Special Report: Networking

From traditional social events to the rise of Internet sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, the principles of networking have certainly evolved over the years. And now, companies such as Kodak are developing their own social networking sites.

"These networking sites create an ecological value. They facilitate communities and create groups of people with common needs and practices," said Jon Bracken, vice president, Marketing and Channels, Kodak Enterprise Solutions.

Kodak's multilevel networking associations are Kodak's Graphic Community, Print Ambassador.com, mygua.com, and Grow Your Biz.com.

Kodak's Graphic Community is a business networking system for the printing and graphics industry. On this site, printing professionals can acquire business contacts, network with partners and associates, find other companies with similar strategies, and do business with colleagues.

More specifically, marketing and PR agencies can build teams and manage cross media marketing campaigns online. Publishers can connect with printers and exchange files. Print providers can share jobs and collaborate with designers. Corporate marketing professionals have an opportunity to lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve time-to-market with local production.

Technical Networking

Roger Schutte, director of production technology, J.S. McCarthy Printers, a commercial printer located in Augusta, Maine, is a beta tester for Kodak's Graphic Community.

"This network works through Kodak's InSite. From there, I can add myself to their new feature lists. A job that I have can also be easily posted and pushed to another community: If one of my customer needs something large printed by tomorrow, I can send it to someone who can do it the fastest right away. We haven't used this program yet and we are still in the process of configuring it," said Schutte.

J.S. McCarthy Printers is part of the Graphic Users Association (GUA). The GUA was created by graphics communication end users and Kodak. The GUA site is a forum Web site where professionals can come together and share ideas and solve technical problems.

"The multi-level site nearest and dearest to me is the User Association (GUA). The site is comprised of regional boards in the United States, Japan, Europe, and the newest one in China. The GUA creates opportunities for customers all over the world to share business practices and form relationships with one another. Customers post technical business questions in the forums. Even some of our competitors are doing it. This is a self-sustaining environment that fosters relationships among customers," commented Bracken.

"It's fabulous," remarked Schutte. "It's a forum mechanism where I can post a question about a technical issue in certain categories and get answers all day and all night. We can even discuss topics we encounter not related to Kodak, such as InDesign or Quark issues. And there are no Kodak salespeople using this. There are Kodak project managers and programmers with whom I can share relevant information."

Schutte also said that GUA is one of his main resources for getting technical information, but sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn are geared more towards salespeople.

"Kodak's a good provider. I am a technical person who produces the work, so for me, it's a matter of having the right tools and resources to do the job," he stated.

"No one person knows everything. When you're not sure about something tricky (for me it may be disaster recovery), you can now ask a question. I ask questions and get answers from people I never even thought of before. I can even take one piece advice out of each answer and figure out the best way to handle the job that way," he said.

Bradley Long, prepress technical support specialist, Berlin Industries, Carol Stream, Ill., said the GUA forum is efficient in solving problems and getting ideas from different users from Prinergy.

"GUA makes my job a lot easier. It's the first place I go to for information," said Long.

He visits other networking sites such as Print Planet.com, Prepress Pilgrim.com, and B4 Print.com.

Prepress Pilgrim.com is a blog site started by DJ Dunkerley, formerly of Creo. In his blog, Dunkerley gives advice on topics from how to set up a Web site to choosing the best equipment for prepress operators.

Kodak also created the Grow Your Biz blog as a place where companies share insights about products, services, technologies, and the graphic communications business. Kodak invites printers to share their ideas about print and graphic communications.

Print Ambassador.com is a blog that features a "Print in Action" section that offers advice from an industry expert. It also has a "Find a Printer" locator to contact printers, where users fill out a short form indicating the types of services and products needed and their locations.

"Print Ambassador promotes how effective print is in the marketing/communications mix. This site illustrates points on how to promote print effectively and addresses how customers are marketing themselves through multiple models," Bracken explained.

"You need to find new applications and change your business model to grow margin. With these sites, customers can choose how they want to communicate, and they can communicate with people they never even met before," he added.

He said that social networking will remain prevalent in 2009. If people continue to adopt new technology, then they will survive the recession.

Tips for Successful Business Networking

Excerpted from Stephanie Speisman's 10 Tips for Successful Business Networking, www.businessknowhow.com:

Effective business networking is the linking together of individuals who, through trust and relationship building, become walking, talking advertisements for one another.

1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.
2. Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings so that you will pick groups that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.
3. Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent? Many groups will allow you to visit two times before joining.
4. Hold volunteer positions in organizations. This is a great way to stay visible and give back to groups that have helped you.
5. Ask open-ended questions in networking conversations. This means questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This form of questioning opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.
6. Become known as a powerful resource for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.

Stephanie Speisman is a Success Coach who coaches groups and individuals in business networking skills based on her booklet "99 Tips for Successful Business Networking." Contact info: (301) 469-8015, successcoach@erols.com, www.strategiesforchange.com.