Suzanne Brown: Author And Founder Of Mompowerment
By Cheval John
Suzanne Brown returned to What’s The Word? to share about her vision for her business, Mompowerment.
This episode was recorded on Blue Jeans Network before the “pandemic” happened.
Suzanne shared about livestreaming and the resurgence of LinkedIn.
She has written two books and recently published an article in The Harvard Business Review called, “https://hbr.org/amp/2020/09/how-to-identify-a-family-friendly-employer?__twitter_impression=true.
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Below is a sample of what Suzanne shared on the show:
Whether you are on LinkedIn or having a conversation with somebody you have just met at an event, it’s about the relationship building.
You wouldn’t meet somebody and say, “Hey, do you want to buy my book?”
That would not be your approach if you meet somebody in person.
So why would that be your approach online?
I think a lot of times, people think, “Oh, it’s online, therefore, it’s a different set of rules.
Nobody wants to be sold to.
LinkedIn is a professional setting.
So it goes by the same rules that you would have in a professional setting.
If you were selling something to somebody, you would learn a little bit about them.
Maybe there is an article that you both responded to and you really liked what they had to say.
That is a great reason to connect with that person.
I think it’s also really important to use the functionality where it allows you to send a note.
Just change the generic note and personalized the message.
That first engagement is key because it makes them think, “Do I want to connect with this person or not.”
If your immediate thing is to spam, chances are you will start losing people.
On The Comeback Of LinkedIn
I think all of a sudden, people have discovered or rediscovered LinkedIn as a platform because for a really long time, it was an online resume.
Now people are realizing this a great way to build business relationships especially with those who are not in your typical network.
You can connect with people all over the world.
You can connect with people from different business industries.
I think it’s a really great platform.
I think that influencers have really great wins on LinkedIn
Now they are saying, “This is the platform to use.”
All of a sudden, these newbies are coming to LinkedIn and they don’t necessary understand the platform.
So they are using what is essentially bad habits.
So being able to start coaching people and say, “I am glad we connected. I am not interested in this message, do you like to continue this conversation?”
You can find nicer ways to doing that.
Or simply unfriend and overtime, people will figure out, “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t done that (spamming)”
So it all depends on if you want to mentor somebody or if you want to just give them the boot.
Melonie Dodaro, Founder of Top Dog Social Media
By Cheval John
Melonie Dodaro is the founder of Top Dog Social Media.
She is recognized as Canada’s leading expert on LinkedIn.
Melonie recently wrote the book LinkedIn Unlocked, which hit number one in seven countries around the world.
She has been featured on major media outlets including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), The New York Post, The Toronto Star, etc.
Her blog has been recognized as a Top Ten Blog by Social Media Examiner.
In today’s episode, you will hear:
-why Melonie chose LinkedIn
-why she decided to move to Europe
-how Facebook allowed her to reconnect with her father
Snippet on Vallano Media TV
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Melonie’s Website: www.topdogsocialmedia.com
Twitter: @MelonieDodaro
Quotes from the episode will be available later
Four Ways To Build A Community On LinkedIn
By Cheval John
Many thought they was no value in LinkedIn because it was not generating buzz like Facebook.
However, LinkedIn has grown quietly to 500 plus million active users with no signs of slowing down.
The recent addition of native video video to their platform gives business owners and jobs seekers more opportunities to build a strong network.
Here are four ways you (as a job seeker or business owner) can build a community on LinkedIn
1. Do Not Send A Generic Invitation
When you send a generic invitation, it comes across as disingenuous because you only want to connect with them only to get new business or get an intro if they are connected to a big name influencer.
What you need to do is send a personalized invitation because the majority are not doing it.
Which leads to number two.
2. Do Your Research
You need to do your research on the person who you are trying to connect with.
Let’s say you are looking for work and you want to connect with a key decision maker.
What you can do is look at their LinkedIn account and see what they accomplished in their careers.
You can also do a google search and see if they have made an appearance on their local media outlets or even major media.
From there, you send a personalized invitation to the key decision maker.
Nine times out of ten they will accept because they saw you went out of your way to know them.
3. Share Other People’s Content.
You might think it is uncool to share your “competition’s” content on LinkedIn because they are vying for the same work position.
If your competition is sharing valuable content that your connections can benefit from, it does not make sense to withhold it from them.
What you are doing is robbing them of a solution that could help them take their careers to the next level.
Marcus Sheridan, who runs River Pools and Spas, wrote a blog post about the top pool builders in the Richmond, Virginia area.
Mr. Sheridan left himself off the list and still got business because of the willingness to recommend the competition.
Zain Asher, anchor at CNN International, shared during her “Trust The Struggle” TED Talk of how she coached her “competition” who was going for the same work position at a television station.
