By Sean Ashcroft
WHAT does the term ‘social networking‘ mean to you? Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or a trip to the local swimming baths, armed with a prile of business cards?   

As daft as that may sound upon first reading, social networking actually has far more to do with meeting real people in real situations than it does with forging virtual relationships online.

Define social networking: 1. People, talking
Why? Because social networking is about forging relationships, and meeting folk in the flesh is the best way to do this -- by a country mile.

Example: I’ve recently taken up swimming (having been shamed into doing so by my wife’s preposterously gruelling ‘iron woman‘ training regimen.)

As well as packing a towel and googles, I make sure I’ve a few business cards on me, because swimming is a surprisingly social activity. In the changing rooms the other day, I got chatting to a retired broadcast technician who, it turns out, is policy vice chairman of the London Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

I mentioned that i do social-media-for-business presentations, which, he said, is something in which the FSB is interested, and that I should drop him an email.

This was by far my most important connection last month -- infinitely more than any I forged online through a welter of social media sites.

Define social networking: 2. Doling out business cards    
When I talk to businesses about the power of social media -- particularly corporate blogging -- I’m often asked where the return on investment is. I usually end up pointing out that you may as well try to measure the ROI on business cards. The truth is, both virtual networking and real-life networking have huge importance.

And for the record, you can measure this success, by the volume of new customers or clients you are attracting over time.

For example, through weight of optimized content, this blog now gets great visibility on Google for many of my important keywords. This drives targeted traffic to Planet Client, where I advertise my main venture, zyzzyva. In turn, this has led to email enquiries about the services zyzzyva offers.

And the ROI on business cards is that you and others are able to easily cement both chance or planned encounters, and this increases the likelihood of conducting business with new contacts.

Define social networking: 3. Offline conversations, cemented online
In short, don’t lose sight of the trees; social networking for business predates Gutenberg’s press; it’s called conversation, and the best business conversations are of the face-to-face variety.

All that’s really changed is that online social media sites offer a great way to remain connected to the business connections we make in the real world.

In short, rather than make Twitter et al the heart of your social media universe, seek instead the bountiful networking opportunities in the real world around you.

Oh yes, and another piece of advice: laminated cards work best for swimming-related networking!       

About the author
Sean Ashcroft is MD of zyzzyva, the final word in social media journalism for businesses. Our articles about using social media as a marketing tool give you a snapshot of what we offer. Contact us for a sample social media marketing plan.

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