Ultimately, you want to build conversations around your own site and your own brand. You want the long comment streams to be on your blog, the vibrant communities happening around your personality. But if you try to create that from scratch, you will probably spend a lot of time talking to yourself.

When you are getting started, you need to hitch your wagon to other people’s horses. In other words, join the conversations that are already happening, even if they are happening in orbit around a competitor.

Where to Join

Conversations are happening everywhere. Pick a few places you are comfortable with and then join. You will be most effective if you can find conversations that take place within your industry. I highly suggest finding an active forum to be a part of. Forums have plenty of conversations going on, and will also provide you with lots of links out to blogs and such to explore.

Blogs are another great place for conversation. Find the top blogs in your industry and start commenting on them regularly. Always stay on topic and add something to the conversation. In fact, that is a rule across the board when joining ongoing conversations.

Social networks are powerful conversation tools. On Facebook, you can try to connect with friends of friends, and then join streams that are talking about things within your industry. On LinkedIn, get active by posting answers to people’s questions. Twitter may be the mother load for conversations. It is easy to find people with an interest in your topic through Twitter search and tools such as Twellow. Also, you can find Twitter chats on all sorts of subjects. These are great conversations to join to hone your art and network with more people.

How to Act

There is one rule to keep in mind when joining ongoing conversations. Be a contributor, not a publicity hound. Yes, your ultimate goal is to build your own brand. Keep in mind that there are many steps to the process of building your own community though, and creating trust in existing communities is a big one.

So when you join conversations, make sure you are adding value. Be a good listener and talk when you have something worth saying. Do not blast your marketing message all over the place when it is not asked for. Give good, solid, advice and you won’t have to.

What to Do Next

The end goal is to grow your own brand and bring in more sales. To that end, you are going to want to build relationships from the communities you join and eventually invite people into your own sphere. If you ultimately want conversations to happen around your brand, you need to create hubs for this to happen. One big one would be a blog.

You need to have some place to send people who are interested in learning more about you and your business. A static business web site isn’t going to cut it. We are living in a world of engagement, so make it easy for people to engage with you.

Once you have some influence, start hosting your own conversations. Here’s one option. Host a webinar on a topic that you know something about. Invite the people you meet through ongoing conversations, and ask them to invite their friends as well. Of course, keep in mind the rule of giving and provide excellent content in your webinar. This is not a traditional sales pitch, but rather a way to educate prospects and show them why they need your business.

There are all kinds of ways you can start to build your own engagement portals. Take it one thing at a time and don’t overdo it. Always keep relationship and trust in the forefront of your mind. If you do a good job of engaging with people in ongoing conversations, chances are good that many of them will be happy to join your new conversations that revolve around your business.

All of this leads to sales. While it may seem indirect, you will actually be building a foundation from which to attract more sales then you could ever go out and get. Building your influence today will pay off in business tomorrow.

photo credit: stevendamron

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Bradford Shimp is the publisher of All Biz Answers. He is also the co-creator of Idea Anglers, a place to see your ideas come to life through collaboration. Follow on Twitter @bradfordshimp. Let Bradford help you with your business – visit BroadRiverCreative.com