David J.P. Fisher, a.k.a. DFish, is the featured guest on episode 136. This interview was also last week’s Poolside Sales Chat. DFish is an author, speaker, and business coach at RockStar Consulting. You may recognize him from this LinkedIn social selling webcast. While attending Dell EMC World, DFish and I met up to have a quick chat on Periscope about four of the nine categories of LinkedIn status updates he outlines in his book: Networking in the 21st Century on LinkedIn, Why Your Network Sucks And What To Do About It.
The big idea to remember when using LinkedIn is that the site is for business networking. It may feel weird to talk about yourself and what you’re doing in your professional life, but if you do it right, you can connect with new customers and grow your network.
Events
DFish suggests using your LinkedIn status updates to post about events you are attending. These events don’t have to be large conferences that only happen once a year. They can be local Chamber of Commerce meetings or other professional networking events. Discussing events on LinkedIn allows people to get a context of you and what you’re doing. Posts like these can aid in starting conversations online.
“People don’t know what you’re doing until you tell them.” @dfishrockstar #sbeshow
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Projects
Consider announcing a project you’re starting or recently completed. This isn’t the time to brag; posts that talk about projects you’re working on allow others to understand what you do a little better. Connections in your network might need what you offer, but not realize that it’s in your wheelhouse.
Posting about projects also helps to keep relationships going outside of face-to-face meetings or phone calls. It provides another way for others to feel a connection with you.
Ideal Client
The third category of LinkedIn status updates DFish reviewed is a post where you tell people the characteristics of your ideal client and ask for referrals. This may be a hard thing to ask, but occasionally mention the type of client that you serve. By peppering this type of post in among other categories, your network will appreciate it. You can say something like, “I love working with people who are trying to figure out X. If you know someone, I’d appreciate an introduction or your referral.”
Networking Karma
The final category DFish mentions in this podcast is recommending other people in your network. This is the pay it forward mentality. Boost your networking karma by giving without expecting anything in return. Look at ways you can recommend people in your network to help others.
Watch our on demand webcast Evolve or Die: How to get found and contacted on LinkedIn to learn more about these networking tips on LinkedIn. And, don’t forget, you’ll receive a digital copy of DFish’s book when you sign up to watch the webcast, and you can read about five more categories of LinkedIn status updates.
Featured On This Episode:
- David J.P. Fisher a.k.a. DFish on LinkedIn and Twitter
- David J.P. Fisher’s website
- Catch our webcast Evolve or Die: How to get found and contacted on LinkedIn
- Join our Social Business Engine community
- Write a review of this podcast in iTunes
- Social Business Engine on Twitter: @mmenginepodcast
- YouTube channel
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