This might be obvious to you, but it occurred to me the other day and I wanted to elaborate on it.

When you write an invite to an event, description for your meetup, sign off on your email newsletter, write your bio on your personal website or otherwise expect a response from a stranger online, don’t forget to leave a positive invitation or call-to-action at the end.

What do I mean by that? For example, instead of leaving your social links in your email signature, like:

Twitter | Instagram

Why not change it to something more inviting like:

Follow me on Twitter | Let’s be friends on Instagram

For me, the second examples makes me want to connect on those profiles instead of just anonymously lurk and look at old tweets.

Are you trying to encourage new people to attend your event? Well tell them that! Put a line in like “First-time attendees welcome, we’d love to meet you” or “Coders of all levels welcome”, etc. That one-line prompt might be the extra push that someone who was dithering about attending/joining up/connecting needs.

Creating a following online means connecting with people, and a good way to do that is to be friendly and welcoming!