With the ready availability of mass communications, it has become very easy to reach the media on a large scale through email blasts, media alerts, and wire services. But just reaching them isn’t enough - you also have to reach them effectively and catch their attention in order to get coverage. We sometimes focus so much on the “P” - Public(ity) - that we forget that the “R” in PR stands for Relations(hips).

Rather than writing press releases, it is far more powerful to build a relationship with a journalist before you want the coverage. Your goal should be to end up in their contact book as a source: someone they can rely on for responses, facts, contacts and ideas.

When a journalist writes a story in your area of interest, send him or her an email of congratulations and perhaps offer additional story ideas, leads, or resources. Journalists are almost always interested in story ideas relevant to their coverage area.

Remember to focus on the journalist’s needs, not yours. Not to paint them as insensitive, because they’re not, but they really don’t care that you have a book, or a website, or whatever your business is — their primary interest is creating an interesting, helpful and credible story for their audience. When a reporter calls you, of course you should be courteous and helpful. If you don’t know the answer to a question, just say you don’t know, but will get back to them with an answer or the name of someone else who can assist. They very much value fast response to their requests. Even more so than most other people, a quick response to their emails carries a lot of weight, because they are always under deadline. The very best way to build a relationship with a journalist is to provide a lead for a hot story, particularly an exposé. These appeal to the crusading spirit of many journalists.

Writing a regular column for your trade publication has tremendous exposure benefits, and will build your relationships with the media community. The media also appreciates invitations to events; they like networking with your friends also! Invite journalists to join a board or committee, ask for advice, ask them to present awards, or to sponsor an event.

The media really appreciate knowing that they have changed your life. If their coverage helped you, let them know. Perhaps you got some new sales leads, or perhaps your mom was simply very proud of you. Either way, you’re building a relationship at a personal level, even if you never meet them face-to-face.

One thing that differentiates many online networking sites from other online communities is that many of them (Ryze, Ecademy, et al.) started out as face-to-face get-togethers and then later evolved into online communities. MediaBistro.com grew out of the cocktail parties that Glamour magazine contributing editor Laurel Touby started holding for her fellow journalists to get together, talk shop, and socialize. She started realizing the tremendous potential for what she was doing when she started getting feedback that her cocktail parties were “changing people’s lives”. That cocktail party has since grown into a thriving online community with over 150,000 registered members and cocktail parties in more than a dozen cities around the world.

Touby defines “media” pretty loosely - the site is open “to anyone who creates or works with content, or who is a non-creative professional working in a content/creative industry. That includes editors, writers, television producers, graphic designers, book publishers, people in production, and circulation departments — in industries including magazines, television, radio, newspapers, book publishing, online media, advertising, PR, and graphic design.”

Basic membership is free, and includes access to the extensive discussion forums, the cocktail parties, classes and seminars. It also includes the ability to post your résumé and access to several hundred job listings. Being a niche site dramatically increases the success rate for placement via online listings. One U.S. member was recently hired for a job listed in the board in Hong Kong.

Premium membership in the “Avant Guild” is just $49 a year, and gives members the ability to create their own personal portfolios, access to health and dental insurance, premium educational content, and discounts on seminars, classes, and other events. The site is also full of user-contributed articles about the media industry and their personal experiences within it.

While the online community has grown far beyond the cocktail parties, with a substantial portion of the members only participating online, Touby sees the continued face-to-face opportunities as an essential element to sustaining online community. The fact that people know that they can go meet people in person, even if they choose not to, is very important in building trust. “Everyone wants options,” she says. “They don’t want to feel trapped on the web.”

Touby also resists calling what they’re doing “networking” because of some of the negative connotations some people may have with the term. “It’s not about what you can do for me, it’s about bringing a personal element into their professional lives.”

Although networking is commonly thought of primarily as a tool for bringing in business and finding a job, social activists, politicians and not-for-profit organizations focused on humanitarian efforts have always had networking at the core of their existence.

Networking satisfies a basic human need to feel a sense of belonging, to be part of something bigger than ourselves, to have a venue for contributing to others and to experience the satisfaction of making a difference. These basic human needs are all addressed with the true spirit of networking which is about building relationships to create value. This makes networking and social action natural, powerful partners.

In the past people with this type of mission, calling and passion have had to be vigilant in finding ways to connect with other individuals and groups where they could partner and combine resources to fulfill their visions. Now the internet is providing easy access and information that can make it so much easier for people to find ways to connect, communicate and make a difference. You have a global network of like-minded enthusiasts available to connect, share resources and influence the quality of life and future of our planet.

If used for a greater good, technology could turn out to be the critical factor that brings people together universally and globally to resolve and accept our differences bring us together with a great sense of being a global community.

Here are ten ways to utilize the internet to network and make a difference in the world:

1. Clearly identify your passion, desire and arena in which you desire to make a difference. You may choose to volunteer in an area that best utilizes a skill/talent that you already developed or you may choose to do something that requires something new of you and gives you a certain amount of adventure, variety and/or balance in life. Ask yourself what you feel is totally unacceptable in the world. What touches your heart? What do you feel passionate about?

2. Search for sites and organizations that are aligned with the focus of your social action. Go to a search engine such as Google.com and enter the keywords that represent the type of project/cause that you desire to support. Through the process of reviewing sites representing your chosen cause you will find information that can assist you in further defining how you want to get involved. Other sites available to assist you in your search for suitable organizations for your interest include
Idealist.org and GuideStar.org.

