Networking is supposed to be the magic bullet that unlocks career opportunities. And yet most people have a hard time building and maintaining business relationships that aren’t related to their day-to-day business.

Business networking often feels like a lot of effort that yields little tangible benefit. It’s hard to know what to say, and how to keep the conversation going.

What Networking Is Supposed to Solve

An effective business network should be a way to learn about open jobs and other business opportunities from people who are connected to the companies or teams that are hiring – or looking for goods or services you and your company provide.

What if you could build and maintain your network “at scale?” What if you could set up a system where your contacts and prospects contact you directly and effortlessly?

Turn Networking Into an Inbound Marketing System

Inbound Marketing is a great analogy for explaining this process. It flips traditional marketing practices on their heads. Instead of pushing sales messages at prospective customers, inbound marketing publishes useful information without making a direct pitch to the prospect. If the information resonates, the prospect is inspired to contact the marketer and initiate a conversation that could lead to a sale.

Thought Leadership: An Inbound Way to Activate Your Network

Thought leadership is the practice of standing up for what you stand for. It’s key to a smart professional branding strategy.

Whether online (LinkedIn, other social media, a blog, guesting on podcasts) or offline (industry organizations and events, mentoring, volunteering, speaking, teaching), there are many opportunities for you to share what you’ve learned and what you believe about the state of your industry and where it’s going.

Thought leadership uses the inbound marketing paradigm to raise your visibility and build your credibility. By sharing useful information and offering constructive opinions or solutions, you give current and prospective business networking connections the chance to check you out and see if you agree with or align with their views.

Start With One Topic

All you need to start this process is one topic, trend, or development in your business that you feel strongly about. Once you’ve figured out your first topic, you can add another one or two topics to round out the portfolio of important issues you want to discuss.  But start with just one.

Look for a topic or trend that is topical but an ongoing concern. Check your usual business information sources to confirm that you’ve chosen a widely acknowledged subject.

Do some research and develop talking points or positions on your topic. See what others are saying and how they’re using thought leadership. These will be the beginning of your thought leadership practice. The more you read and research, the clearer your POV will be. Within a short amount of time, you’ll feel ready to start sharing your thoughts and solutions.

The Solution To Your Business Networking Dilemma

Once you start posting and engaging on your topic, you’ll start getting responses. These are the discussions you thought were so difficult to generate from your traditional networking activity. Now, under the heading of thought leadership, you’re able to build actionable business relationships through the relevant conversations you are sparking through your thought leadership practice.

5 Steps to Build Your Thought Leadership Practice

Start by following others in your industry who are actively posting information and opinions. Comment on posts and ask questions of the authors and of the other commenters. Build a daily/weekly rhythm around the following best practices:

Collecting

This is the research phase of your practice. Set up information feeds through Google Alerts, Feedly.com, Pocket.com, or other information aggregation sites. Subscribe to news feeds, newsletters, company blogs, or other relevant sources that will provide you with a steady stream of information to study, consider, and possibly share to your network.

Following

Choose the leaders, journalists, and other authorities in your industry who are already sharing information. Pick a small number of people so you don’t get overwhelmed or confused by too many points of view. As you develop your own point of view, you’ll likely model your approach and align yourself with certain aspects of each person you follow. Eventually, though, you will find your own particular voice and niche that distinguishes you and what you have to offer.

Publishing

Since the goal of your thought leadership is to build your network and raise your profile in your business community, LinkedIn is likely going to be your first publishing platform.  Depending on your business, you may also find that outlets like Instagram or Reddit are great places to share information and foster conversations. You may also decide to publish your own regular newsletter, either using LinkedIn’s newsletter feature or on your own website or platforms like Substack, Medium, or BeeHiiv.

Curating

Posting a link to an article and then adding your strategic comment is a great way to establish your voice, quickly build engagement, and start conversations. As you eventually build your thought leadership practice with your original content, you can continue to curate information to amplify your positions.

Engaging

Finally, get into conversations with people about your topic – whether it’s on what you post or what others post. Make it part of your practice to identify the other authors and thought leaders you value and see what they’re posting about. Commenting on their posts won’t necessarily draw a direct response from them. But it will likely inspire other followers to engage with you.

Two Caveats

If you keep your conversations civil and business-oriented, you seldom run into problems.

Be Unfailingly Constructive

Keep your tone and your message positive. It can be tempting to criticize what you perceive as stupid decisions or bad behavior. If you’ve got something to say, skip right to the solution. You want to be perceived as a leader.

Don’t Feed the Trolls

Again, it may be tempting to respond to people who dump on your opinions or try to draw you into a no-win conversation. You may want to try to reason with them or ask them to explain their point more rationally. But if they continue to bombard you or insult you, block them. It’s your profile and your feed.

What You Can Expect

Thought leadership is the secret to effective business networking. You engage in conversations and offer solutions that represent your best self. You can show prospective employers, recruiters, business colleagues, and other allies that you are thoughtful and strategic about important issues. You share the same value that you are capable of delivering every day as an experienced and trusted professional in your field.

Open up LinkedIn right now and search for a current topic in your industry that’s on your mind. See what others are saying about it.  You might even find a post that warrants a smart, constructive comment. Go for it!