How to Connect with Local Guides in Your Area - 7 Pro Tips

[TusharSuradkar]

Hi

ABC here…
Would love to connect with local guides from XYZ town.

or

I am in XYZ town for the next few weeks.
Any Google local Guides around? I need to know some cool places to hang around…

or

Hi, I am new to XYZ need some or recommendations for restaurants out here…

Queries like these often appear in the Meet-ups or How-tos sections of LG Connect.

Here are a few tips and easy ways to achieve all of the above in the shortest possible time.

First and foremost, at LG Connect we value everyone’s privacy, and sharing private information on Connect is not encouraged.

You will often find that phone numbers and other such sensitive information are redacted from articles.

1. Favorite Locations

To easily connect with Local Guides in your local area, you may want to try the Favorite Locations feature.
Go to your settings page and add up to 3 locations after which posts created by local guides from those cities will be listed on the main page.

Tip: If you are traveling to a new place temporarily, you can remove and add the new one. Changes reflect immediately. Following that you can connect with local guides from the new place.

2. Browse Older Posts

Browse through older posts of local guides from a place and check if they are still active and would be interested in a meetup. Chances are enthusiastic local guides did not find enough people to connect some time back and respond to your comments.

3. Private Messages

Send a private message to local guides using the feature here on Connect.

4 . Upcoming Meet-ups

A meet-up is meant to explore new places and make friends with local guides in your community. Check for upcoming meetups in the Meet-ups section.

By clicking the Show All button circled (2) in the image below you can also search for meetups by location.

5. Previous Meet-ups

Leave a reply on past meetups.

Search The LG Connect community for the word recap that is used by most local guides in their post-meetup reports. You can then search through past meetups telling the local guides that you missed it and leave a request to notify you when the next meetup is hosted.

6. Conduct a meet-up

Use the Submit meet-up button circled (1) in the image above to host a meetup. This would be a great way to reach out to the local guide community in that place proactively.

7. Do not hesitate

Go ahead and post a message seeking local guides in a city like this person from Bangalore did and got a good response.

Make sure you add a location to the post as shown in the image below.

As a matter of personal choice, I stay away from chat groups like WhatsApp and social media like Facebook to connect with new local guides in my area. My numero uno platform is LG Connect.

LG Connect though does not discourage you from being active on social media. But I use social media for the promotion of content that already exists on LG Connect and not as a starting point.

What was your experience like when you joined LG Connect and connected with local guides in your area?

Have you tried any other method that used the feature of LG Connect to reach out to local guides in your area?

[AdamGT]

A very useful post that will help and answer questions that many often ask and will raise. Phone numbers and other such personal information are always redacted from articles and even if they ware placed as watermarks on photos or images. Also, I myself only use social media for personal or family use.

[TusharSuradkar]

Thanks, @AdamGT

Redaction of phone numbers from images is new to me but is a great feature

…and same with me, FB is strictly a platform for professional use or family for me as well

[kunal_gajewar]

All possible ways are described in this article very neatly. The feature of favorite location on Connect is really good. Being active on LG Connect I got to know about two-three local guides from my nearby City. Being from the same region they appreciate often my posts and comments. @TusharSuradkar

[TusharSuradkar]

I would say that is a very positive approach @kunal_gajewar

If one explores thoroughly, LG Connect provides all the necessary features to explore any part o the world and connect with local guides there.

[StephenAbraham]

@TusharSuradkar Good notes. Just wanted to add to (2) Browse older Posts

Everyone can also make use of the search feature in Connect, put in keywords, single or multiple separated by commas, and use the sort feature to look for best match or latest posts. Useful for searching for posts with mention of specific locations, places or common interest keywords. I often use this to find Local Guides in a certain area I am visiting.

Also, if more filtering is desired, use the “Advanced” search, and there are many more filters to configure. There is also a specific search for “Users” on the same screen if desired.

Hope everyone can find more people around each other and grow our friendship circle.

