"Do you know anyone that needs a …?"
Mark Swindale
Enabling UK-based accountants & bookkeepers to excel by inspiring, challenging & supporting them. Together, we elevate practices to new heights of success.
I have done a lot of training on the subject of getting the best out of LinkedIn recently and, while I am not an expert, I am interested to see the various approaches to using it.
During the training the one thing that hit me the most was how LinkedIn is perceived by a lot of users. The explanation given at the event changed my views: "LinkedIn is not a social media platform, it’s a social networking site."
That really resonated with me, because how many times do you get a new connection that tries selling within the first two messages or you see their posts that say, "Do you know anyone that needs a …?"
Don’t get me wrong, I have made my share of mistakes on social media/networking sites, but since adopting the philosophy of LinkedIn being a social networking site my approach has changed and the results have increased dramatically. I now adopt the same approach on LinkedIn as I do in a face-to-face networking meeting.
Who really expects to walk into a networking event and sell their wares? How often does it happen? I think it has happened twice to me in twenty years of networking! Yes, I might have got the approach wrong, but I have sold lots of services to those same people once I had built relationships.
If you only change one thing in how you use LinkedIn, I would say it should be this: put on your “Network Meeting” hat when approaching it – ask questions, be yourself, be interesting and solve the pain …
If you would like more top tips for LinkedIn please message me and I will share my “7 top tips to improve your LinkedIn engagement”.
Lead Facilitator at Link4Growth Association, Retail Business Owner and Builder of Websites
5 年Nice post Mark! I would go one further though and say 'put on your relationship building' hat... I wouldn't go to a networking event and shove a business card in a strangers hand without speaking, so I would never send a cold connection request without a personal note.... And yet on LinkedIn, most people seem to still do this... Some 'appear' to only care about collecting people like they might collect stamps... I don't want to be just another notch on a 'linkedin bed post'... call me old fashioned but I prefer a bit of a conversation first or at the very least a 'hello' (and definitely not followed immediately by a sales pitch!)