Nurturing your network takes time and effort. Having the right tools to help you stay connected seems like a natural solution.
You know you should be keeping in touch with your network, however, you find the thought of it overwhelming. How can you make time for this? Perhaps the question is, how can you make it easier.
There are some super tools available to help simplify the process. Tools however, are only the mechanism. Your message still needs to be authentic and genuine.
Even easier to use for “pinging” those in your network, is reviewing your LinkedIn home page. You’ll see status updates, profile changes, new connections, companies newly followed, links shared and more of the people in your network. In my world, when someone in my network announces a new job, I will congratulate them. If you are not someone who regularly logs into LinkedIn, you can get an emailed weekly digest of the activity in your network.
Google Alerts
If you are trying to develop new relationships or there are some people who aren’t within your network yet, Google alerts are terrific. Creating “alerts” by company name, industry keywords, city, person, whatever your key words are, will allow Google to send you an alert whenever those words hit the web. This is great for target company monitoring. You can begin setting your’s up now- google alert link.
5 Ways to Use Google Alerts In Your Job Search by Job-Hunt.org provides directions and ideas on how to use this feature!
Good old fashioned email still works and is one of the best tools to keep in touch with your past colleagues.
If you are looking for ideas on how to start a personal newsletter, you can learn more about what to include in one here.
Do you need to find someone’s email address? Here are some tools to help you do that.
These are just some of the many tools to help you stay connected. They also help you monitor and nurture your network. Because your network is so important, you need a way to stay in touch. Plus have a way of keeping track of it all. Do you have a Personal CRM?
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.
