Building IP networks for knowledge and reach

Online networking is part of the fabric of today’s business landscape. Building networks gives you knowledge, reach and strategic intelligence. It is a tremendous opportunity to understand your market, and to plan how your intellectual property will enter it.

People spend more than two hours a day on social media,⁠^[3] and the average person has seven social-media profiles.⁠^[4]

Your first stage is to define your niche.⁠^[5] Find out where the groups of internet users you could sell your idea to meet, communicate (typically by chat or online calls), and share and create content, and how they would react to your idea or invention.

Funding an IP-related network can improve many aspects of your invention or idea, including defining the potential market before any registration. LinkedIn is a good example of a resource you can use to build credibility and an audience: it is a professional social network where many like-minded people post their profiles.

The number of potential niches is unlimited. For creative intellectual property, such as entertainment networks, online books, streaming video and TV shows, the scope is endless. There are science and investigative networks with large pools of social users that can, at no cost, be a sounding board for any concept you are working on, without your disclosing the actual intellectual property.

A simple outline for building an IP network or social network

1. Study the industry or niche using social media.
2. Let what you learn help you evolve your idea.
3. Look at efficient solutions for launching your network.
4. Build your audience and reach using online tools.

First steps

Start a notepad or document to outline the pieces of the IP puzzle, and build your network. Ask yourself:

• Are there similar solutions elsewhere in the world that have succeeded?
• Does your idea have a local market?
• What is the potential reach of your idea or invention?
• What advantages does your idea or invention have in the marketplace?

These pieces of the puzzle can be the most important when you start building your IP network. Once you have a sense of your idea or invention’s audience, take the lowest-hanging-fruit approach to building the network:

• Find a niche with less competition, to lower the cost of winning the audience’s attention.
• Make sure you have a good demographic picture.
• Outline how your idea or invention solves their problem.
• Use all this to identify unique features you may not have considered, and build them into your idea or invention.

Always keep brainstorming. You already have a vision of what you are bringing to market; now make it better, brighter and clearer with the knowledge your new IP network gives you. Planning and new ideas are the fuel of the new internet work, and social media has become a valuable part of that work and of its knowledge base.

Watch for infringement

Watch for infringement of your name or title. Once you are in the industry, you will not have that argument available if you turn out to be the one infringing.

• Check copyrights.
• Check brands like yours.

Count the cost

Many people overlook the cost of developing a social network and website, particularly in terms of a new team. For entrepreneurs, doing it yourself will be the order of the day. If you are an enterprise, you may want to weigh the time and the cost:

• What are the benefits to the brand?
• How much time will it take?
• What will it cost?

To launch a powerful and profitable solution, you need a team of competent experts with deep knowledge and experience of the social-network marketplace. The team would cover:

• Design
• Content creation
• Marketing
• Management

A good solution is to find a reliable team member to take on the task, using online platforms and apps for management. If you are an enterprise, your partner’s expertise and examples of success are critical.

Invest in the preparation up front, whether that means time for an entrepreneur or resources for a corporation. Be patient: social media is not an instant, one-stop way to build a network, though the rewards can go well beyond building a community. Knowledge can be the key takeaway.