22 Way to Harness The Power of Networking

The internet is a great place to make connections, but there is no substitute for physically meeting people.


The people most interested in you on social media and most likely to happily share your content are those that have actually met you.


The key to social media is ‘social’. It’s far better to have a small following of interested and active people than thousands of faceless followers.

Quality is always better than quantity on social media (tweet this). 


So how do you get to meet new people?


By networking.

It’s a horrible word isn’t it; networking, it feels so corporate and jargony!

On my shiny new website, I talk in more detail about the power of networking...

Read the full feature here on Amy's shiny new website

But here's a quick snapshot of my 22 Tips:

1)  Say yes to every invitation

2)  When you want something, broadcast it - But always be generous with our own knowledge and connections

3)  Show up and often

4)  Fear comes from uncertainty. Improve your chances by being prepared, you’ll feel more in control

5)  Think ahead of the meeting  about what you’d like to achieve. Jot your ideas down or do a mind map to get the thoughts out of your head and committed to paper, then they can start to become tangible goals

6)  Have a goal – for example: ‘I’d like 1 warm lead’ or a small step: ‘I will start a conversation’

7)  Make sure you have plenty of business cards. A notepad and pen is also handy so you can take notes if there is a speaker offering handy tips or so you can jot down the details of someone you meet who doesn’t have any business cards

8)  Prepare a spiel for yourself. Sum up what you do in a short sentence and have answers prepared for any questions that may follow

9)  Make notes on the back of business cards to remind yourself where you met a person. It could be weeks or months before you re-connect with that person and putting them in context is much easier when it comes to getting in touch i.e.: ‘Hi we met at such and such event…’

10)  The best piece of advice my mum ever gave me was, treat others as you’d wish them to treat you. Always be friendly and respectful, you never know when you may bump into that person again

11)  If you go to an event with someone you know make a conscious effort not to just speak to that person the whole time

12)  Look for people with open body language to strike up a conversation

13)  Look for people who are on their own. The chances are they are just as scared, if not more so, than you and they’ll appreciate your company

14)  Joining an existing conversation and listening for a wile is a good way to start to get involved and get to know people

15)  Be yourself. You don’t have to be formal, in fact people are more likely to warm to you if you’re friendly and genuine

16)  No one goes to a networking event to buy things, so don’t behave like a sales person. Ask lots of questions of the people you speak to and listen, don’t just wait for your turn to speak

17)  Enjoy it! You never know what fascinating people you might meet, be bold, behave confidently, you might just surprise yourself.

And after the event...

18)  When you make a new connection, reinforce it by connecting with them online through; Linked In, Twitter, Facebook etc.

19)  Publicly acknowledge on social media that you enjoyed meeting them

20)  Regularly share their content and join in with or start conversations with them online

21)  Arrange future meetings over a coffee to catch up and possibly do business with them or pass on referrals to people you think could help them.

22)  If they are not local to you, make use of tools such as Skype to ‘virtually meet’. Even when you are behind a keyboard, seeing a face is a far more human and real experience than just exchanging emails. It’s good to hear each others voices and look each other in the eye

  
  

What's you number 1 networking tip?

Bumper Crop of 14 Marketing Actions for Writers

I must get out of this habit of doing 14 actions in a post. My excuse for not updating my 365 day project; Operation Author: 365 Actions To Becoming a Successful Author - is that I was on holiday in Portugal last weekend. 

We had a lush time Dolphin watching, kayaking and just chilling out.

Most of my actions for the past two weeks have been related to the completion of my crowdfund.

After a last minute push I reached my target.

3 days left at this point

This is my first action. Pictures of me looking pathetic seemed to work!

My only action while I was in Portugal was to write the Solomon's Secrets hashtag on the wall of a pub!







Action 3:
Another action was to contact all of the fabulous people who supported my crowdfund and update them.

In the end, having taken off the pledges for the event that didn't go ahead, I had much less than the £1000 I asked for.  But it does mean I have some options. I'll publish with Amazon, as before, but look at other ways to get some copies print on demand and I can pay for a professional copy edit.

Action 4:
My next action is to put a call out:

Can anyone recommend a good copy editor, preferably in Bristol, UK?

Action 5:
I met with Olly at Fundsurfer to talk about the end of my campaign and what comes next. They are going to keep the publicity going, their first author to successfully complete a fund is a great good news story for them. But I have work to do too...

