How To Use Online Communities To Market Yourself

In a previous article, I talked about ways to market yourself online. In this article, I’m going to talk a bit more about the benefits of participating in online communities.

Forums, discussion groups, and blogs are a great way for you to demonstrate your expertise. People often have lots of questions and turn to online communities for answers, suggestions, and things to consider. When you participate, you take a few moments of your time to provide a helpful response. In return, you build a reputation as a friendly, knowledgeable person that people will want to get to know better.

When evaluating which online communities to join, you should consider:

1. How large of a membership do they have?
2. Can the participants benefit from your expertise?
3. Is this a likely place to find prospects? (For instance, if you work in California, it probably won’t benefit you to participate in a forum about starting a business in Maine.)

For instance, if you were looking to participate in real estate discussions, you might check out the discussion forums on Google Groups, Yahoo! Answers, The Motley Fool, or on blogs or discussion forums for your local newspaper’s website.

To find blogs of interest, do a search on Technorati or Google Blog Search.

Guidelines For Posting To Online Communities
The worst thing you can do when you participate in a discussion is to actively promote yourself. Many discussion communities have a core group of participants who can be somewhat critical of new posters. They want people to join who will actively participate in and add value to ongoing discussions. They do not want to hear, nor will they tolerate, a sales pitch.

Before you post, make sure to read the forum rules. Also, check out some of the current discussion topics and consider doing a search of the forum archives or past blog posts. It’s a good idea to get a sense of the types of people participating, topics that have already been covered, and hot button issues. When you do post, make sure that you are informative. Be humble, professional, and offer friendly advice.

Most of all, be positive. You look bad when you criticize your competitors, vent about your industry, or say bad things about the people contributing to the discussion.

Once you establish yourself in the community as someone who is knowledgeable on a topic (like real estate) and is willing to share your expertise in a friendly, helpful manner, you’ll find that people will start to become interested in who you are and what you do. They’ll read your “profile”, click on your links, and maybe even send you email to learn more about you.

Most discussion forums have a “profile” section where you can post information about you and a link to your website. Sometimes, you can even include a “signature file” - a short block of text that tells a little about you and links to your website - at the end of each post. These are great self promotional tools that allow anyone interested to learn more about you.

Finally, don’t forget that this should be fun! You’re doing this not just as a way to “market yourself” but to genuinely help people - and hopefully meet some new friends along the way.