What is the best way to influence my LinkedIn network?, Tim Hughes

There was a recent post and discussion about how to reach your 1st degree connections in fact any of your connects. I have to admit that the answer was the same old, same old.

Little innovation and little real answers as to what really works on social.

Here was a list of suggested solutions.

What is social selling?

How about I can pick you up tomorrow from your house and drive you to a place where all your prospects and customers hang out. Wouldn't that be great?

All you have to do is have a conversation with them.

Now in this social situation, would you walk into the room and start pitching to people? No, people would call security.

LinkedIn, in fact all social networks are ..... guess what, social.

If you wouldn't pitch at a networking event which is a social situation, why on LinkedIn are you pitching to people, which is a social situation?

Social media is social, just like a networking event.

So cut all that shit, stop trying to work out the algorithm and hashtags and just go and have conversations on social. Why? Because conversations create sales.

Posting brochures and corporate shit, does not create conversations and does not create sales. So stop it. If actions on social are not creating conversations stop it, you are on social to generate money. right!

This is the starting line

It will help you, if you have a

1. Buyer centric profile

2. Grow your network every day .... not in a "buy my stuff way" see above, in a way to generate conversations. Every connection request is your chance to have a conversations. Remember, it's conversations that create commercial interactions.

3. Create content

Here is a guide to help you create and share content.

We all know nobody is interested in adverts and nobody is interested in your brochures or branded crap. We know people are on social to be social, they are not on social to read brochures, so cut all that stuff.

Educate people, provide them with insight, tell them something they don't know. Be human.

And have conversations.

Everything you do on social, every key stoke, should be to drive commercial interactions and you will do this by having conversations.

Trust me, (and the people from DLA Ignite) the more you lean into this, you will find a tipping point where you will stop getting crap results on social and people will start walking towards you.

You will be the answer to their problem and you will get more and more sales!