Action 6:
I drew up a spreadsheet of publications where Fundsurfer could send a press release to and sent that across. Fingers crossed something will be published in one of the literary, writers and / or business publications that we're targeting.

It's great to have professionals draw up the piece and to be working in partnership with them by supplying information. 

For me, one of the biggest things that is making a difference to this 365 project is reaching out to others and boosting my platform by spring boarding off others. 

My advice to any writers out there looking to grow their audience - get help. 

You can only do so much on your own - but whatever you do, don't be tempted to delegate all of the marketing to someone else. Think of it as a partnership and by working with others you can promote them too. Always give back.

I've been busily promoting what Fundsurfer do to anyone interested in crowdfunding because it's been such a positive experience for me, even though I didn't raise enough money to publish with Silverwood books, which is a shame. Maybe the next book!

Action 7:
With that in mind, I gave a talk at North Bristol Writers group about crowdfunding. They are planning to crowdfund the publication of their short story anthology.

Action 8:
I also gave a talk at a women's networking event in Bristol, The Queens Power Lunch. I met some great people and ate some fantastic Caribbean food. 

I went partly to talk about my work with Outset, supporting local businesses, but to my delight, they were more interested in my books. I talked about both The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets. I also talked about my experience of crowdfunding.

Action 9:
At the lunch I also caught up with the fabulous Rachael Gelndinning of Bristol Prospectus and she has invited me to contribute. I'd love to contribute to this site, I need to get writing.

Action 10:
I've been playing with video and audio recently and have some partial projects on the go, including some sort of book trailer. 

Here's something I recoded previously, where I talk about the books, that I may or may not use in the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ui7N8C19_k

Action 11:
I sent a news piece to Linda Parkinson-Hardman for her Women on the Edge of Reality blog about my crowdfund. She has featured me previously on a Thursday Throng Interview and has supported my crowdfund too. She's an awesome lady!

Action 12:
I asked an upholsterers in Bristol if they had any leather offcuts and they sold me a lovely piece of leather that I've been using for mark 2 of my mini manuscripts. I enjoyed the experiment last time and got a tweet from someone but this time I wanted to make them look more like real old manuscripts instead

 

Action 13:
I went out and about in Bristol and left these in various places. 

Look out for them around Easton and Stokes Croft in particular. I've already had a tweet from one lovely person - Thank you Alice Matthews - I get so excited when people get in touch, it makes it all seem worthwhile!

Action 14:
I'm going to get some flyers professionally printed and went into Sebright. I hope to be able to pick them up next week and start distributing them. 

Thanks to everyone who's helped me get this far.

What marketing actions have worked for you recently?

 




 

Real world marketing

This week my seven actions for my 365 day project

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author

...have been in the real world...

Action 1:

I was interviewed by Eli Trier for her blogsite - The link isn't up yet, but when it is I'll share it. I do love meeting fellow writers and having a good natter about books and writing and sharing some tips, advice and inspiration with each other.

Action 2:

I went to networking event with Social Media South West - bringing social media into the real world. Spoke to some really interesting people.

Action 3:

After a tweet from Matt Burns who found one of my mini manuscripts I'm all fired up and have made some more this week. I'll be spreading them around Bristol in the next few days

Action 4:

The highlight of my week was being invited back to my old school, Court Fields, in Wellington, Somerset. 

I spent a day in classes with some of the kids and spoke about writing, following your dreams etc. They had loads of questions and were a lovely bunch. I also worked with a Creative Writing GCSE group who read out some of their stories. There was some really good work. 

I was asked to be the guest speaker at their awards ceremony and gave a speech and handed out awards. I put my speech onto prompt cards and here's the last one:

I really liked the line I finished on; 'Your life is a story - make yours a best seller'

Action 5:

I sent a press release to the Wellington Weekly News about the event. Hopefully they'll publish it. Here's the picture I sent them with the flowers I was presented with:

Action 6:

I printed off more A6 leaflets about Solomon's Secrets. I was at a wedding in rural Somerset over the weekend and left leaflets at the venues I visited and it was handy to give to guests who asked about my books. 

Action 7:

I had a proof copy of Solomon's Secrets back from another beta reader this week and have some changes to make on the manuscript. This will be the final edit I'll be making before, hopefully, handing it over to the publishers.

