Top 3 Places to Network and Market Your Business Online
So you have officially opened the flood gates to your clients but it’s less like a flood of clients, more like a leaky faucet of page views.
It’s okay. Don’t freak out. You haven’t failed. Just because you have a live website doesn’t mean the entire world is going to know. You have to tell them! There are 2 billion websites on the web (this is not an exaggeration) and unfortunately, when you first launch your website, it’s going to feel like it is a little buried under this giant pile of other websites.
Luckily, if you have practiced good SEO on your site, this will do some of the work for you when it comes to marketing. However, your website won’t become number one on google search overnight (unless you pay for it) Even then, you will still have to do some manual work on getting the word out about your new biz!
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Even if your business has nothing to do with marketing, marketing will still be half of the work. Creating content and posting consistently, are the two key factors to bringing more traffic to your site.
When you are first starting out, a great way to market is by joining networking groups. Luckily, we have social media and the world wide web to help us network online. Networking groups can be useful for promoting your business, but it can also be useful for other sustainable and strategic forms of marketing. I use networking groups to promote my business, but I also use them to grow my social media following, make connections, for free and very helpful information, and website traffic. In the end, all these things will benefit my business and bring more clients.
Here are some of my favorite networking groups to join online, how it boosted my website traffic, and how one of them got me, my first client!
Facebook Groups
Before starting my business I literally never went on Facebook, now Facebook is one of my main sources of traffic. Right before I launched my site, I joined about every business/entrepreneur group I could find where I was able to promote my launch. Facebook groups provide multiple methods for marketing your business.
“Promote your business on Facebook groups,” they said. I was super confused at first because it seemed like every group I joined had a rule about no promotion. I was like how am I suppose to get clients here If I’m not allowed to promote my business?
The catch is, you can when they ask you to, which is almost better. It’s almost like they guide you through a marketing strategy. Then you don’t feel as scummy as when you are posting about your business every day when no one asked.
Even with the rules, there are still many ways to promote your business, you just have to go about it a bit creatively, or wait for someone else to initiate the conversation.
Most Facebook groups have it set up so one day you are free to market your business, one day you are free to promote your Instagram, one day you can promote your blog, etc.
On top of that, people in the group are truly interested in what people are up to, so if someone posts asking what your business is, you can join in on the thread and promote your business there. There is also a good chance people will flat out ask if anyone provides the service you offer. For instance, I design websites, so in entrepreneurs, and small business groups, you better believe people are asking for my service daily and there is another opportunity to promote. Other popular services that are asked for are virtual assistants, business coaches, marketing managers, logo designers, branding designer, and health coaches. There will be tons of opportunities for you to promote your business if the service you offer is beneficial to entrepreneurs.
Facebook groups are also a good way to build your social media following. Everyone in the group wants to genuinely support each other. When I started doing Follow Friday, I gained 100 followers on Instagram in 2 weeks and my actual engagement skyrocketed.
I also used the opportunity to promote my blog by posting genuine, helpful information for other business owners.
The secret to networking is promoting in a mutually beneficial way. Essentially, provide other group members with… a WIN-WIN!
Here is a list of all the Facebook groups I am apart of —
Women Helping Women Entrepreneurs
Societygal
Boss Girl Bloggers
Small Business Networking
Boss Babes
Blogging Newbs
Small Business / Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs, Self-Employed & Small Business
Rock Your Blog & Biz
Small Business Owners Networking
Squarespace Community
Women’s Business Circle
This list is growing every day! I am also apart of local small business groups in Minneapolis, wherever you are located there are probably local options for you as well.
Girlboss
Facebook groups are great but Girlboss is my number one when it comes to networking. Girlboss is a community for women who are ambitious to learn and follow your dreams with the support of other like-minded women. Girlboss even has rallies all over the country you can attend and network in person, meet, and learn from other boss women!
All you have to do to join is create a profile, then join different collectives based on what you are interested in or what will be beneficial to you. I am apart of collectives where I can learn useful information and also promote my business.
Guess what! I actually got my first client on Girlboss! I live in Minneapolis so naturally, I am apart of the Minneapolis collective were posted about starting an online Squarespace web design business and within a few days, I got an email, which turned into a consultation call, which turned into a client! Yah!
Societygal
Societygal is similar to Girlboss in the fact that it is full of amazing community of women that genuinely want to learn from one another, collaborate, and support each other! Societygal operates as a Facebook group and they also have an app where you can pay a small price to market your product or service full time. If someone is interested they can message you straight through the app about working with you.
The app allows you to sell your product or service, collaborate, and connect with other women!
I have connected with so many amazing women through Societygal despite the fact that social media can seem a bit fake sometimes. Instead of finding more women to follow who are absolutely unreachable, I have connected with so many other genuine like-minded women that message me genuinely wondering how I am doing, give me feedback, and actually engage with my content whether it be on the app, the Facebook group, or social media. It’s a group full of people just like you, trying to live their dream life.
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There you have it, a nice little guide to getting started on your online networking journey! These groups are filled with amazing strangers just like you that what to support you and help you grow! By joining these groups you will gain so much free knowledge, support, connections, and opportunities to promote your business. Your first or next client is right around the corner.
