Online networking is one of the most common ways to meet professionals in your field nowadays, thanks to the rise of social media and job-seeking platforms. Though it shares similarities with regular networking, it’s far more efficient, allowing you to cast a much wider net.
In this article, we will share some digital networking strategies, discuss the benefits of online networking, and introduce you to the best platforms to use.
Key Takeaways
Online networking allows you to meet professionals in your field, exchange ideas with them, and use their help to find new career opportunities.
Thanks to it, you can build your personal brand, connect with mentors, exchange knowledge, access new opportunities, and gain confidence.
To network online, you should optimise your profile, participate in professional groups, post valuable content, join online events, and be authentic.
The best platforms for online networking are LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok.
What Is Online Networking, and Why Is It Important?
Online networking is a way for professionals to meet, exchange ideas, and advance their careers on the internet, as opposed to doing so in person. Nowadays, it’s one of the most common ways to build professional connections, particularly due to the rise of platforms like LinkedIn.
Just like regular networking, online networking is important because it connects you to people who can help you find career opportunities and learn new information. In fact, it’s much easier to land a job when you’re a part of an online professional community than when you search for it alone.
Furthermore, introverted job seekers prefer remote networking, as it allows them to connect without having to interact directly. Though they still have to engage, they often feel more comfortable doing so from their homes.
5 Benefits of Online Networking
The benefits of online networking include building your personal brand, gaining mentors, exchanging knowledge, accessing new opportunities, and experiencing higher confidence.
Below, we’ll take a look at each in more detail.
#1. Building Your Personal Brand
Interacting with other professionals in your field can help you build your online personal branding, which can be crucial for your reputation and credibility. The broader your audience, the wider your outreach, and many employers consider that a plus when hiring.
Additionally, having a personal brand can open the doors to independent work, such as freelancing or starting your own company. So, if that is your goal, building connections is an excellent first step.
#2. Gaining Mentors
As you interact with other professionals in your field, you’re likely to come across those with more experience who might be willing to share tips with you. If you build a tight enough bond with them, they may even agree to be your mentors and give you just the push you need to take your career to the next level.
#3. Knowledge Exchange
Even if you don’t manage to find a mentor, the sheer amount of information you can gain from others working in your industry should be enough to give your career a push. By interacting with them, you might learn where to look for a new job, which skills you need, how to write an effective CV, and more.
And you don’t even need to talk to your connections directly to learn this information. Just being present in these online networking spaces is enough; many will share their tips publicly on their profiles.
#4. Access to New Opportunities
The wider your network, the more opportunities you’re likely to encounter, especially if you’re active and engaged. People will see that you’re responsive, communicative, and helpful, so they will naturally think of you when they see a suitable offer that matches your qualifications.
Furthermore, you can directly ask your connections for recommendations, so that they know you’re actively looking. However, make sure to return the favour and also help others out when they need it.
#5. Increased Confidence
As you interact with other professionals and gain more knowledge, you’ll also become more confident in your abilities and employability. You’ll know what to pay attention to, what red flags to look out for, and how to spot a good opportunity. All this will make you an infinitely better candidate, who’s not afraid to negotiate and reject an offer that doesn’t suit them.
How to Network Online Effectively and Successfully
To network online effectively and successfully, you should optimise your profiles, join and participate in professional groups, post valuable content and engage consistently, participate in online networking events, and be authentic and helpful.
Here’s a more detailed overview of these virtual networking tips:
#1. Optimise Your Social Media Profiles
The first step to successful online networking is optimising your social media profiles, which should reflect who you are as a professional. That means using a good picture, writing a compelling bio, and entering all other relevant information that might be helpful.
Depending on the platform you’re using, your approach will differ somewhat. On LinkedIn, for instance, you can essentially write a whole CV directly on your profile, while X or Instagram only support short bios.
Furthermore, your industry dictates what your social media profile should look like, too. Graphic designers, writers, and creators often focus on showcasing their creativity and portfolios, whereas lawyers, CEOs, and financial advisors typically strive for professionalism and a results-driven approach.
Thus, we recommend reviewing the profiles of other professionals in your field to get a sense of what you should do.
#2. Join and Participate in Professional Groups
Professional groups online can be an excellent way to connect with other experts in your field, and luckily, they are easy to find. Aside from LinkedIn, which is an obvious choice, you can also try Facebook, Quora, Reddit, Glassdoor, and other, more specialised platforms.
Once you join a professional group, participate by posting content and questions, or responding to others' posts. Remember to stay on topic and be respectful; even if disagreements arise, getting into a heated online argument is never a good look.
#3. Post Valuable Content and Engage Consistently
If you are on LinkedIn or a similar job-hunting platform, consistently posting valuable content can drive engagement and put you on other professionals’ radar. However, this is harder than it looks; consistency may not be an issue, but ensuring everything you post is well-thought-out may be a struggle.
A good approach is to follow industry trends and spend some time each day brainstorming ideas. With time, coming up with new content will become second nature.
Remember to engage with your connections’ posts, too. When they see your likes and comments, they are more likely to check out your profile or interact with your posts in return.
#4. Participate in Online Networking Events
Webinars, video calls, and virtual gatherings aren’t uncommon in online spaces, and participating in these can introduce you to new connections. Follow events for your industry on LinkedIn or other job-hunting sites to see when an opportunity might come up. Then, join and try to make meaningful contributions to the topic, or at least ask questions and show interest.
