Episode 6
Skip the Sales Pitches: How to Network Meaningfully on LinkedIn
Networking on LinkedIn doesn't have to feel like an awkward BNI event filled with pushy sales pitches and forced conversations.
Instead, this episode delves into how to cultivate meaningful connections in a digital space that can often feel overwhelming.
Our guests share insights on the importance of finding your tribe, engaging authentically, and building a supportive community that goes beyond superficial networking.
We explore stories of real friendships forged through LinkedIn and discuss the pitfalls of transactional relationships that can lead to disillusionment.
Join us as we uncover strategies to make your LinkedIn interactions more genuine, leaving you with lasting connections rather than just business cards.
This week's visitors:
John Espirian - John's community is Espresso
Katie McManus - Katie's podcast The Weeniecast
Jo Watson - Jo's community is A Good Writeup
Michelle J Raymond - Michelle's podcast is Social Media for B2B Growth Podcast
Transcript
LinkedIn, the digital networking event.
Speaker A:We're all attending, whether we like it or not.
Speaker A:And none of us are getting breakfast provided, even if we're getting up at 5am Is it possible to build a community on LinkedIn without going in person?
Speaker A:Let's figure it out together, shall we?
Speaker B:Welcome to the asylum.
Speaker B:LinkedIn will not like this podcast, but you will love it.
Speaker B:Behave, LinkedIn lunatics.
Speaker B:We have visitors.
Speaker A:All right, picture this.
Speaker A:You've got the overly eager attendee shouting their accomplishments at anyone who'll listen.
Speaker A:There's that person who made it their mission to hand out 500 business cards before the first round of coffees.
Speaker A:And there's that one guy who's hogging the coffee table, turning it into his own personal TED Talk stage.
Speaker A:Sound familiar?
Speaker A:We kind of all got into LinkedIn during the COVID era because we weren't wanting to go to these events, but we still knew we had to talk about our business to somebody.
Speaker A:All the platforms weren't really that Busy anymore, so LinkedIn seemed like the only option.
Speaker A:So today we're exploring why LinkedIn doesn't have to feel like a B and I event and can still leverage some of that slightly cooler aspect of being on a digital networking platform.
Speaker A:How it could be more about meaningful conversations rather than dodging a monologue about quarterly KPIs with some random who's just connected with you.
Speaker A:What do our visitors think about this very topic?
Speaker A:Who's our first visitor?
Speaker B:Michelle J.
Speaker B:Raymond is a company pages expert.
Speaker C:It becomes easier when you surround yourself with cool people in your community and make sure that you're hanging out with the right people, because I'll give you the handy tip.
Speaker C:And, you know, I'm going to quote my mom on this one.
Speaker C:You hang out with garbage, you smell like it.
Speaker C:So if you want to go and hang out with the Potters, you're going to smell like them.
Speaker C:And I've had this conversation with many people.
Speaker C:Like, you'll be surrounded by people cheating the system.
Speaker C:And I'll give you the handy tip that is not going to make you feel good about yourself.
Speaker C:You are just going to be going, oh, my God, how are they getting these numbers and I'm not?
Speaker C:And this is the thing.
Speaker C:And even people who aren't allegedly, and you know, engagement pods, they look like they are.
Speaker C:And it breaks that trust at the end of the day.
Speaker C:And if you break digital trust, I don't think you can ever mend it.
Speaker C:I honestly don't.
Speaker C:And you know, I don't think people think about that.
Speaker C:Enough.
Speaker A:Regular Asylum visitor John is going to take us away from the chaos of the main stage and into the quieter corners of the networking room.
Speaker A:You know, where the real connections happen.
Speaker B:Community membership expert John Esperian.
Speaker D:Well, I think LinkedIn is a big place, right?
Speaker D:It's got more than a billion members and I think for a lot of people it's confusing, but also it's a little bit scary to put your thoughts out into the world.
Speaker D:So finding your tribe and finding the small kind of niche pockets where you can maybe open up a little bit more and share what you're really thinking about, what's going on in your business or whatever other challenges you've got, that's really, really powerful.
Speaker D:So finding those small communities is just a case of, you know, vibing with your tribe, whatever you want to call it, but just finding a space of comfort where you can see other like minded people and that gives you a better chance of growing versus comparing yourself with the billion plus members in one hit and then shying away from actually showing up and doing the work because everyone else looks super successful.
Speaker D:It's just getting away from that public spotlight, having a bit more privacy and that's where you can grow a bit better.
Speaker A:One of our newer Asylum visitors, Sophie, brings the energy of that one person at the event who actually listens to your introduction and remembers your name without needing to write it down on a piece of paper that she'll discard later when she gets back home.