3. Sign up for appropriate online communities, blogs and usergroups. Once you find groups of like-minded people on the internet you can begin to participate. As Scott Allen recommends, take it slow and easy. Pick one or two groups to being with and begin by reviewing the information that people are displaying and the discussions that are in progress. Take time to see how people are responding, whether people are responding (are participants active), to find out if the discussions are in sync with topics and ideas that appeal to you. Once you have a clear sense of the alignment that you have with the people and focus of the site, then is a good time to “stick your toe in the water” by adding your comments and questions.

4. Research various projects that you might consider supporting. Read about the organizations you are interested in and also network with the people you know. Ask the people that you know and respect for their experiences and suggestions. Find out what types of causes, organizations and project people whom you know and respect are supporting. Ask them for their opinion about projects that you are considering.

5. Send emails requesting information regarding activities, events and projects. Ask for information. Gather information by requesting the information you need to make the best choices regarding your volunteer interests.

6. Send emails making requests for what you need to fulfill your projects. Utilize your own network of contacts to get others involved and get the help that you need to support your volunteer projects. Sometimes people are just waiting to be asked. Even people who would not typically volunteer their time or services may find themselves interested when someone else shows an interest in their participation.

7. Send emails offering your support and services. Let people know what you have to offer and how you want to contribute.

8. Send emails letting others know about opportunities that people can support. Pass along information to others in your network about events and opportunities. You never know when someone you know may be interested in getting involved in some social cause and you may be the stepping stone for them.

9. Create your own website promoting your cause and giving people a way to connect. The web is an easy platform for business, personal issues and social causes. If you have a personal website, be sure to include information about your involvement in social cause. Provide links to sites that give more information about the social cause that you support.

10. Create links on your website to other sites that further social action. On my business website, www.DonnaFisher.com, I have a Links page that includes business links, friend’s link and links of organizations that I believe in that are doing social good.

Business networkers have long used school alumni groups and local professional networks for professional and business development purposes, as well as for job search. Recently, a new platform has emerged: corporate alumni programs.

American Way magazine recently featured Mr. Courtney Kurk, who belongs to three networking groups where ex-employees share career news, plan reunions, ask advice, and post job listings online. A few months ago, the Miami-based senior IT manager posted three job openings from Ryder System (his current employer) on the e-mail list for alumni of his ex-employer, Breakaway Solutions.

Why? “People I’ve worked with are very high-caliber, and I want to stay in contact, even if it’s just peripherally, to network,” says Kurk.

The strongest alumni programs are those organized by the companies themselves, since the extensive data available to the company can rapidly generate critical mass, which is where most of the value comes from.

The leading company providing such corporate alumni programs is SelectMinds.com. In addition, on Yahoo Groups, Classmates.com, and other general networking sites, you can often find groups for alumni of certain prominent companies. Some firms have also built solutions using in-house technology.

About SelectMinds
SelectMinds is the first and only firm that specializes in helping major corporations build and capitalize on their alumni networks. SelectMinds uses its proprietary software to build and manage private-label, hosted alumni websites, and can serve as a client’s fully-outsourced alumni relations department. SelectMinds works with global corporations and leading professional service firms. The firm was founded in 1999 and works with such leading customers as IBM; Ernst & Young; BearingPoint; Sapient; O’Melveny & Myers; and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

Components of Successful Alumni Programs

At the core of a successful alumni program is a strong value proposition to the alumni. Once registered to the corporate alumni program, participants typically get access to a directory of fellow alumni with whom they can network, some proprietary content, and career services.

Alumni Directory: The directory is the highest-traffic areas of alumni programs. According to Cem Sertoglu, CEO of SelectMinds, the directory is the reason over 50% of alumni participate in most programs. The directory includes information from the former employer as well as from the alumni themselves. Most profiles include personal contact information, current professional profile, past experience, skills, interests and educational background. More progressive companies have expanded the alumni profiles to include communications preferences and participation in special-interest subgroups within the program (e.g., Bay Area, African-American, etc.).

Career Services: Given the current economic slowdown, career management resources is one of the most valuable tools a company can provide to its alumni. One obvious way to populate this area is publishing opportunities at the company, especially since rehiring former employees makes economic sense for the company. According to Mr. Sertoglu, re-hires are less expensive to recruit and train, and tend to make better hires.

In addition, companies typically allow alumni to post opportunities of which they are aware. Particularly in industries experiencing layoffs, the power of the alumni network can supplement the outplacement efforts of the company. Another source for opportunities are the clients of the company creating the alumni program. If a match gets made, it creates a three-way win.

Proprietary Content: Most organizations creating alumni programs generate public or semi-proprietary content in the course of day-to-day business – white papers, press releases, articles, books, research, etc. Typically, sharing this type of content with alumni has no adverse business effect, nor a significant incremental cost. However, they prove to be valuable to the alumni population, who create a competitive advantage for themselves in their professional environments.

Rapid Growth

Corporate Alumni Programs have begun proliferating in the professional service industries first. According to Mr. Sertoglu, 8 of the top 10 management and IT consulting firms have formal alumni programs. Other industries which have embraced the value of alumni programs are accounting, law, and investment banking. These are a uniquely powerful platforms for effective business networking, because of the strong pre-existing tie you have to fellow alumni.

If you are fortunate enough to be a graduate of McKinsey, Bain, BankOne, or another company with a progressive alumni program, one can gain tremendous benefit by exploiting the power of that network. Even if the firm does not have a formal alumni program, you can set up your own informal network at Yahoo Groups, Classmates.com, or another similar site.