How to build lasting professional ties with your Hong Kong peers

Next time you’re sipping a iced mocha frapuccino at a local Starbucks, take a look around and you’ll see several pairs of eyes fixated on their tablets, taking selfies and food snaps for Instagram or checking their Facebook news feeds for the latest updates.

More than half of Hong Kong’s population is on social media. Facebook is an unsurprisingly popular choice, with close to 2.9 million people in Hong Kong accessing the site daily and more than 60 per cent of the population logging on every month .

Many of us can probably confess to a preference using social media and other forms of technology to communicate. While courting my wife, I – much like many others – opted to text or Facebook message rather than speak over the phone.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that I am an introvert, but I was a little nervous and chose the slightly easier, less personal approach.

There are many people who rely on digital interactions not only in their social lives, but also their professional lives. How many of us, when searching for a job, choose to send e-mails with our resume, rather than call and speak to the specific recruiter?

LinkedIn is a great professional networking platform, but I wonder how many of their 500+ connections prolific users have actually met?

I’m a big fan of social media but even as a natural extrovert who has to be sociable for work, I’ve noticed my reliance on social media making me a little lazy about getting out there and meeting people. Social media has become a way of both life and work and, if we’re not careful, might just turn us into online extroverts and offline introverts.

Stepping out of the apartment, or onto the MTR, and keeping the phone in the pocket is the best way to deal with this problem. Before you start shooting off LinkedIn messages to professional acquaintances, consider working these activities into your calendar to avoid becoming an offline recluse.

1) Grab a cup of coffee with a professional connection once a week

In a city as busy as Hong Kong, it takes time and effort to meet up with people for coffee, especially those you don’t know well. But that’s precisely the point.

Inviting a professional connection to meet in person shows that you care enough to get to know them, that you will take time out of your busy schedule to make it happen.

One-on-one meet-ups can be nerve racking, particularly for those who are not comfortable in social situations. Consider asking other professional acquaintances along to help break the ice, but keep the group small so there’s intimate conversation with everyone in attendance.

I find it helpful to prepare a list of questions you might want to ask. If the conversation starts fizzling out, pull out one of the many questions you’ve prepared to jumpstart the interaction.

Make it a point to pick one professional connection to connect with once a week or fortnight, and, by the end of a year, you’d have interacted with up to 50 professional connections beyond a superficial level.

2) Attend conferences or networking events once a month

There are so many industry events going on in Hong Kong every week, and these are great places to make new connections, listen to others and share ideas.

Don’t expect to form close connections right off the bat, but these settings are optimal for meeting new people working across a variety of industries. Most attendees are open to initiating conversations with strangers, given the fact that they are all there hoping to meet people who will be beneficial to their business or career.

At every networking event, you’re bound to meet one or two people who race to hand out their stockpile of business cards and find satisfaction in making their way around the room quickly. Don’t treat such events as a business card distribution exercise.

Focus on the quality of conversations, not the quantity. Even if you only meet two to three people an evening, that’s a great result if you are able to delve into what they do and share some ideas along the way.

Social tools are perfect for following up – send a personal LinkedIn message and add the people you’ve met as connections. But remember to ask them to meet face-to-face, for a drink or coffee!

3) Pick up the phone

Instead of sending an email or LinkedIn note, pick up the phone and give your acquaintance a call. Calling is a good way to catch up with connections if you’re too busy to meet in person.

It’s much more personal to speak directly over the phone compared to sending an electronic message and it’s another way to slowly, but surely, form genuine relationships with your connections.

The worst thing to do is call only when you need help – I always find it best to form genuine relationships before even thinking of asking for favours. Whenever possible, be the one to offer the helping hand.

You never know how your connections might be able to assist you in the future.

By spending some time meeting and speaking with your connections, you’ll steadily develop many more genuine relationships – and friends – and become a better people-person, which is a real asset to any kind of business.

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Social, Digital and Mobile in Hong Kong – We Are Social, December 2011

Facebook to spur more digital advertising in Hong Kong – South China Morning Post, 9 September 2013