Networking Vs. Leading
October 24, 2011 
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Are you merely networking or are you leading? There’s a big difference: and it seems like far too many stop short at networking, while a select few companies and people choose to take the next step and lead.
Those not yet mature at social media marketing obsess over networking. They friend and follow others. They share someone else’s content and ensure that person is tagged so the original creator might see social proof and connect back. But they don’t implement anything original or unique themselves.
Networking is the type of activity brands not yet fully embracing digital relegate to an intern to build up fluff KPIs as they don’t yet grasp getting to conversion.
On the other hand, leaders are out there creating. They’re the ones forming meaningful communities with true organic opt-in. Leaders have opinions and take sides. Their content and ideas always pass the all important “so what” test of their category because they aren’t parroting others, they’re defining what’s next. Their niche forms around them.
Those leading are platform agnostic, they transcend ever-changing user preference of the web by being unique and worthwhile.
I’m not denigrating networking. It’s perfectly okay to start somewhere, especially if you are given a task to build a community in a category you’re totally unfamiliar with. But you have to evolve past networking and begin leading if you want to become one of the definitive voices in your industry.
I think so many fall into the trap of perpetual networking without going beyond it because it’s easy (and somewhat predictable) to trend up metrics that make a dashboard look good. Unfortunately those metrics don’t really impact a business.
Making the decision to lead isn’t one to take lightly. It takes time, effort and dedication that few will put in work necessary to achieve. But easy is the opposite of any inbound marketing effort. Just the opposite, it’s difficult. And that’s exactly why it’s valuable.
image credit: Shutterstock
Shawn Ramsey replied | Oct 24, 2011 (1 comment)
This is a great reminder for all of us, and really points to the difference between being tactical or strategic when it comes to using social media. Thanks.
Shawn
andrew replied | Oct 24, 2011 (42 comments)
What’s more interesting to listen to: an echo of something you’ve already heard, or an entirely new sound altogether?
Jimi Hendrix knew the answer.
So did Led Zeppelin.
If you want people to hum along and nod their heads, sure, parrot others.
If you want people to drop their jaws and *turn* their heads, come up with something original.
Networking is indeed the first step. You’ve got to know what music is before you can begin to play. But don’t obsess over trying to mimic someone else’s sound, unless you’re OK never making it past the cover band stage. If you want to change the world (or at least the 10 mile radius around you), play something new. Take a stand.
Blow out some speakers.
Great post, Adam.
Adam Singer replied | Oct 24, 2011 (599 comments)
Thanks Andrew – and love the music analogy :)
andrew replied | Oct 24, 2011 (42 comments)
I use the analogies to make things simple enough that even *I* can understand!
Also, I’ve used your post to break out of the terrible writer’s block I’ve been in lately with a follow-up over here http://www.hanelly.com/echoes-and-originals/
Mark Boyd replied | Oct 24, 2011 (3 comments)
Reading this post comes in good time for me. I feel like i am trying hard at the leading content thing but am yet to get traction since i have little influence working in a new sector. Recently i wrote about the announcement of speakers at an industry conference in the sector I’m working with and did my research re: what the speakers might possibly talk about given their recent business trajectories, and even took a stand about how all the speakers were men and why the gender imbalance? Still no traction while others were being tweeted and shared for reprinting the event press release.
Your latest blog – like so many of them – encourages me to keep on track and accept the need to build up perseverance for longer than 10 minutes in a new area before expecting the leading to have any momentum. It also brings me back to the core of my work: so often i start to trail off into social media promotion which is all well and good but really, creating the content needs to be my main role for now and the networking can come when i have a really solid base of material. Thanks, as usual, for the inspiration and clarity.
Matt Santi replied | Oct 25, 2011 (2 comments)
You said “Making the decision to lead isn’t one to take lightly. It takes time, effort and dedication that few will put in work necessary to achieve. But easy is the opposite of any inbound marketing effort. Just the opposite, it’s difficult. And that’s exactly why it’s valuable.”
This is the difference willing to take a stand and actual voice their opinion, even in the unknown, versus the one who says nothing.
Meaning, they are they risk taker, when it’s calculated and a sound business decision.
Josh Braaten replied | Oct 25, 2011 (32 comments)
I dig your post, Adam. Networking, blogging and just about any other digital activity are tactics, and there’s no shortage of people employing these tactics.
But it takes the ability to put all of these together into a strategy that separates the wheat from the chaff in our space. Most people give up when they run out of “easy,” whether they stop blogging after a few posts because no one instantly loved it or they stop at networking because going the step further means creating something new instead of just emulating everyone else. Cheers to leaders, wherever they are.
Rachael replied | Oct 30, 2011 (1 comment)
I am intrigued with this idea of networking and not leading. I feel that is a perpetual problem with millennial public relations students. I often find my colleagues linking to as many people as possible for networking purposes but are missing the opportunity to lead through conversation. I find myself caught up in the same problem, unable to spark an idea with total strangers. As a PR student, I feel that my generation has a high sense of opinion and a deep understanding of social media and we need to work on leading and project execution.
While I find it crucial for upcoming PR students to engage in this notion of leading, I also find it necessary to do the “easy” networking. It is a polite way of getting to know someone online. If you were at a party and you saw the CEO of a major corporation you wouldn’t just walk up and blurt out your opinion. You would introduce yourself, find out what he or she is interested in and try to make a connection, and when the time presents itself, then share your thoughts and ideas.
While I agree that many public relations practitioners need to be firm and create an original conversation, I also find it necessary for people to create relationships first and progress from there. It is always important to find out if the person is the best contact for you. If a public relations practitioner has an amazing and original idea but has no following, or the wrong following, then he or she will have no one to lead.
Do you have any suggestions for upcoming public relations practitioners to embrace both networking and leading equally?
Shane Hancock replied | Nov 2, 2011 (1 comment)
I agree, most do stop short. Many new comers to the social media world only network. The more time consuming is leading, we as America’s are becoming very over work and under paid and their for take may short cuts. We also need to consider the individual and determine if they are considered a strong ore weak tie.