Speaker A:She's here to remind us that showing up consistently and genuinely can turn into a meaningful follow up.
Speaker E:Sophie Lee, have something good to say that people care about and keep saying it until you start to build a community.
Speaker E:I think certainly community is a really important part of this actually, because since I started posting on LinkedIn, I've noticed that there's like a support network that's gathered around me where they will always be there when I post.
Speaker E:And it gives you, at least in the beginning, it gives you a real sense of that you're not shouting into the void, which can become the momentum that you need to keep going.
Speaker E:And then eventually you reach your ideal customer.
Speaker E:For me, the most important thing is to focus on community building.
Speaker E:And by that I mean literally getting to know the people within your network and caring enough and engaging with them and really giving your time and energy to them.
Speaker E:And it becomes a reciprocal thing.
Speaker A:One of our OG asylum visitors takes LinkedIn relationships to a whole new level.
Speaker A:Imagine leaving an actual networking event not just with some random business cards, but with real friends, people you'd actually go out on a holiday with that Sounds wild, right?
Speaker A:Well, this lady got some stories that'll make you rethink how far LinkedIn connections can actually go.
Speaker B:Katie McManus.
Speaker F:You get to make actual, real friendships with people.
Speaker F:I mean, I have friends, like, all over the uk, all over the United States, literally.
Speaker F:This summer in June, I flew from Cape Cod to DC to go see a client who lives in the DC area.
Speaker F:Stayed at her place for a night.
Speaker F:We drove from the D.C.
Speaker F:area down to South Carolina to spend the night at another friend's house that we met through LinkedIn.
Speaker F:We'd never met her in person before in our lives.
Speaker F:Picked her up, drove to Orlando to an event by another client of mine who was hosting a launch party with a bunch of other people that I've met through LinkedIn.
Speaker F:And it was the most natural thing in the world.
Speaker F:It felt like I was hanging out with family.
Speaker F:And honestly, like, I'm not even that comfortable with my family, so it was better than hanging out with family.
Speaker F:And we literally spent four nights there in Orlando, just by the pool, hanging out, doing work, being at the launch party for this company.
Speaker F:And then we reversed it.
Speaker F:We drove from Orlando to South Carolina to D.C.
Speaker F:and then I flew back to the Cape.
Speaker F:That doesn't happen on Facebook.
Speaker F:Like, everyone that you're connected with on Facebook is already your friend.
Speaker F:Right.
Speaker F:You already know them, and you probably don't want to go on a road trip with them on Instagram.
Speaker F:I'm just not seeing people make that.
Speaker F:That close of a connection.
Speaker F:It's possible on Instagram, absolutely.
Speaker F:You can make friends and become close with people, but it doesn't happen at the level that it happens on LinkedIn.
Speaker F:Right.
Speaker F:I have a friend who lives in Indonesia, and we have each other's WhatsApp numbers, and we'll just, like, text each other, like, hey, man, I love you.
Speaker F:Hope you're doing great.
Speaker F:And we'll just occasionally hop on the phone and talk through stuff, and we support each other's posts and comments and comment on each other's things.
Speaker F:And I just think that's, like, such a beautiful gift that this platform offers.
Speaker F:And I think, you know, whoever invented LinkedIn early on, like, they probably are just.
Speaker F:I mean, I was going to say rolling in their grave, but I think they're probably still alive, just completely flummoxed by what this platform has turned into.
Speaker F:And I think ultimately this is.
Speaker F:This came from the pandemic.
Speaker F:I think people were really starving for human connection, and they weren't comfortable on Instagram and Facebook didn't feel like the right place.
Speaker F:So they started turning to LinkedIn and it just kind of blossomed into this really cool community building place.
Speaker A:Okay, it's time to call out the look at me brigade.
Speaker A:You know the type, the ones who interrupt every group discussion to talk about their award winning strategy.
Speaker A:This lady's advice, if you wouldn't tolerate it at a breakfast networking event, why let it fly on LinkedIn?
Speaker B:Sales trainer Tracy Bedwell as we know.
Speaker G:There are tools, AI tools and things that you can pay for and they will send out your post to all these people and get them to post it for you.
Speaker G:There are people who do it not with tools, but more like you've said, whereby, hey, I've put a post up, here's the link to my post, let's all comment on it and vice versa.
Speaker G:It was funny, I saw a post the other day and a lady put some top tips on how to succeed on LinkedIn.
Speaker G:And we know what, everyone's a LinkedIn trainer, aren't they?
Speaker G:I mean, you're out.
