I saw a post that said you should be building out your social circle in general, particularly with women, as it helps with meeting new people.

I've actually run into this situation recently, where a couple women have told me they have a boyfriend when I asked for their number but then offered me to still take their number because we can be friends or hang out with their group. It seemed like an invite into their social circle.

I'm curious though, how do you actually go about doing this? What I realized is I don't actually know how to make friends in that way with people I randomly encounter.

My friends are all people I've known for a long time, got to know over time, and hang out with one-on-one.

When you meet women that you're interested in, there's a clear trajectory on what to do (number -> date -> hook-up).

How would you make friends with random people you meet, especially women? Obviously you're probably not going to be asking them out one-on-one or texting back-and-forth about random stuff.