Video courtesy of TED Talks
Zain advised her on what to say during the interview process and how to present herself because she was the first to be interviewed by the executives at that station.
When you share your “competition’s” content, they will eventually become your biggest ally.
4. Use The LinkedIn Publishing Platform Wisely
You should not use the publishing platform just to advertise your latest book or events for your organization because it comes across as distasteful.
The platform should be used to share valuable content that solves a pain point that people are dealing with.
If you are a public relations major in college, you can use the publishing platform to write quality posts about the changing trends happening in the public relations field.
Or chronicle what you are learning during your time in a public relations practicum.
If you are consistent in cranking out quality post by the time you graduate, you will be way ahead of the competition when you are going for any entry level work in public relations because companies are now looking at google to find out more about potential hires.
Also, you can re-purpose your blog posts on the publishing platform to build brand awareness as well.
It takes a while to build your network on LinkedIn.
If you are consistent with all of these tips, you will have the right tribe which will serve you in the long term.
Do you agree or disagree with this post? You can share your comments below.
Cynthia Bazin’s Transition To Founding “The Smart Chic”
By Cheval John
Live video has changed the way how we interact on social media.
Before, we would chat with many people via social media platforms like Facebook (Instagram), Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, YouTube to keep up with what is happening in the world.
With Twitter, it made communication much easier in “real time” because of the instantaneous response.
When live streaming arrived in 2015, interaction on social media went to the next level with no signs of slowing down.
According to Cisco, 82% of all internet traffic will be drived by video by 2021.
Which means if you are not using video for your business, it will become much harder to reach your ideal audience in the future.
Another reason why you should be using live video is to meet people you would not have met before even with social.
I was very fortunate to have met Cynthia Bazin two years ago via live streaming.
She was among the early adopters of Periscope and also made some guest appearances on shows which was hosted on the now defuncted video platform called blab.
Cynthia have the drive of helping business owners to be laser focused and her company “The Smart Chic” is centered on her values.
I had the opportunity to interview Cynthia on this week’s episode of What’s The Word?
The show was recorded on Facebook Live via Blue Jeans Network
In this episode, you will hear:
How she transitioned from a private investigator to running her company
Why she did not dive immediately into entrepreneurship
How to run a business on the side while you working in a toxic company
How she overcame doubts to become successful with her company
How live streaming help take her business to the next level
The importance of having a mentor
Why video should be part of the business’ marketing strategy
Snippet of the interview on Vallano Media TV
Full episode on BlogTalkRadio
Cynthia Bazin’s Business Website: www.smartchic.me
Facebook: The Smart Chic
Twitter: @thesmartchic
Did you enjoy this post and who would you want to make a guest appearance on the show?
LinkedIn Is A Social Media Platform
By Cheval John
LinkedIn, which was created in 2003, is a unique business platform because it allows many of us to connect and build our network.
People can find podcast guest, post their skills, work history and other things that can allow them to find work.
It can also allow small business owners to find their ideal clients.
LinkedIn has also moved into the live streaming space recently.
Those who have a large following have access to live stream their events and shows.
I had written before about how to connect with people on LinkedIn by sending a personalized message.
It seems to me that they have taken the advice well as I have been seeing personalized invitation from those who I have not met in real life.
Though this is great, I have started to see a very disturbing trend: spamming
When I have seen the personalized invitation, I look at the person’s account and I then accept them.
A few days later, that same person is sending sales pitch in the messages.
I immediately delete the message and then disconnect with them.
When you send sales pitches after connecting, it shows:
1. You are very desperate
2. You just looking for a drive-by sale
3. You have not done your research.
Though LinkedIn is a business platform, you should not be selling to someone the minute they connect with you.
What you should be doing instead is building trust.
Ways that you can build credibility on LinkedIn
1. Interact with people.
If someone post something that is of value, you should share on their account how the article impacted them.
2. You can share articles yourself.
If you find an article that you believe will benefit your network, you should share it in your feed.
Even if no one comments at first, when you share articles consistently, someone might end up commenting and more than likely, end up connecting with you.
3. Write articles yourself on LinkedIn publishing platform
The LinkedIn publishing platform is still important despite what some might say.
It shows your expertise.
Plus, when your network see that you put a lot of time and effort in writing your article consistently, they will feel compelled to do business with you.
In their minds, they are thinking if you can give away all of this information for free, they will be willing to pay you to help them solve their pain points.
You can re-purpose your blog post on the LinkedIn publishing platform.
Just make sure to put a disclaimer saying: “This article first appeared in this blog”
To conclude, LinkedIn is not just a business platform.
It is a place where you can build valuable friendships.
One can argue that LinkedIn is a social media platform.
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