Inviting members to your referral marketing group is the first step to creating referral opportunities, but to maintain an active group you will need to engage your group members and encourage them to invite their own contacts.

Here are some tools and tips to host your referral marketing group ...

1. Bulletin Board - Use the bulletin board to communicate and generate discussion amongst your group members. Suggested bulletin board topics include business/networking events, market industry news, current events, etc.

2. ShopTown Wire - The ShopTown wire is a weekly newsletter automatically broadcast to all of your group members. Each member of the group has the opportunity to include a promotional message in the wire broadcast. Update your wire message each week to promote your latest news to the group.

3. Referral Exchange - Have a referral for a group member? Use the referral tools to send it through the site so others can see that business is being done in the group.

4. Profile & Articles - Every time a site member or visitor sees your profile or articles, your ShopTown members' advertisements are exposed to that user. Create a profile complete with photos and information about your business, and contribute articles to the Pro Real Estate Journal to generate traffic for your ShopTown members.

5. Invitations - Encourage your ShopTown members to invite their own contacts for the sake of promoting their own business. Let others use your referral network as a tool to promote their businesses, while you are introduced to new potential referral sources. It's a win/win!