I'm still short of my target for the crowdfund that will enable me to publish with Silverwood Books 

If you enjoyed The Bronze Box, if you've enjoyed reading the extracts from Solomon's Secrets here, please help by pledging so that I can publish better and sexier this time!

eBooks are £3
Paperbacks £10 (inc P&P)

 


 

Connecting to new audiences and a trip down memory lane

This week my seven actions for my 365 day project

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author

...have been have about making connections...

With 3 weeks left on the crowdfund, it's clear to me now that I don't have the one thing that is essential to a successful crowdfund - A big crowd!

How do you engage with new audiences?

Action 1:

Meeting someone new

I met Eli Trier this week. She was introduced to me by a colleague. Eli is a writer too and wanted to talk to me about crowdfunding to publish. We also discussed me being interviewed for her website and writing a guest post. Look out for that...

Action 2:

I went back to my old school, Courtfields Community School in Wellington Somerset this week.

It was really weird being back there, so many memories. I had a tour of the school and recounted stories of my time there and what had changed or stayed the same. I'd not been back there for 20 years - I felt very old having to admit that!

I spoke to a group of year 7's (12 year olds) and a group of year 10's (15 year olds). They had lots of questions for me and I read out extracts from both The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets - It was a challenge finding age appropriate content!

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and was really impressed with the standard of teaching there. The teachers I met were all great and inspiring. 

I'm giving a speech at their annual awards ceremony next week.

Hopefully I'll have a tribe of future fans there!

Action 3:

Data analysis:

An important part of marketing is knowing what's working and what isn't. I've been getting to grips with some reports and analytics this week.

I was pleasantly surprised to read my Kindle report for May and June, to see that I've sold 289 eBooks. 

This is the period of the crowdfund, so my primary goal of using the fund to get some publicity must be working. Even if I don't meet my target fund, I'd call that a result! 

The trick is going to be in keeping the momentum up.


 

Action 4:

I've finished another edit of Solomon's Secrets 

Action 5:

I'm sourcing some new places to guest blog

Action 6:

I've published the last of the extracts that I'll be serializing here. If I serialize any more, it would be a spoiler! You can read chapter 14 here: http://ideaism.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/solomons-secrets-chapetr-14.html

I especially liked this GIF of 'Tom Hiddleston' that I've added to the post - he looks sinister here, it's perfect for what happens to Sasha next (which I can't tell you because that's the spoiler!). I imagine him in the role of 'Jon Solomon'.

Tom Hiddleston as Jon Solomon (image from: http://31.media.tumblr.com)

Action 7:

My final action is a repeat from last week:

A call for guest posts...

Have you got an idea for a post on marketing tips for creatives / writers?
I'm looking for short pieces of approximately 500 words. Share your tips and experiences here.
Tweet me if you are interested:
https://twitter.com/TomCatDesigns
 
 

 

It's alive! The beast lives!

My Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author this week has all been about my crowdfunding pitch.

By talking the time to put together a good pitch and offer some attractive rewards, and by choosing a local start up, I am maximising the chances of getting some widespread publicity for Solomon's Secrets.

The fund was launched this week...

It's ALIVE!

Here it is: https://www.fundsurfer.com/project/independently-publishing-solomons-secrets-event

Take a look and tell me what you think (and have a giggle at my cheesy video).

My seven actions have been related to publicising and launching the crowdfund and have included;
 

• I was the speaker at the Fundsurfer launch party on Thursday night. I'm a confident public speaker and find that I have most impact when I get in front of people - my challenge is to find ways to do this

• I did some networking at an event at The Greenway Community Centre on Friday and met a couple of really useful contacts. One who edits a couple of local magazines so I'm going to meet with him for a coffee to discuss writing some content for them.

• Putting together a marketing plan for the crowdfund. I'll be meeting the guys at Fundsurfer next week to go through it and pick their brains

• Sending out lots of emails to my network with links to the crowdfund

• My Klout score went up, I spent so much time on twitter spreading the word and responding to people

• I've written an article on my experience of crowdfunding. It will go in the next issue of Prowess Women in Business. I currently have an article in there about the power of telling stories to attract customers - http://www.prowess.org.uk/stories-about-your-business

Have you ever tried crowdfunding?

