Use Social Media to find Networking Events

We have mentioned previously that a great way to find networking groups, events and other places to network is to ask.

As well as asking your friends and contacts in real life social media can be a great resource for finding potential groups, events, and recommendations.

Post a specific shout-out/request for information on Social Media

People usually want to be helpful and pay it forward, therefore, social media can be a great resource for recommendations. LinkedIn and Twitter are the best platforms for shout-outs for professional recommendations. On LinkedIn is will be primarily your personal connections that will see your posts. On Twitter, if you have a public profile – it is likely to be wider reaching. In both cases, you should include appropriate hashtags to increase your reach.

The more specific your request the more likely you will get a useful response.

Use Social Media Communities

Social media is much more than just your personal contacts. You can also use online communities to find information and get recommendations: using LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Groups, following particular hashtags on LinkedIn and Instagram, using and participating in active twitter chats.

I find local twitter chats a particularly useful resource for finding things to get involved in. They also help you network with new people online, and these people can also be a useful resource following your initial contact through the twitter chat.

Follow Professional Networking Groups and Organisations on Social Media

Thinking of joining a networking group? As part of your initial research why not follow them on social media. Some groups may be members only, but following them on social media should be open to everyone in most cases.

This will help you get a feel for:

• the brand and tone of the organisations,
• how active they are (although it is important to remember that the social media activity may not be an accurate reflection of how active they are),
• their audience/members and
• what events they are holding.

If they are active on social media you can also use this to find out more about them by asking them questions, signing up to events that they are holding (that you might not have otherwise found out about) and seeing what your followers (or their followers) are also members of.

Research what your target contacts and connections are members of or follow

If you are doing some targeted research into where you need to be a lot of data about connections and contacts is public. For example, the “Interests” of your LinkedIn connections may be publicly available and provide useful inspiration for common interests and groups to join. On twitter who someone is following and who is following them is public if they have a public profile or if they have a private profile but you are following them. Having a quick skim of who they are following can potentially give you an idea of their interests and inspiration for networking groups and events to check out.

How do you use social media to find networking groups, events and other places to network. Share in the comments.