Journalism Tips #3 – ‘Networking’

Hello, everyone. Thank you for taking a little time out from your weekend to read up on the latest industry advice and insight. We are thrilled to be sharing the third chapter of our ongoing ‘Journalism Tips’ series, and to be honest we think it might the best one to date.

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I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who’s heard “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Don’t take this as the beginning of some blogged bash towards education, because believe me; if you’d like to get anywhere, you need to be able to walk the walk, if you already plan on talking the talk.

Which brings me into what this is all about: Networking.

It’s all up to you to decide how far you take your efforts, but networking is one of the most important things you could do for your career. I’ll speak from my own experience in saying that if it wasn’t for networking, I wouldn’t have made my first footsteps towards a career in the industry.

In today’s day and age, the first sort of networking that probably comes to mind would be social networking. But who’s to blame? Society thrives off the internet, and this is the easiest method of communication, because you can do this from just about anywhere, including your bed early in the morning, a bus bench, a crowded elevator, your work desk, and your sofa after a long day.

If you don’t have any friends who work in the industry, whether in journalism or the music business itself, make some. It could start with something as simple and easy as a twitter follow, and from there, things can only grow. Make sure to genuinely interact with them via retweets and @ replies, and over time, they may or may not follow you back. Further down the road, you can be a bit more social by asking questions for advice or you could even take it a step further and offer your help by writing at their site. You’d be surprised at who would actually take the time to help you out.

At this point, I would consider it to be more acceptable to send Facebook friend requests. Speaking from my own experience, I know I’m more likely to accept requests from people I’ve at least had some conversation with over Twitter or some other form of social media. But that’s just me. Ultimately, be sure to see and treat Facebook for what it is: a personal method of staying connected with others.

To those of you who are more seasoned when it comes to journalism, my only advice to give is to make sure that your network extends past your bubble of a community. For example, if you write for a punk/scene oriented publication, I suggest networking with people at other publications, say, NPR and Pitchfork, because it’s always nice to have connections across the board.

Now let’s talk physical networking. We all know SXSW (and any other major music conference, for the matter) is the place to be for meeting others from similar walks of life, but have you thought about such as record stores and venues? Photo pits are only so big, and backstage areas really aren’t as exciting you think they can be (at times), so why not take the opportunity to make conversation to help make the time pass by a little quicker? During events as big as Warped Tour, the line for press credentials can take a while to sit through, and you’re literally surrounded by other press members. The ideas you can get from others could help you exponentially, and even more if lasting connections are made.

This is by no means a call to be inauthentic with others. Instead, this is a reminder that you’re surrounded by people who could one day help you down the road when you need it. I’ve had many great friendships stem from what I originally considered to be simple acquaintances gained through networking, and that serves as another reason for me to encourage stepping out.

If you have a scene, you should live in it, and by that I mean that you should meet people, build friendships, and help each other.

When he’s not listening songs from the upcoming Comeback Kid album, Adrian Garza writes at Under the Gun Review and works at the Editor-In-Chief at The Southeastern Times, Southeastern University’s student newspaper. Follow him on Twitter.

James Shotwell