[Anil6969]

thanks @TusharSuradkar

Really a very good and sysymetic post ,i recall when i had been contacted by @Shrut19 first than by @TravellerG than invited to join whats up link where we invited to join and interact however the addition of @AdamGT and bro @StephenAbraham is really encouragable,

thanks for sharing.

regards

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @TusharSuradkar and others looking for new LG friends.

Thanks for sharing these tips.

You have taken for granted that all fellow local guides have signed up for an account here on Connect.

Percentage wise this is far from correct. Only very few of all the active and contributing Maps Users can be found here on Connect. In fact the majority has never heard of Connect.

Pro Tip #8:

So it might be relevant for a lot of Local Guides seeking local peers to also use Google Maps to find new friends.

It is not easy because there is no Private Messaging available on Google Maps like here on Connect.

But looking for reviews at non-tourist places nearby can be useful. Look for local guides with a lot of reviews. Also, you can browse photos to start searching for very active Local Guides in your area. If you look repeatedly you will start to recognize user names over time.

Some Local Guides have listed contact information in their profile text on Google Maps. This makes it very easy to reach out to them (you can consider making it easier to find you too!).

Some Local Guides use their real names or has a unique name which make it possible to find them via Google search or on Facebook etc.

This opens up your chances of finding new LG friends that are not on Connect.

Pro Tip #9:

I appreciated you loyalty to Connect, but if you want to find new LG friends you should not forget to also mention the very many active Facebook groups dedicated to being Local Guides.

Just search for Local Guides on Facebook and you will quickly find big groups full of potential new friends that you can more easily communicate with.

Cheers and thanks for always being super dedicated to helping Local Guides, @TusharSuradkar .

Morten

[MukulR]

Very nice tips indeed @TusharSuradkar I will use them when I will visit a new place in the future. Thanks for sharing these tips with us here. Stay safe. Regards.

[TusharSuradkar]

I would say that was a valuable insight @StephenAbraham , especially it is good to see that LG Connect searches for the keywords inside the body of the article as well and not just in the title which makes it very powerful.

The only caveat here that I see is people searching for Kerala should not end up thinking I am from Kerala just because I wrote an article about my Kerala vacation.

[TusharSuradkar]

Thank you @Anil6969 Bhai.

Those were great days at LG Connect being new but the risk is we might shift attention away from LG Connect and start dedicating more time for offline interactions.

[TusharSuradkar]

Thank you for the pro tips @MortenCopenhagen

Agree with your observations and comments though the primary intention of this article was to promote LG Connect as the primary platform for communication for local guides since it has a global outreach compared to other social media or private chat apps that remain confined within special interest groups or geographies which is a huge downside.

IMO Google Maps in itself is a huge dead-lock when it comes to making new contacts and perhaps the creation of LG Connect was the primary reason to bring local guides together with more opportunities to identify based on location.

IMO, if local guides do not sign up for LG Connect they are depriving themselves of a golden opportunity to reach out and connect with each other.

[TusharSuradkar]

Thank you @MukulR

[MortenCopenhagen]

I understand your reasoning very well, @TusharSuradkar

Cheers

Morten

[Shrut19]

नमस्कार,

** @TusharSuradkar **

छान आहे हि पोस्ट, नवीन लोकल गाईड्स ना नक्की काहि शिकण्यास मिळेल…

शेअर केल्याबद्दल धन्यवाद…

[TusharSuradkar]

धन्यवाद ताई - पोस्ट आवडल्या बद्दल

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

This is indeed a very useful post @TusharSuradkar ! Its amazing to have tips handy when it comes to meeting new Local Guides in our area ! Thanks for sharing these tips with us !

[TusharSuradkar]

Thank you @Globe_trotter_Ish - for the appreciation

[Nagavijay]

Thank you @TusharSuradkar sir for sharing valuable tips.

I am searching for Local Guides in Rajahmundry and Vijayawada places.

I think less peoples are active in Andhra pradesh state.

[Silvi]

Great post @TusharSuradkar Thanks for share this useful tips.

Greetings.

Silvy.