How do you go about getting noticed in a large group?

The people who have the most success within their direct sales company have a secret — your products don't sell themselves! And try as you might, without a plan, you're not going to be able to use the party-to-book-a-party method for long. You have to be able to go out and find new customers or, in the very least, make it easier for new customers to find you. And that usually means joining new groups so you can meet new people.

But now, let's say you get out there and join a new group, how do you go about getting noticed in a large group? Especially an active group in which people are posting daily. You don't want to just walk in and post about your new business, right?

That would be spammy and you wouldn't be likely to find many friends that way.

Getting noticed in a large group isn't actually that hard, but it can take time.

Getting Noticed in a Large Group is the Highest Form of Relationship Marketing

Think about all the reasons you login online and visit a group. You might go to buy something or to learn something, but try to go deeper than that. What makes you choose one mommy group over another mommy group? Or one hobby group over another hobby group?

Right — the people!

We have a tendency to hangout where our friends are — where we've made connections with people other than just the group owner. So, as a new member in a large group with an unknown number of prospects and potential new friends — but who are all already friends with each other — how do you get noticed? How do you start to get to know people when the group is huge and you're just words on a screen?

This is just one of those scenarios in which you have to dive on in. By participating in discussions, asking questions, answering questions, and being part of a community you will start getting noticed in a large group.

And I don't mean just scouring the group for questions related to your product and answering about how buying your product will solve that need. I don't mean looking for threads in which they ask “what do you sell??” and you hop in with a link to join your team.

Neither of those types of comments actually serve to build a relationship at all — they only work if you already have a relationship.

Building a relationship — a friendship — with other group members is going to require that you spend time in the group. If someone posts a brag flag, you hop on and congratulate them without mentioning your product. If someone posts a question unrelated to your products or company, you answer it.

But how do you get noticed?

How can you get noticed when you're in a group filled with other people giving the same answers as you? When posts get inundated with responses, GIFs, and answers each echoing the same sentiment you're offering? How does your comment stand out when there are literally dozens of other comments just like it on the same thread?

Consistency, value, and service-based leadership.

The more you comment consistently, the more your comments in those large groups will stand out, the more people will recognize your name, and the larger impact you will have on that community.

It doesn't matter how big the group is, when you comment and engage frequently, people will start to get to know you. They will recognize your name when you post a comment, they will trust your information, and some will even start sending you friend requests based on how they see you acting in these other groups.

If you want to be known, don't be a lurker. It's okay to spend some time trying to observe and see how the group measures up. But once you've made up your mind to want to stay in the group, you'll need to get out into the group's activity feed and start commenting.

It's your job, as a potential new friend, to make sure those people all know who you are. You can't do that by lurking in the background forever. And you don't want to do that by barreling in there announcing your specials when there is no context for a friendship.

Make Sure to Plan for This Type of Engagement

As you may have surmised, this type of engagement in another group is going to take time. Building a friendship with anyone takes time. So, as you plan out your days or your weeks, make sure you are adding in time to spend in some of these other groups you're in. A lot of people end up spending nearly all their time working in their own groups and by the end of the week they realize that they haven't even gone in to check on one of these other groups.

Don't be that person.

If you really want to get noticed in a large group and build relationships with the people in that group, you need to be in there consistently and make sure your name is attached to valuable commentary. Disappear for a couple of weeks and you will need to start all over again.

So, plan accordingly.

#EmpowerSocial