Here’s a great post by Chad Storlie on Every Veteran Hired: 10 Steps to Networking Success: An Easy (and Effective) Strategy
You may not be military-trained, but that shouldn’t stop you from understanding and following the 10 steps. This is more than a cute article with some cute ideas… I strongly urge you to follow each of the steps, in order.
Except, of course, Step 5, which says to use a spreadsheet for your contacts. Obviously you would use JibberJobber. You can start with a spreadsheet, but as you network more you’ll find the spreadsheet becomes a rats nest of information, and soon it becomes unusable.