a simple message, “Hey, thank you for connecting with me. I’m not sure if we’ve ever crossed paths before. But I’d love to get to know you more and what you do and see how I can potentially add value to you.” If you are comfortable with a phone call you can always ask if it’s okay to start a call.
Step 4: Organize
Now we move to my favorite CRM, Covve. We should now have over 50 new individuals that we have connected with, they don’t all have to be phone calls. This is where we gather all the information from LinkedIn and transfer it to Covve.
With Covve we can set up notes with small details around the individual such as their interests. Once we establish their name, major, interest we can use that to our advantage. Thanks to the app we can send interesting news articles to keep these relationships fresh for a long time.
Pretty simple right? Thanks to smartphones we do not need big computers to network. We can just pull out our phones and meet new people through different apps. The more you repeatedly accomplish the game plan, the easier it is to network your way to success from only your phone.
