Why it’s Helpful to Talk to Strangers - a Lesson in LinkedIn
I was skeptical back in the fall of 2019 to use LinkedIn, I really didn’t think it would lead to anything. I didn’t understand it, it seemed like a place to list your online resume.
My business coach challenged me to start connecting with “strangers” - people I didn’t know in person. Up to this point, I only had connected with people I had met in-person at least once (wow, this would have been tough to do during COVID!). She wanted me to connect with 5 new people a day (for a month) and explained I needed to get my messaging out to new eyes and audiences who are looking to hire someone like me.
It’s OK to connect with Strangers
I took the challenge and struggled with how weird and uncomfortable it was to connect with “new” people. After doing this for about 2-3 weeks, I started taking a class on how to use LinkedIn like a pro and learned that folks will more likely connect with me if I have a friendly message. That’s actually a secret I learned is direct messaging can help you stand out. You have to be authentic doing it though, you can’t send the same canned messages to everyone. You gotta customize and be personable and friendly. It really helps you stand out because I didn’t want to come across as a bot. You know, a script that’s sent to you through direct messaging and they are asking to meet you for 10-15 min (for a sales pitch) even though you know nothing about the company or person.
I also started reading a book on building relationships on LinkedIn that also encouraged me to connect with direct messaging with believe it or not, is very powerful. You don’t have to have LinkedIn Premium to do this, you can really direct message almost anyone!
Connect with Humans, Not Businesses
Another tip I learned from the book and class - you are connecting with humans not businesses because you build relationships with people. You can follow a business, but it’s much more powerful to find the right person to connect with in the company and in time, once you build trust, you can do business together, usually by agreeing to meet offline of LinkedIn.
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