Speaker G:So this woman had put some top tips up on how to do well on LinkedIn.
Speaker G:And I think it was John Esperian and he'd said, you know, here's some great tips, but I think you're wrong on one of them because one of the things she put on there was gather together a group of friends and like and comment on each other's posts.
Speaker G:And he said, I think that's what you call a pod and it's against LinkedIn's best practice.
Speaker G:And she'd quickly jumped back on and said, no, that's not a pod.
Speaker G:I am not talking about that.
Speaker G:I am talking about maybe get your husband and your best friend.
Speaker G:And I was just like, why would you do that?
Speaker G:What value does your husband or your best friend bring to the party adding a comment on your post?
Speaker G:Here's a post I did today.
Speaker G:You won't pop a like or comment on it.
Speaker G:It's a pod and it's stupid and you're not going to get any business from it.
Speaker H:Joe Watson I have had my own community for like four years now and it's absolutely wonderful.
Speaker H:It started off as helping people write more effectively for their business or their ventures and now it's like, you know, it's just supporting people as a kind of like a micro network in itself, which is wonderful.
Speaker H:And then myself and my husband, we have set up this other community where we are helping people to become more effective networkers, whether it's Online or in person.
Speaker H:And Christ, it's only when you've got a group of those people on that zoom with you that you realize just how much people hate it, and they hate it for what it's become.
Speaker H:And LinkedIn is an example of that.
Speaker H:LinkedIn should be a brilliant place to network, but because it has become absolutely saturated with people who are not there to network, they are there to go, look at me, look at me, look at me.
Speaker H:And just as you would avoid that person at a real life, you know, 6:00am breakfast with, with cold coffee and stale croissants, talking to some bloody accountant who should not have been let out of the office at all, you know, LinkedIn's become that place as well.
Speaker H:LinkedIn, you know, although, although nobody in a, in an actual meeting is going, look at me, look at me, look at me.
Speaker H:They're all just boring you to death.
Speaker H:Sorry for anyone who's in a networking group, including my husband, but the, the online one is just like the other side of it.
Speaker H:It's like, look at me, look at me, look at me.
Speaker H:I don't care about you.
Speaker H:I'm not here for you.
Speaker H:I'm here to, to show you how great I am.
Speaker H:And it's just like two very shit sides of a very shit coin.
Speaker A:Time to get candid about those awkward moments when someone starts asking for favors five seconds after saying hello to you for the first time on LinkedIn, they're not just asking for your card, they're sending you a DM with a pitch.
Speaker A:And yeah, it's cringey.
Speaker A:Just as cringe online as it is in person.
Speaker B:John Esperian.
Speaker D:I think a lot of people just try and do a direct sell.
Speaker D:You know, they'll set up a group or call it a community, and it's just a mouthpiece for that content creator to try and sell their course, sell their book, sell whatever else.
Speaker D:And that tends not to work.
Speaker D:If you look at Most groups on LinkedIn, for example, they're either ghost towns because they're not being run properly because there's no active conversation going on there, or they're complete spam fests.
Speaker D:You know, it's just someone else's agenda being pushed relentlessly, and that doesn't work.
Speaker D:Running one of these communities is a lot of work.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:There are easier ways of making money than running your own community, I can tell you that much, for starters.
Speaker D:But if you have a clear agenda of what you want that community to be known for, and you foster discussion without trying to see everyone as a dollar sign, then that's a good starting point for building some kind of safe space where you can actually have meaningful discussions.
Speaker D:That's what it's all about.
Speaker A:So what's the takeaway from our Visit to the Asylum's very own LinkedIn networking event?
Speaker A:Don't be the person who treats it like a soapbox, or worse, a speed dating session for sales pitches.
Speaker A:Instead, think of it as a chance to build relationships that last longer than the free coffee.
Speaker A:And that's it for today's visiting session.
Speaker A:Visiting hours are over, and once again It's a reminder.
Speaker A:LinkedIn, like a great networking event, should leave you with stories to tell, connections to nurture, and maybe even a friend or two.
Speaker A:Don't bother with the cheesy elevator pitches.
Speaker A:Focus on creating moments that matter.
Speaker A:Because nobody remembers the person who wouldn't stop talking about themselves, especially if it was within two minutes of meeting you.
Speaker A:They'll always remember the one who actually listened to them.
Speaker A:Thanks for listening, and if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you give us a review in your favorite podcast app and follow us, particularly if you're listening in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Speaker A:On behalf of the warden and everyone here at the Asylum, we're looking forward to your next visit.
Speaker B:Goodbye.
Speaker B:Watch your back, you, and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker B:On another episode of the Asylum.
