9 Steps to Building Your Tribe On LinkedIn

There is an overwhelming amount of information on how to use social media to create a personal brand and to market your organization. In this article I want to cut through all superfluous information and focus on the most authentic and effective strategies that help you build your tribe on LinkedIn. A tribe that consists of genuine relationships that delivers value to both parties. It has been my experience that if you do that right the economic transaction will take care of itself.

I thought the best way of doing this is to present you with a recent webinar I did for a local e-Rotary Club.

The strategies I outline there will work for any organization or solopreneur that wishes to genuinely connect with their audience, build a brand and attract ideal clients or in this case members.

To summarize in the video I show how to:

1. Clarify who are your target audience

- This is critical the last thing you want is to fill up your LinkedIn network with random contacts that you will only end up deleting. Your network participants is the foundation for all your marketing activities, if you get that right then you will be so much more successful.

2. Find your target audience on LinkedIn

-  In the video I show you the basic searches you can make using LinkedIn search box.

3. Connect with them in most genuine way

- Here I demonstrate how to invite people to connect with you in a personal and mutually beneficial way.

4. Provide value upfront and establish a bond

- I provide an example of how use your LinkedIn Articles to deliver value and position you as a thought leader.

5. Engage with your new friends in authentic way

- The latest Chat facility in LinkedIn is a excellent way to engage with people if you do it right. Like any other relationship building process you need to be interested in people and ask relevant questions to establish rapport and find common ground.

6. Build trust

-  Trust is build over time, so don’t rush into it. Demonstrate that you want to build a long term relationship. e.g. Send Birthday Congrats, New Job Congrats . Talk about things that really matter to them.

7. Nurture the relationship

- Treat your new connections gently. You know that people get “hit” a lot with sales inquires. Be sensitive to that. Keep offering value until you feel the time is right to share your product or service.

8. Tell your story and share your passion

- When the time is right share your story about your product or service. Tell them why you fell passionate about.

9.  Make your offer and enroll then into your vision

-  You will know when the time is right to make an offer and enroll them into your vision. The best situation is when they ask you themselves to be part of your mission.

Notice there is a lot of emphasis on building trust through genuine connection around what you both feel passionate about. I do not use words such as “convert”, as I believe it is the old paradigm. The aim of genuine marketing is to provide a real solution to a problem and to inspire people to improve their live in whatever way you can. 

Vitaly Geyman B.Eng. MBA, Digital Branding Coach, has been supporting business leaders and their organization for over 20 years in developing a strategic, purpose driven brand that builds their tribe and attracts ideal followers. You can contact Vitaly at vitalygeyman(at)gmail.com or Skype: vitally.geyman.