Networking online is about providing people with valuable content. If people what you say valuable, you are well on your way to developing a great network. This is a followup to the post Talk to anyone, skip secretaries, connect with them online.

Here’s a list of ways to provide content to your community and grow your personal network

1. Respond to someone who needs help in the forums
2. Upload an inspirational/informative video from YouTube–get the embedded code from the video and paste anywhere!
3. Introduce mutual friends–possibly the oldest trick in the book, do it in person and do it online!
4. Did you go to a kick ass entrepreneurial or industry event? Write a review in your blog
5. Upload pictures/video for those who missed it.
6. Next time, create the event in the network and invite people who might be interested.
7. Paste your best blog posts inside the network’s blog, your now exposing your content to a great demographic, who are more comfortable commenting inside the walls of the network.
8. Run a promotion: “Special Offer for Under30CEO Members“
9. Invite others to the network–this opens them up to huge resources!
10. Refer newbies to Getting Started Guides and make them feel comfortable on the network! Remember not everyone is a social media pro.
11. Host a live chat in your area of expertise. Imagine a lawyer doing a local seminar on patents; it’s huge promotion for their business!
12. Bring in an expert for a live chat or do a video chat with BlogTV
13. Share a link in the forums or on someones wall!
14. Endorse/recommend someone–in their profile or on their wall, in their blog
15. Be a guest blogger– have an area of expertise and want to hit the right audience? Ask to be on someone else’s blog.
16. Host a guest blogger–admire someone and want them to give valuable content to your readers? Ask them!
17. Create groups!
18. Don’t just create groups, but invite others to your group and spark some conversation within them!
19. Start local groups and meetup for drinks. Maybe it’ll evolve into something regular.
20. Introduce yourself in the forums and tell potential contacts what value you can provide them
21. Promote other people’s stuff. There’s no bigger compliment.

BUT WHY?! If you want to network like a pro, you must provide value to your contacts. Online the easiest way to do this is to provide quality content! If people like to hear what you have to say, get something out of reading your stuff, find you useful, interest and trustworthy, you’ve got a potential contact! Every single person counts it’s Gary Vaynerchuk’s Hustle2.0 . Anyone can be your tipping point, everyone who knows about you could potentially tell someone else about what your doing, help you out, spread the word, buy your product, or subscribe to your service!