How to Master your Influence on LinkedIn
I used to think that the words I used didn't matter, the meaning mattered! Then I struggled for years trying to get people to understand me. I never felt truly heard or understood because I could not convey the meaning I intended.
I HATE to admit that I was wrong, because I really never am, but I begrudgingly realized that words are how you convey meaning (obviously), and therefore words DO matter!
Cut to today: I'm in the shower, where inspiration usually strikes, and I was struck with inspiration to immediately remake our tagline and marketing pyramid for Social Sellin'.
You see, when Joe created the tagline, I believe he did so hastily. We had to get launched, and get going, and we needed something to get us started. So we started with this:
"Learn how to go from an Order Taker to a Rainmaker on LinkedIn in 15 min per day"
I HATED IT! I never ever liked it. First of all, what the heck is an order taker, anyway?! Secondly, this is not at all what we are teaching!
But did I have a better idea? Nope! I certainly did NOT!
So, off we went.
With our cartoon-looking steps and our most-of-the-way-there, but not-quite-right pyramid, teaching a course that otherwise contained substantial value and provided tangible results. But the design has never matched our value, and that has always bothered me. I guess because I'm someone that definitely judges a book (company) by it's cover (design and branding).
FIX THE PYRAMID
I got out some good old fashioned paper and a pen and started writing.
I have known for a while that what we at Social Sellin' are really doing is helping people learn how to NETWORK using LinkedIn.
Why might someone even be ON LinkedIn? I figure there are 4 main reasons:
- Networking. They want to stay top of mind with their connections, and possibly meet new relevant connections.
- Lead Generation. They want to get referrals, introductions, and recommendations from their network to grow their own business or their book of business.
- Job Search. They are looking for a job, and LinkedIn advertises itself as THE place to be if you're job searching.
- Placeholder. They were on LinkedIn a while ago when they were looking for a job, but now they are gainfully employed, are uninterested in networking, and are not required to generate leads so they never log on to LinkedIn.
If you are #1, #2, or #3 - Social Sellin' is for you. (You gotta NETwork to GET work job seekers!)
Whether you want to be a networker or an influencer, whether you want to get leads and referrals or a job, LinkedIn is the place for you and Social Sellin' will help you reach your goals.
I figure there is a journey of 4 main steps that people take on LinkedIn. They join, create their account, and go ABSENT. They are wholly UNAWARE to the benefits that networking can have on their career trajectory, or otherwise can't be bothered.
They later return, and become a LURKER (this is me—a solid Lurker. I lurk with the best of them).
After seeing activity in the feed, they might think, hey, this ain't so hard and they start to dabble as a NETWORKER. They post a bit, they write an article or two, maybe they even send a direct message. GASP! Suddenly, things start to get very overwhelming very quickly. Maybe someone writes a negative comment on their post. They might become afraid of what other's are thinking about their content, and stop posting all together. They might be uncertain of what qualifies as valuable content worthy of a LinkedIn post. Or they might simply tell themselves that they have "no time." (Side Note: Time is an illusion, we all have the same 24 hours in a day, it's all about priorities. They definitely HAVE THE TIME, they just don't prioritize LinkedIn right now, and that's ok. They're lurking, like me!) Quality engagement requires a solid STRATEGY to be executed seamlessly and efficiently, and they just don't have it down yet. They inevitably revert back to their good ol' lurking ways. They START & STOP, never able to break through to the next level.
NETWORKERS, on the other hand, have begun to see results and success from their efforts on LinkedIn. They've been bitten by the networking bug and they are all in! It's overwhelming at times, because they are very BUSY talking to their connections and leads, in addition to making connections, introductions, and referrals for their network. They are giving and as a result, they are getting! It's becoming a bit too much for them, however, and they need a solid COMMUNITY to hold them ACCOUNTABLE as they hone in on the particular impact they want to have on the world.
INFLUENCERS have mastered the art of spreading their message to a large audience. They are highly connected, freely expressing themselves through all channels and media, and are engaging their audience multiple times per day.
I don't know about you, but I don't really have a desire to get to that last tier. I don't want to be an INFLUENCER. I am happy to become a Master Networker, and honestly, the thought of just doing that is giving this newly-appreciative-introvert several panic attacks. Well, at least I don't have to talk to anyone in-person, right? Thank God for the internet...
FIX THE TAGLINE
If we are no longer going to take you from an order taker to a rainmaker, then what?
At this point, I'm feeling very confident about the starting point of LURKER.
With Social Sellin', you are going to go from a Lurker to .... what?
Thank you thesaurus.com and google for offering a helping hand to this aspiring wordsmith.
Armed with a bunch of words, I started writing variations of the tagline. Because I find myself hilarious, my favorites are toward the bottom. But for serious-ness' sake, I landed on:
"How to Master Your Influence on LinkedIn"
This will now be the title to the 3-step process you go through with Social Sellin'.
But what about the tagline?
The options here got equally ridiculous, although I sincerely wish we could use—for all the wrong and hilarious reasons—"Go from a Lurker to a Moderate Networker on LinkedIn."
I landed on:
"Learn how to go from a Lurker to an Influencer on LinkedIn in 15 min per day"
WHERE IS THIS GOING? My...Our?...My...fine: OUR VISION
I have our brand specialist, Phillip Blankenship, helping me create a brand for our new business Evyrgreen, in which Social Sellin' is the first product. My...I mean...OUR larger vision is to build an online educational & coaching platform where people can learn how to grow their service or consulting business/agency/firm/shmagency/whatever-you-want-to-call-it from $0 to $5M in revenue.
What gives us the right? Who are we to teach this? Ahhhh, I just gave away my gender there didn't I? Yes, mainly women question themselves like that. Men usually don't stop to ask "should I be doing this?" And frankly, that alone tells me that I am PERFECTLY suited to do it.
First of all, person in my mind who is questioning me (Not only am I basically right all the time, I also hate to be questioned. Makes for a super fun combo): We have already done it ourselves, and we are partnering with experts in their fields who have gone from $0 to $5M themselves, and together we will build out the perfect courses in each category.
For example, Joe Apfelbaum is an expert networker, an expert on LinkedIn, a non-stop marketer, and is garnering more and more influence with each passing day. He created the content in the Social Sellin' course, which teaches you how to network on LinkedIn to achieve any of 3 goals: Generate Leads (get referrals, recommendations, etc), Build your Community (peers, colleagues, "competition," potential clients, experts, mentors, mentees, etc), or Get a Job.
Second, we partnered with Julia Pimsleur who happened to have already created a course teaching women how to become killer closers, The Sales CURE!
Next, having come from a background in recruiting myself, I will partner with my colleague who is an expert in recruiting herself and has built a $5M recruiting agency, to create the perfect course on how to attract, recruit, train, and retain the perfect employees for your burgeoning business.
We will teach you how to organize your operations. We will teach you how to retain clients. We will teach you how to find the best experts to advise you on Accounting, Legal, HR. We will teach you how to delegate. We will teach you how to create systems & processes so you can scale. We will hold your hand the entire way as you grow from $0 to $5M in revenue. At that point it is probably time for you to leave us and transition to Traction or Gazelles.
That's the long-term vision. But we have to start somewhere, and we started here, on LinkedIn, with Social Sellin.
I'll probably share our progress, and these little 'behind-the-scenes' moments as we go along. Or maybe I'll go back to my Lurking ways.
For now, you can go to socialsellin.com to learn how to go from a Lurker to an Influencer on LinkedIn in 15 minutes per day!
See you there,
Tami Joy Schlichter