LinkedIn, is it really a business tool? Have you gone through the motions, set up your profile, had people ask you to connect, connected with them and then that’s it?
Over the last few months I’ve been a Linkedin extremist and exploiting the hell out of it. For example, when I began I had 2000 connections, and within six months I connected with 4000 more. However, I was no better off than before I started and my research shows 50% of people will connect even if they don’t know who the hell you are!
So that got me thinking a little bit more, why do people use LinkedIn? What’s the point, and what’s Linkedin all about? One of the people that I connected to sent me a link to a 30 second video introducing himself. It was different so I took more interest. This caught my attention more than anyone else I have connected to in the past. I thought I would adopt the same approach.
I had a friend help me put together my own 30 second video. I installed some very clever software that sent my introduction video to people that had connected to me but had never private messaged me. My research showed that out of the 1500 people who had connected to me previously, and not communicated with me at all, out of that only 200 people watched the video.
I still wasn’t getting the results that I was hoping for, so for all the people that connected and received my introduction to watch my 30 second video, I sent the following message:
“Hey FirstName!!
You may not remember me, but you and I first met growing up together in the first Mars Colony. My family used to run the yadnuS space theatre, who played old earth movies on the weekends. It is nice to finally be able to reconnect, wouldn’t you agree Linkedin is amazing?”
I’m sure you can imagine I got mixed replies however, I did start getting replies, and at this time then I would reply with.
“Congratulations, you are one in 200. Most people just connect on LinkedIn and don’t actually have a conversation, hence my experiment. Thank you for replying to me it’s nice to know that there are some real people from earth out there!
Do you mind if I asked you, have you looked at my LinkedIn profile yet? If so, was it before you connected or after you got the message? “You may not remember me, but you and I first met growing up together in the first Mars Colony.”
A couple of extra things I noticed was that quite a few people were comfortable in just clicking a standard Linkedin shortcut (Thanks, LOL, Thumbs Up) even though I had written a novel. I made a rule with myself that anyone that made an effort to communicate with me, I would take time to visit their Linkedin profile to see who they were, and what they do and who they were connected to. Then I would endorse them for a skill I felt they had. Once again many would click a button with the standard Linkedin shortcut. So I would then send them the following message:
“Hey FirstName !!!
Did you know I have endorsed over 200 people in the last 7 days, and 30% replied with standard Linkedin shortcuts (Thanks, LOL, thumbs up) so it made my day to get your reply 
Do you mind if I asked you, if you have looked at my LinkedIn profile yet? If yes, was it before you connected or after I endorsed you? Also have you endorsed anyone after they have endorsed you?
Did you know I like being endorsed for Entrepreneurship, Business Networking, Public Speaking, Leadership and Social Networking. (Just Saying)”
Would you believe, I get very few endorsements, maybe I’m just not good at stuff or people are just too busy or they can’t be bothered. So you would have to ask, is Linkedin worth the energy you put in? I’m on a mission looking for gems, looking for people that do have time to communicate and I feel that it has been a worthwhile exercise. Regardless, if somebody connects with you and doesn’t ever message you or speak to you, they are still looking at you and your content on their Linkedin feed, anytime you post.
In conclusion, Linkedin has been very beneficial to me. I own a business networking company and I go to a lot of events. People have been approaching me like they know me and in one instance two people came up to me and thanked me for wishing them a happy birthday the other day. I have had many people contact me from Linkedin directly who were interested in coming along to my Business Networking organisation. This is suprising as I have another rule, I never tell people what I do and who I am unless asked. As I am looking for people who show an interest in others as that is my demographic of clientele in my networks.
I have formed some brilliant relationships online and now I am a LinkedIn master! I’m running workshops teaching people how to connect with other people on Linkedin using the research I have been doing over the last few months.
P.S. If you like this article, please click “like” or provide comment, as that will motivate me to publish more. Share and inspire. Thank you.
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