Business networking groups are a marketing tool. They were really the original Social Media. A place where you got together with other like-minded businesspeople to talk about your business and get introductions. Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn may dominate the news headlines about advertising in a social media presence, but LeTip has been doing it for 44 years and if you bring the two forums together, it’s a winning solution for every small business.
Social Media can be disheartening. You make a post about your company, and you end up with 2 likes and a heart emoji and the only people to ever comment on your posts are your mother, your brother-in-law and the one customer you have who understands the power of social media.
What if you had 30, 40 or more business partners who would regularly interact with you and your business on social media? That is what you can get in a business networking group. That simple process of working for each other can provide a radical change in the power of what you do online.
But there’s more!
Your chapter and business presence online can be multiplied by joining community groups in areas you work, live or play. School districts, chamber of commerce, and other special interest groups can become a place to farm for referrals. Remember, you aren’t there to self-promote, you are there to promote the other great businesses in your networking group. Don’t worry, they can do the same for you. Read the groups rules to understand this.
Before you start posting about those great businesses in your group in response to someone’s ask of “Does anyone know a good …”? form a Facebook messenger group with your business networking group. When you recommend someone in your networking group, copy the link and paste it into the FB Messenger group so your member knows you did. Your group can then pile onto the post and comment that they recommend them also. This leads directly to referrals (to find out more, watch this video of one of our members explaining one way to do this).
Remember, while Elon Musk, Gary V, Simon Sinek and Shade’ Zahrai have millions of followers, they all started out with a small group of people who believe in them – just like your chapter believes in you! 😊
