Blogging for professional networking

Blogging for professional networking is key to building your business. 

It’s all about showcasing your expertise and leadership.

As a networking strategy, it’s a way to let your peers see what you’re doing and thinking.

And it lets prospective employers get a real view of your talents, skills, expertise and leadership.

Blogging is a very powerful medium for communicating who you are, and what you’re all about..

Every blog post you write should be aimed squarely at your target audience when you are networking within your profession, business, niche or interest.

Those are the people you want to join, communicate with and influence in some way.

So here are some of the best ways to use blogging for professional networking.

Deliver value

When people read your blog, they’re looking for something interesting and valuable.

Otherwise they won’t read it.

So it’s up to you to create content that is both valuable and relevant to your readers.

What kind of industry insights can you provide to your target audience? 

What sorts of tutorials will help them understand how to do something, or do it better?

You can make these things more lively and colorful when you put them into story or anecdotal format.

To further illustrate your point or position, you can interweave case studies, alternative or supporting opinions, and even interviews with leaders and influencers in your niche.

Consistently publishing high-value content like this can draw like-minded individuals to your expanding professional network, while holding the attention of your existing base of followers.

And it can capture the attention of prospective employers and other leaders and influencers in your field. 

Just focus on keeping your articles engaging and informative so they will have value to your audience. 

Develop engagement

Engagement is a critical aspect of professional networking.

Before people network with you, they need to feel like they know you.

This happens when they go beyond being mere readers, and start to sense some sort of a connection with you and your message.

Encourage people to engage with you.

You can do this by making your content simple and direct.

Use normal language rather than being overly academic or authoritative.

If you always come across as a “know-it-all” people will tend to drift away from you.

People usually feel engaged when they feel like they are on common ground with you.

So don’t try to position yourself above your audience just to show you’re a leader.

Real leadership requires the ability to get people involved. 

So use text, images and video that speak to things of real interest to the people you want to build a professional network with.

You can go a step further and encourage actual discussion with them.

One way to do this is to invite people to leave you comments.

Then make a regular task of responding to their comments, whether that be on your blog posts, social media threads or video sites. 

Another great way to develop engagement is to prompt people to join your email list.

Then you can send them regular emails that keep them in touch with everything you want to share.

Engaging with your audience in these ways fosters a sense of true community.

And it opens up opportunities for networking with readers, peers, influencers in your niche and even prospective employers who share similar interests.

Collaborate with thought leaders

A great way to use blogging for networking with your professional peers is to find ways to collaborate with them.

The first thing you need to do is identify who your professional peers are.

They might be other bloggers in your niche, or in closely related niches.

Or they could be social media influencers or thought leaders in your profession.

Find out what their online presence consists of.

Are they blogging?

Or maybe they do YouTube or Facebook videos.

How consistently do they produce content?

Are they just casual contributors, or are they very active?

Once you’ve found a group of content producers who are actively publishing their thoughts and ideas, you could reach out to them.

Maybe they would like to have you write a guest post for them.

Or you could possibly do an interview with them.

Are they speaking at an event?

You might see if you could attend the event to get better acquainted, or possibly add yourself as a speaker at the same event.

If you have a spot in your blogging schedule, you might consider dedicating a blog post about their presentation.

For that matter, you could write a blog post about them, adding your own thoughts and ideas to theirs.

If they are doing webinars or podcasts, you could possibly participate in such events with them, either as a guest or as a co-presenter.

Guest posting on their blog, or adding a video to their channel based on one of your blog posts are other great ways that blogging helps your networking effort.

There are so many other ways you can collaborate with influencers, leaders and authorities in your profession or field of interest.

I have just highlighted a few here.

The main thing is to start collaborating and networking with influencers who can help your blog reach a wider audience and gain credibility within your industry or profession.

Networking on social media

Blogging consistently with high-value content is basic to networking.

But organic content marketing is the biggest step you can take toward expanding your professional network.

After you publish your blog posts, you need to share links to them on social media sites like LinkedIn and others.

Then join Facebook groups or create Pinterest boards.

Share your articles there, too.  

Use hashtags and tagging to better spread the word about your blogging efforts and content.

And, of course, start creating conversations with people you want to start networking with.

All of these marketing efforts will help you grow an expanding audience by attracting professionals, influencers and others interested in your content.

Blogging for professional networking

Blogging for professional networking is the cornerstone to building your business. 

It’s a great way to let your peers see what you’re doing and thinking.

And it lets prospective employers get a real view of your talents, skills, expertise and leadership.

Focus on strategies that will help you to deliver value, develop engagement, collaborate with thought leaders and engage in networking on social media.

Now I’d like to hear from you.

Please leave me a comment below.

I’d especially be interested in hearing about the best ways you have found to use blogging for professional networking.

-Donna

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• Bio
• Blogging Magic

Donna Merrill

Donna is a well known blogger and creator of "Blogging Magic" - an intensive guide to blogging. "Blogging Magic" is for beginners who are trying to figure out how to bring their blogs to life with tons of visits, comments and social media interaction. It's even for advanced bloggers looking to reach new levels of authority and engagement with their audience.