#5. Be Authentic and Helpful
When engaging with other professionals, strive to be as genuine as possible; don’t just interact with the expectation of getting something in return, but show actual interest. Offer help when you can and talk about the things you know. And take a step back from networking when you don’t feel like doing it; forcing interactions can quickly leave you exhausted.
5 Best Platforms for Online Networking
The best platforms for online networking are LinkedIn, X, Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok. Out of these, only LinkedIn is a dedicated job-hunting platform, but the other four have a massive outreach and diverse user bases.
Here’s some advice on how to build a professional network online using these platforms:
#1. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an obvious choice for most professionals, as it is made precisely for connecting employees with employers and other experts in their fields. As a result, networking on LinkedIn is fairly straightforward, as long as you correctly use the features that are already provided to you.
In fact, it’s even easier because there’s already an expectation that people will reach out to you about business-related matters and vice versa. So, even a cold approach can yield good results, as long as you are polite, respectful, and genuinely interested in having a conversation rather than just promoting yourself.
#2. X
Though X isn’t a social media platform for career networking, it is quite popular among professionals, who use it to follow current trends and industry news. They also build connections on the platform, usually by starting conversation trends about a particular topic.
Here are a few tips if you decide to network on X:
State your job title clearly in your profile to ensure like-minded individuals can find you and understand your professional focus.
Identify who you want to connect with and consider the kind of content that might draw their attention.
Use hashtags to discover relevant conversations in your industry and post your own thoughts on important topics.
Join conversations when you think you can contribute. Don’t hesitate just because you’re new; everyone had to start somewhere.
#3. Reddit
Like X, Reddit isn’t primarily a job-hunting platform, but it has groups, known as subreddits, for just about any topic imaginable. No matter which industry you’re in, a quick search on Reddit is all you need to find an appropriate community.
Once you’ve found the right community, here’s what you can do:
Share useful or interesting information to drive engagement and garner interest. Profiles don’t play a significant role on Reddit, but posts do, so ensure your post history accurately reflects your knowledge and expertise.
Read and respect community rules to foster a positive atmosphere and avoid getting banned. Aside from general platform guidelines, every subreddit has its own set of rules enforced by moderators.
Avoid blatant self-promotion, as most Reddit users don’t take kindly to it. Engage with the community naturally, not as if you’re there just to make connections.
#4. Facebook
Facebook allows you to enable Professional Mode and use your profile to grow your audience, run a business, and connect with other professionals. Once you do that, here’s what else you should try:
Optimise your profile to make it professional; add your contact information, write a compelling bio, and adjust privacy settings to decide what content people can see.
Join Facebook groups by searching relevant keywords, and introduce yourself to the community. Make sure to actively participate in conversations and respond to comments.
Foster deeper relationships with people who show interest in your posts and comments. Match their enthusiasm and start private conversations about topics that you both enjoy.
#5. TikTok
While TikTok is often perceived as an unserious social media platform for short-form content, its potential for networking is enormous, especially among younger employees. In fact, 68% of Gen Z job seekers use TikTok to find employment rather than LinkedIn or other platforms.
However, to successfully network on TikTok, you can’t exactly apply the same strategies as elsewhere. Instead, do this:
Focus on creativity, not just expertise, as TikTok is primarily an entertainment platform. You don’t have to do any dance challenges or participate in trends, but try to present the topics that interest you in a unique way.
Don’t be overly formal and make sure to show your human side. Even if you’re there to connect with other experts in your field, TikTok audiences value authenticity.
Use relevant hashtags to place your content in a specific niche where others in your field can find it. Then, interact with them and follow their content as well.
Create a Submission-Ready CV Within Minutes
Online networking is only one part of the job-hunting process; the other one is actually reaching out to employers and submitting your application. If you need help writing one, use our CV builder to help you generate a professional document within minutes.
The process is simple: enter your information, follow instructions, and select an appropriate CV template. Alternatively, you can browse through our extensive catalogue of CV examples and use them as an inspiration to write your document from scratch.
Final Thoughts
Considering the importance of online networking for career growth, we hope this article has helped you better understand it and provided some useful strategies. The key is in consistency and authenticity; when you are present for others, they are more likely to be present for you too, especially if you show that you are genuine.
Online Networking FAQ
#1. How do I start networking?
Start networking by setting up and optimising your professional profile and then reaching out to individuals who work in the same field as you. The best way to do so is by leveraging your existing connections; ask them for recommendations and introductions. If that’s not an option, join job-related groups and attend online networking events, where you’ll surely meet other people seeking connections.
#2. How do I build a strong online presence for job searching?
You can build a strong online presence for job searching on LinkedIn or a similar career-oriented platform. Set up your profile, add your portfolio, and start posting valuable content consistently. Also, remember to engage with other users’ posts; that way, they’ll have a greater incentive to interact with you and drive your engagement, too.
#3. How much time should I spend on online networking?
The amount of time you should spend on online networking activities varies from one industry to another, but as a rule, around 15–20 minutes a day should suffice. Use that time to reach out, interact, and update your profile. If you work in an industry where networking is paramount, you might need to be more active.
