The Effectiveness of Networking Through Meetup

Networking is an extremely important aspect of your business, at least it is if you want to have a successful business. There may be times when you just can’t find the appropriate networking groups for your particular business. So, what do you do to change that situation?

How to go about networking

Your goal, when it comes to networking, is to meet people with whom you can develop a relationship in a professional field related to your own. That sounds easy enough, right? Well, there are times when that is easier said than done. It is not always easy to connect with a total stranger and it takes practice to get it right at times.

One organization that can help you a great deal in your quest to meet like-minded professionals is Meetup. If you start a networking group through Meetup, you will get a lot of benefits from it (potentially) although there is a fee involved. To offset the fee; however, you can ask for a contribution from the members of your group. In general, people are usually happy to help financially whenever they are able to do so. Anyway, the fee is not unreasonable.

The way that it works

If you decide that you want to get involved with Meetup, here is what you can expect. First of all, Meetup.com is an international organization and you can find groups in almost every corner of the world. However, it is important for you to understand here that you will want to find a group that is specific to your particular area of interest or niche. If you can’t find a group that fits your criteria, the next best thing is creating your own group and drawing other people in to become members.

How do you go about finding a Meetup group? 

If you are able to find a group that fits your criteria, you should definitely check it out to see if you want to become involved. That will allow you to learn about the structure of the Meetup group so that you can determine if it will work for you and your business going forward. In order to choose (or narrow it down to a few choices) which group(s) you might be interested in joining, you should go to Meetup.com and type in your area of interest. It will then come with a list of related groups and you can choose which ones you are interested in checking out.

Going to the first meeting

Once you have narrowed the meeting or meetings down to the one(s) that you have chosen to attend, you are ready to get involved. It is important that you go to the meeting with everything that you need to not only establish connections but also to give the people with whom you want to interact a way of connecting with you beyond that meeting. You will need to bring business cards. People will exchange business cards informally at most meetups, so you do not want to miss an opportunity because you don’t have your own cards with you. If you don’t do that, your meeting each other will not have served any real purpose.  

If you are not particularly comfortable about going to a meeting by yourself, you should take comfort in the fact that other people are definitely in the same boat. Once you get over your initial shyness, offer your hand, and ask the other person what he or she does, you will be fine. You have the potential to meet all sorts of interesting people with whom you may one day do business.

Boosting your professional reputation

When you first attend a new meeting, the other people in the room don’t know you from a hole in the wall. You will need to establish a connection with them. That means that you will establish trust between you, build credibility, and eventually (hopefully, sooner rather than later) position yourself as the subject matter expert in your area of expertise. Of course, all of that goes along with your boosting your professional reputation. One really important thing that you need to understand is that boosting your reputation will not happen overnight. It will take time, patience, and effort. Just like anything else that is worthwhile, it will take work to get what you want.

If you are not happy with what is out there, establish your own

You very well may find a group or several groups that are a good fit for you and your business. However, on the off chance that it just is not the case, Meetup will allow you to establish your own group or groups and to entice people to come to you. The truth is that you have a unique perspective and something special to offer other people. It will certainly be worth your while to create a group if that is needed.

You can get creative about how you want to structure your group. You may want to meet in a library or you may want to meet somewhere else where you can provide refreshments. You can also choose to run a pure networking meeting or structure the meeting so that you have open networking at the beginning, feature a presenter, and have open networking after the presentation is finished. That is a common approach for many networking meetings, which seems to work well.

Another thing that you should consider carefully is when to run the meetings. Of course, there is no doubt that everyone is busy. With that in mind, you may decide to have the meeting once a month on a particular day of the week. That way it is predictable and people can factor your Meetup meeting into their schedules on a regular basis.

Conclusion

As you are considering your networking activities, keep Meetup.com in mind. It is a great way to bounce ideas off of other people who can give you a fresh perspective, which is always valuable. Meetup. com is a wonderful next step after you have established a solid relationship with other people online. It is an amazingly effective, affordable way to network in person and you may be surprised at the incredible connections that you are able to establish.

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