If so, what worked for you?

Crowdfunding, Spreadsheets, Videos and Golden Gifts

I'm struggling to identify seven individual actions this week for

Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author

I've been putting lots of time and energy into my crowd funding pitch so most of my actions are related to that.

I've made enquiries with Silverwood Books who are a publisher in Bristol that work with authors to self publish. If I publish Solomon's Secrets with them, their package would give me more scope and support than going it alone, but I would also have to sell around double the number of copies of Solomon's than I have of The Bronze Box to get my money back and start making a profit. I would like to support them, my Fundsurfer pitch is all about supporting Bristol businesses after all!

I need to give it some thought. When I launch the Fundsurfer pitch, I think I'll see how well it does and see what budget I'll have.

I've been sketching images of characters, I never ended up using them in the pitch but here's one of Jon Solomon:

I put together a spreadsheet of all the rewards for pledging. 

The idea of crowd funding is that you pledge an amount and get a reward in exchange. 

My rewards start with £1 for a thank you, signed copies of books, being mentioned in the acknowledgements right up to being the guest of honour at the launch event.

I've spent hours uploading my list of rewards and creating appropriate images for them. One of the rewards is two eBooks and here's the image for it

I've enlisted the help of my long suffering and very lovely husband Graham with editing the video for the pitch and here's what we've come up with so far

Watch the video pitch here: http://bit.ly/1pzz4X3

I've been industriously adding progress updates to my Facebook Author Page, including the video: https://www.facebook.com/AmyCFitzjohn

The only actions this week not related to my crowd finding pitch have been going to a couple of business events.

I went to a 'Start Up Scale Up' event. I was there on one of my non working days as, Amy Morse Freelance Writer, but within seconds I became Amy from Outset Bristol when I got caught up chatting to clients and connections from work, I'm too well known in the Bristol Business Community for Outset and I'm struggling to break down that barrier that I'm also a Freelance Writer.

Help! Any advice?

I did some networking at an event at M Shed,  'An Evening with Deborah Meaden' in aid of Above and Beyond Golden Gift Appeal.

Deborah was brilliant, really inspiring and engaging and the charity is such a great cause.

Above and Beyond, go 'above and beyond' what the NHS is able to fund in Bristol's hospitals, by improving the care environment for patients and their families. With the NHS's limited funds, they understandably have to priroitise clinical care, but the path to recovery is more than just the right medicine and equipment, it's also important to be in a comfortable and healing environment - hospital's don't have to be depressing places that stink of chemicals.

I'd like to support the charity in the future and I'm already thinking about an event, perhaps involving Southville Writers.
 
I'm must be a crazy person, I'm in the middle of one project and already thinking about the next one!

How do you manage and prioritise your projects?

Seedlings, silliness, showcases and Solomon's Secrets

This week has been very bitty. It's been my first week of part time employment but with my new found free time I ended up spending the day with my brother for his birthday and it was a rare sunny April day in Bristol so I got out in the garden and potted up some seedlings. 

Satisfying and enjoyable activities but not especially productive!

My seven actions this week for Operation Author: 365 Actions to succeed as an author, have been small.

Action 1: I did some more real world networking and went to the Business Showcase Southwest where I handed out lots of business cards and chatted to a few people.

Action 2: I caught up with the Fundsurfer guys at the event and found out that I could start adding my crowdfunding pitch to the site without it going live. I'll be doing that and then arranging to meet them at the end of next week to go through my ideas.

Action 3: I've had the proof copies of Solomon's Secrets and I've finished my first read through and initial edit.

I know It's self indulgent, but it was a great read and I really enjoyed going through it with the eyes of reader.

The worst thing about being a writer is that with each new work, I reflect back and think how much better this book is than the last one. I imagine this will happen with each book I write in the future!

Action 4: I put a call out to anyone else who would like to be a beta reader and have been handing the books out to my volunteers. Thanks to Debbie, Dave, Graham and Jo.

Action 5: I'm going back through The Bronze Box with more experienced writers eyes now and re-editing it for a second edition.

Get the first edition while you still can, soon it will be limited edition - http://amzn.to/1jd0sDE

Action 6: After joining Bristol Creatives last week, I have now updated my entry on the directory: http://www.bristolcreatives.co.uk/directory/amy-morse

Action 7: I've registered with some freelance writing websites and need to work on a writing resume to upload.

