In-person networking and thought leadership complement and amplify each other.
During the pandemic, when everything went online, I joined virtual networking groups based far from my stomping grounds in Toronto; places like Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia. I did it because I wanted to keep diversifying my audience and expanding my reach.
While LinkedIn is a great platform for promoting your thought leadership content, it's just one tool in your marketing kit. Combine it with good old classic networking, though, and you're cooking with gas.
Here's the logic. Online algorithms funnel you towards like-minded people, because they're more likely to engage with you (or you with them). You'll probably have a lot of overlapping connections.
Now let's say you're at an event, talking to someone you wouldn't encounter online. The conversation goes well and you both see an opportunity to partner, so you connect on LinkedIn—and find out you have no mutual connections. Congrats: you've both diversified your audiences with one conversation.
When you share something, and they reshare it because they're eager to strengthen the relationship, your content will now reach a whole network of folks who’ve never seen your thought leadership before. And they get a win out of it too, because you'll do the same thing.
The key is to stay open-minded at networking events. And open to new conversations. Absolutely keep interacting with your usual audience. But make it a priority to talk to strangers too.
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