Should Your Lurk or Speak Up When Networking Online?
Different people network online for different reasons. I know people who are there strictly to learn; they are not looking for clients or connections. For them, being a listener (or lurker) is perfect. They read what they need, come back for more advice and achieve their goals – they have learned what they wanted.
On the other hand, myself and majority of my students are networking to connect – to create business ventures, to promote our expertise, and, to ultimately, gain clients. If these are your goals as well, listening is not going to work. What you need to do is to speak with conviction and show to other members that you are the expert you say you are.
In order to do that, and still have time left over for other activities ( as I discussed in Is Networking The Only Way to Promote a Business? post, networking is a great way to fill up your pipeline, but it should never the ONLY way ), here is whatI recommend:
– Find quality online forums frequented by your target market and participate there on a regular basis.
– Schedule some time every week for online networking. Make sure you stick to the schedule, you don’t want to spend too much time on networking, but at the same time you want to be consistent and network on a regular basis.
– Re-use online content you create. Turn your most “meaty” postings into blog posts. Turn them into articles. Expand on a particularly interesting topic, and turn it into a special report – the possibilities are endless.
I run two Networking Groups on Ryze – How to Succeed with Your Online Business and Passive Income Streams for Solo Professionals. I also participate in a few other groups there on a regular basis. Every month I receive a few messages from lurkers, who have read my messages for a long time, and now want to connect to learn more about my products and services. They feel that they got to know me through my messages, BUT as they are lurkers, this is a one-directional relationship – they know who I am, but I don’t know who they are.
In order for you to become known for your expertise, start participating today!
Biana Babinsky
P.S. Want to Learn More About Online Networking and Leveraging It to Get Clients for Your Business? One of the Chapters in the Complete Step by Step Online Marketing Course discusses how to leverage online networking to get MORE clients for your business.