Best Practice Netiquette

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Best Practice Netiquette

by Elaine Rogers on September 20th, 2011
14 Comments

Netiquette can be described as the convention or standard for communicating online. This will include communication on the Internet (blogging, chat forums etc.) email, or work collaboration. It could also be very applicable for off line networking.

Today, I will focus on Networking and Email Etiquette.

It begins when you go to a networking event and come home with 20 business cards. You have met them, know their name and have conversed with them at the event. Your follow up email should look something like this:

That’s all very well, but if you like to take an apologetic approach for spamming someone, this is a great sample:

Or perhaps you were chatting in the car park outside afterwards, and you thought you’d let them know what a nice car they drive:

I often like to follow up with a good news story; just to be sure they really liked me:

Or if they happened to be a bit pushy and insisted on telling me how much money they made per year:

Or perhaps they are not making enough money, how better to cheer them up with my own good news:

All of the examples above, I have received in the past 20 days. Some are from legitimate business owners; some are obvious spam or unsolicited contact. Take your pick.

This is a sample of a mail I received a couple of days ago, after a first meeting with a local business person:

Indeed the follow up was very much appreciated, but the tone is rather “whatever”.

The next follow up email, made me smile:

Sometimes when you meet someone at an event and build a great rapport, you come away feeling so grateful that you really want to help out the person with feedback on their new website, business pan or Facebook page.

If I am asked for feedback, I always provide it with sincerity, practicality and honesty. Here is a response from a grateful contact:

We have since become great “feedback buddies”. It pays to be generous with your time and effort, especially if the rapport is good and there are ways to help each other out, whether that is locality based, web based, product based, service based or simply knowledge based.

This is where I find my mentors, my cohorts, my friends and colleagues. Do you find your connectors through networking (online or offline)? Do you follow up with them? Are you respectful of them?

Please share your experiences below…

Category: Business Networking

Tags: business, communication, email, email etiquette, email marketing, internet etiquette, marketing, netiquette, netiquette for email, networking, rules of netiquette, spam, what is netiquette

The Author: Elaine Rogers

Elaine Rogers is a Business Training & Development Specialist. She provides training and coaching in the areas of IT Skills, Business Skills, and Soft Skills. Elaine has just launched a new online training store at http://www.thesmarttrain.com that provides videos and workshops in the areas of IT, Business and Soft Skills. http://www.thesmarttrain.com

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http://www.tweakyourbiz.com Niall Devitt

Funny post, Elaine. I think it comes down to using your common sense and treating others as you would like to be treated yourself. Should be easy to do but unfortunately it’s not. Social media in particular has increased, probably dramatically the number of interactions we have with other people every day – I suppose the challenge now becomes balancing the quantity with quality.
http://write-on-track.com Lorna

Good examples here Elaine and getting nice genuine emails seems to be becoming a rarer occurrence nowadays as people seem to be getting even busier.
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

Thank you Niall, I would agree. The post is really just to highlight what we all experience – the good, the bad, and the downright ugly!

For people starting out with networking, whether online or a follow up of an off line contact, quantity can be great practice or simply overwhelming. Quality is what it comes down to ultimately, and as you suggest, mutual respect and courtesy.

Indeed, we don’t get it all right, all of the time, but it’s the effort that counts
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

Hi Lorna, thank you.

All the more reason to make a conscious effort to send more “nice” emails as a follow up from networking – the universe may just send some back to us
http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

I got one a while back that started….

Dear (First Name),

…makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

They need to learn how to merge mails with contacts, AND double check it works! Thanks Ivan
http://www.rosemcgrory.co.uk Kate, RoseMcGrory Social Media

Great way to make that point about the thin line between newsletter value and spam.

I guess we all have our lines in the sand – I sometimes don’t mind networking contacts adding me to mailing lists, *IF* there’s a realistic chance their service might be of interest. Recent ones for enterprise level software and suchlike didn’t go down so well.

For that reason I hesitated for months before sending out a recent special offer to some of my networking contacts – but it was for discounted custom facebook pages, so I figured they could all potentially use them. I got a LOT of business from it – but I bet a few contacts ground their teeth and hit the “delete” key….
http://www.encouragingexcellence.ie/ Mairéad Kelly

Very funny post Elaine, I think many of your contacts have my email address as well At one networking event I attended earlier this year a particular participant clarified before leaving if it was ok to add you to their newsletter list, a nice touch, I thought.

Most of my newer friends have come from relationships built up from networking and following up is crucial to that.

Like everything, it’s a learning curve, one well worth doing.
Anonymous

Such a funny post! For myself, I wouldn’t add someone to my newsletter list unless they expressly wanted to be added. That drives me nuts! And who is telling these people that this is a good pratice?!

The tough part is writing an email that is personable and professional. The follow up is much like the way someone networks. If all you do it is tell me how wonderful you are and shove your card in my face, I’m not inclined to do business with you. If you act as if the sale relationship is a relationship between two people, I’ll see how you fit into my needs and I’ll definitely keep my ears open for a way to refer someone else to you. It’s astonishing how 30 seconds or even a minute can make a difference!
Bernie

Good example Elaine and quiet simple when you think of it. Sometimes its just nice to get a personal email as one can get very bogged down with all the info that comes through ‘social media’.
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

Hmm, sounds like it was worth the risk Rosemary.
Someone told me recently that it is not illegal to send a B2B communication (such as newsletter etc) but it is a different story for B2C

I get both, I feel it comes down to basic lack of knowledge about laws and etiquette. I often spend the time unsubscribing from legitimate mailing lists, as it’s easy to do but I have received unsolicited mail from businesses that do not give that option.

I may email them directly asking to be taken off all databases, but I know lots of people don’t bother so for the sender, it may be worth it. But I can hear grinding teeth globally as we speak
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

I think you hit the nail on the proverbial head there Mairead, “one well worth doing”.
Thanks for the feedback, a pleasure to be on same mailing lists
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

First impressions are made even before conversation. I am guilty of that myself, so it’s important to be personable I agree Elli.

I feel the follow up email should be in similar tone of the conversation held at the event. If the conversation was relaxed, then keep the email relaxed but obviously not full of typos relaxed, or txt speak!

Respectful, reciprocal and relaxed – the 3 R’s
http://www.smartsolutions.ie/blog/ Elaine Rogers

Hi Bernie,
So much so that it can be such a surprise! My favourite is when I meet people at networking events and they look at your card or hear your name or see your face and say “Yes, I read your blogpost about…” or “Yes, I have heard of you / your company” Nice! (I have to bite my tongue and not ask why they did not comment on the blog)

I wonder do people send personal cards by post anymore?? I have received my first sample Christmas card from a marketing company already! Perhaps I should send it randomly to my favourite client instead of the quirky photo emails I normally send

Bloggertone

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