Most of us have experienced this is at one point or another…Someone sends you a connection request, you notice you share connections or groups and accept it. Next thing you know, you get a sales pitch, business promo or worse, you got added to the mailing list and now receive more sales offers in your inbox that take up your valuable time to unsubscribe from.

Let’s face it is unwelcomed and unprofessional and will not win you respect or business.

On another spectrum of that are the Professional Online Networking Groups. Perhaps you are a member of a few on LinkedIn and the likes of Facebook and perhaps you understand that it takes time to build relationships but now you find yourself online all the time liking people’s dog and children pictures, chatting about what’s for dinner and how that piano lesson went for your daughter. All of a sudden you find yourself spending a lot of time interacting however it is not moving your business forward…

In this article we will look at the key difference between Socializing, Professional Networking and Spamming and the pitfalls to avoid in getting it right. In order to do this, we first need to establish definition of each word:

“Spamming” – sending an unsolicited message, especially advertising, as well as sending messages repeatedly

“Professional Networking” – interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional contacts

“Socializing” – mixing socially with others

For the purpose of this article, we will assume that you have existing network of friends and are looking at expending your professional network.

Here is the 15 Do’s and Don’ts  :

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/15-ways-make-sure-your-online-professional-networking/