How have you got on with online Freelance Writing job boards? 

Which would you recommend?

Fridges, Sumurai Rabbits and Red Trousers...

April already. I'm very glad to see the back of March and all the stress of the past few weeks. Now I can make plans *mwa ha ha*

My seven actions this week for Operation Author: 365 Actions to Succeed as an Author have involved lots of real world networking.

For writers, it's very easy to fall into the trap of relying on online networks to spread your message, but, as with any marketing activity, there is no substitute for going out and meeting people. 

To successfully market a product, in the case of writers, a book, you need a good mix of activities. Generally speaking, people need to see, hear about or notice something at least 3 times before they respond to a call to action.

My week started with my leg of the blog tour.  I spread it around the interwebs. I also actively commented on threads about it and helped out my writers who are on the next leg of the tour to find their next 3 writers.

See the Blog Tour here

On Tuesday I went to a Fridge Networking Event at the The Famous Royal Navy Volunteer pub in Bristol.  The event is on the first Tuesday of the month

The pub, affectionately known in Bristol as The Volley, has recently undergone a refurbishment and has an awesome selection of craft beers. It's well worth a visit:  http://www.navyvolunteer.co.uk/

The guys who run Fridge Networking are a really enterprising bunch and I would encourage any entrepreneurs in Bristol to connect with them: https://twitter.com/FridgeNetwork

If you're reading this, and decide to come to the next meeting, come and find me there, I've love to meet my blog readers in person. The trouble with blogging, is sometimes is feels like you're writing to no one!

On Wednesday I went to a Bristol Creatives networking event where creative entrepreneurs in the city heard from a new crowd funding organisation that are launching in Bristol. 

Sally at Bristol Creatives is lovely and really passionate about creative businesses. Another action this week was that I became a member. I'll add myself to the directory as an action next week.

The presenters at the event were Fundsurfer https://www.fundsurfer.com/. Fundsurfer is an innovative new platform for crowd funding and Derek and Oliver that run it are really passionate about supporting independent businesses and in particular, to support the creative industries. Look out for them, they will be having a launch event soon.  Love their Samurai Rabbit logo too!

It did spark an ambitious idea for me: Could I crowd fund the publication of Solomon's Secrets and put on a spectacular launch event involving other creative talent in Bristol?

My next action was to immediately start putting a pitch together.  I sent some copy to Fundsurfer for their marketing. I'll be working on my plans and putting some more concrete proposals together next week before setting up a meeting with them. I'm really excited about the ideas.

My next action was to go to a Bedminster Town Team Arts Led Regeneration Conference at the fantastic Tobacco Factory Theatre.

The Mayor of Bristol, George-red-trousers-Ferguson, opened the event with a great presentation about his experience of breathing new life into a derelict factory and creating one of the Bristol's treasures, The Tobacco Factory. 

As Mayor, he's been making some radical changes in Bristol that have attracted some criticism.  He has a great vision for our beloved city and has really put us on the map. Personally, I have a lot of time for George. Bristol needs some radical action after suffering years of indecision and neglect. Change will always scare people, but in time Bristol will be the richer, culturally and economically, for it.

(Plus, I'm a biased because last year George did buy a copy of my debut novel, The Bronze Box with his Bristol Pounds!)

 

I attended the event with 3 hats on: as an interested resident of Bedminster, an Enterprise Coach for Outset Bristol and a creative business myself.

It was a great event, with some encouraging developments in the regeneration of Bristol, through our powerhouse of creative enterprises. It just makes me love Bedminster all the more!

Lunch at the event was courtesy of Marks Bread and was delicious. https://twitter.com/Marks_Bread

I particularly enjoyed the talking carpet performance by an actor from Show of Strength Theatre Company. They do amazing street theatre and have been doing pop up theatres in shops in Bedminster. 


I met Sheila from Show of Strength and am looking forward to meeting her for coffee soon as I'd love to involve them in the launch for Solomon's Secrets in some way. A bit of guerrilla theatre would be great. I already have a couple of scenes from the book in mind that I'd love to get a couple of actors to play out.

In this busy week, I've also somehow managed to find time to start proof reading Solomon's Secrets.

Tell me what you think: 

If you could recommend one networking event in Bristol UK, 

to attend, what would it be?