People are tired of all the messages on LinkedIn. It doesn’t work anymore.
No.
People are tired of spammers.
There’s a big difference.
You can actually get more out of LinkedIn than ever before, but you have to understand what LinkedIn is.
It’s not a lead generation platform.
It’s not a growth marketing channel where you push as many people as possible through a funnel.
It’s a networking platform.
And that means you need to take three steps back.
Start by planting seeds.
Invite new people into your network without immediately expecting something in return.
Then start conversations. Show genuine interest. Get to know the person behind the profile.
At the same time, build trust by posting.
People start seeing your knowledge, your opinions and your experiences. Eventually, they understand what you stand for.
And then you follow up.
Not with another automated sales pitch, but by continuing conversations you’ve already started.
Stay top of mind.
React when something is relevant.
Pick up a conversation again after a few months when the timing has changed.
That’s where most people go wrong.
They want the meeting before they’ve built the relationship.
They hyper-personalise the first message because they think mentioning someone’s latest post, company or university will suddenly create trust.
But relationships don’t work like that.
You don’t need to pretend that you know someone.
You need to get to know someone.
Share an interest. Ask a normal question. Have a coffee without calculating the ROI of that coffee beforehand.
And yes, that takes effort.
Networking has always taken effort.
LinkedIn simply gives us the opportunity to do it at a scale that was never possible before.
The technology has changed.
Human relationships haven’t.
Thanks, Diederik Erbé!
