How do you build your network as a Product Manager? 💪

We are in a connected world - where anything and everything is now accessible with the click of a button. Adding to that, we are an average of people - whom we hang out with or network with. Networking with other like-minded professionals with similar interests as us would give us leverage - when we are trying to tackle challenges.

I am someone - who believes in continuous learning and in my view - we evolve as we learn. In the recent past, I have come to realize that I really enjoy writing and being open about my skills and sharing my experiences has put me in front of so many active learners out there - who are in a constant pursuit to up-skill themselves.

Following are some ideas for building a strong network with other like-minded professionals:

Find Your Niche:

When I first started with my writing, I did not realize the true potential of the reach of my content. Now after close to 20 days of continuous writing - I have made connections with more than 150 people folks across the world and also made some strong connections with some great thought leaders - who are currently sharing their learnings through the #30PMWritingChallenge.

Find Your Audience:

Apart from that, whenever I post content on the Medium platform for example I see some active engagement with my content as and when I post. In some cases, the response is much more compared to other platforms such as LinkedIn or my own website. This is indeed a great revelation for me personally and I look forward to continuing this learning journey in the future as well as building my network further.

In my view, when we share our learning with others - our knowledge of a specific subject gets doubled. Sharing our experiences with others and building a strong network would give us access to unique perspectives on challenges and we could seek their input on tackling a challenge or learning from them.

Spread Your Network:

As product managers, we should build networks internally within the organizations we are working for and also look for ways to network with other like-minded people externally. Some of them might be working in companies - that you always dreamed of joining especially for the kind of work those companies are doing or the niche is of interest to you. Whatever may be the reason, it is very important that we keep building our networks and connecting with others.

Give Value:

Over the course of many years that I am active on a business networking platform like LinkedIn - I have come to realize that out of the many many digital friends that I got connected with - I only managed to make very few real connections. In most cases - people who come across as someone very active on social platforms - never bother to respond to messages sent to them. They just tend to ignore the direct messages as if they never received those messages.

From my side, to make more sense out of a connection that I am making off late - I actually started being more proactive in terms of giving value by offering help and sharing my knowledge. I am doing this with the hope to build a stronger bond with my audience and I hope at least a few of them would appreciate my initiative and stay connected with me in the long run.

Stay Connected:

Lastly, it is easy to build a new connection - but it is not so easy to stay connected. As product managers, we should invest time and effort to build meaningful connections - with people whose work we admire. In that context, I always recommend staying connected - by nurturing those connections over time - and building strong relationships over time.

What are some of the ways you are building your network? Which one of the above skills is most important for you?

I am a product management professional based in Halifax, Canada and I write about technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and business strategy. You can learn more about me at the following link: https://iamgrt.com