Advanced LinkedIn Networking: How to Connect and Convert  ## Metadata - Author: [[Social Media Marketing Podcast]] - Full Title: Advanced LinkedIn Networking: How to Connect and Convert - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/1e4937cd-78ce-4edf-859f-7871a6806e39 ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **LinkedIn as a Networking Event** - LinkedIn is the world's largest networking event where any ideal contact could be present. - It's designed for meaningful connections, combining social branding with business growth opportunities. Transcript: Speaker 1 I always use the analogy that LinkedIn is essentially the world's largest networking event. I mean, everybody that you could possibly want to talk to is hanging out. I always like think of it in my mind. I'm like the CEO is like, you know, eating off the cheese plate in the the quarter and like you're bumping elbows with like your next great client. Networking on LinkedIn is not just like a nice to have. It's kind of the entire point of the platform. It's where you have social branding and visibility and connection. They all come together to move your business forward if you do it right. I think that there are so many other platforms that are kind of built for entertainment and LinkedIn is a little bit too, but it's really designed with meaningful connection in mind. ([Time 0:03:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/aa03fe57-b7c1-40e5-8645-402588302a9c)) - **Power Priming Boosts Confidence** - Use power priming by visualizing yourself as confident before networking on LinkedIn. - This mindset shift increases confidence, quantity, and quality of sent messages. Transcript: Speaker 1 I think that networking honestly is about 90 percent just mindset. I didn't realize that there is actually a term for this, but it's called power priming, where you're intentionally putting yourself in a confident headspace before you enter a room. When I was writing my book, there were two studies that I kept coming back to that I find fascinating. One of them was essentially where they had people imagine that they were a CEO. So participants were split into two different groups. Group one was told, you are the CEO of a major company. And then the second group was kind of like the control group. They had no title or context to it. And they were both given the same task. So they had to send LinkedIn messages. So they both completed them. And then they interviewed them afterwards to see what their perception of it was. And the CEO, in quotations group, they felt more confident. They sent more messages. And they had a better feeling afterwards when they completed the task versus the other group that were told nothing. ([Time 0:05:12](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9463e842-e796-4101-b1d6-66de0d4816af)) - **Leverage AI to Boost Confidence** - Use AI to hype yourself up before networking by asking it to remind you of past successes. - AI can provide precise, motivating prompts more effectively than friends sometimes. Transcript: Speaker 1 Yeah. So you can also AI, AI can be your wingman or wingwoman, your cheerleader. You could ask AI to just gas you up before you go out the room. I think sometimes, you know, we rely on our friends, but I don't know about you, Mike, but sometimes you ask for that from a friend and it's like, you got this. It's like, that's great, but I needed a little bit more than that. Right. So going to chat GBT or going using an AI tool and saying, again, like you are my sidekick. You are my hype master. I need you to hype me up and remind me of all the times that I've done this before. Give it, you know, these specific details and use AI to hype you up. I've done this before. I think it, it works amazing. And truthfully, I hate to say this because I hope my friends aren't listening, but they kind of do a better job of piping me up sometimes than my friends do. ([Time 0:08:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/76546194-4f9f-458a-9bce-b6fb8960d5da)) - **Warm-Up Before Connection Requests** - Follow and genuinely engage with a person’s LinkedIn content before sending a connection request. - Personalize your request after research, including specific references to their work or profile details. Transcript: Speaker 1 I love it. Maybe this is an unpopular or a hot take, but I think that you can connect with strangers on LinkedIn. I think of all the people that I've connected with over the past few years, and so many of them were strangers before I knew them, obviously, but on LinkedIn specifically. So I think people kind of overcomplicate this. This is the playbook that I essentially teach is that you want to follow them first, right? It's a low pressure way to kind of get on their radar. I like to, if we're thinking about what this would look like in person, it's kind of like if you were to go to an event like Social Media Marketing World, and you just sit in the crowd, right? While they're talking, go to one of their sessions. So that would be following them first. And then next would be engaging with their content. So commenting thoughtfully. I don't mean get AI to send a comment because we all know AI and not a person. But adding not just like great posts, also something that adds to the conversation. So the comments that I get on my posts that really I feel that I gravitate towards are the ones where somebody shares their own perspective. So if I'm talking about something that, you know, maybe something I had a challenge with, somebody that say, oh, I also dealt with that and this is how I handled it. I love when people kind of insert a little bit of their own story in comments. So that's something to keep in mind when you're engaging with content, not necessarily being like, here's my soul in your comment section, but adding a little bit of your personality Or your story. And then also doing a little bit of research. So there's a couple of ways that you can do this. Number one, their about section is a goldmine if people have that filled out. And I think that, you know, in 2025, a lot of people have now optimized their profile, thankfully, maybe not to the full extent, but they filled out some information on their LinkedIn Profile. What matters to them, where they've been, where they're going. I really like using tools like there's a Chrome extension called Crystal. It's a personality predictor. It uses a disk model. You can just plug it into your Chrome browser. You activate it on the profile that you want it to look at and it will predict that person's personality and that person's values as well. You could do the same thing probably with ChatGPT or whatever AI tool that you're using, just copy and paste their LinkedIn profile directly into the AI app. I haven't done that myself, but I think that would be kind of a similar way of doing it. ([Time 0:10:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a506bc65-67c6-4084-a8c6-b9064e59c506)) - **Time Your Connection Requests** - Spend a couple of weeks observing and engaging on someone’s posts before sending a connection request. - Use specific, personalized messages referencing their content to increase acceptance likelihood. Transcript: Speaker 1 I think that for the most part, spending a little bit more time getting to know somebody first, you know, maybe a week or two looking at their post, commenting, following them, and then Sending a personalized connection request, not just saying, I like your content. I mean, maybe that'll be accepted. I like to be really specific. So using something like, hey, so and so, I really enjoyed your post on X, it really got me thinking, I'd love to stay connected and learn more about your perspectives. I really like reaching out to podcast guests. And I will do that right away. So Mike, if you had somebody on the show and I'm like, I need to connect with that person, I would probably actually send a connection request and talk about that episode. Because I think that's a little bit different to me when people reach out to me after I go on a show with you. It tells me that they have taken the time to sit down for 30 minutes or 45 minutes or whatever it is. So they've already invested in me. So I'm more likely to reciprocate and accept that connection request. ([Time 0:13:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/2393de6a-c0c1-46b8-a2ff-832f83be6bb8)) - **Be Patient and Resilient in Networking** - Not all connection requests get immediate responses; some take months or years to be accepted. - Rejection signals a need for more engagement, not a personal failure. Transcript: Speaker 1 Thank goodness for that. Wouldn't that be terrible if you send out like 10 connection requests and it's like you go on and you see like nine of your connection requests have been rejected. So shout out to LinkedIn for not telling us because I think that's one of those things that's better not to know. I don't know if there's a real answer to this, Mike, because I think that it really depends on how active that person and how big their network is. So sometimes there have been people that I've reached out to that are like huge authors or kind of celebrities in their own right. And it's taken a year or two. And then I even forgot that I sent them a connection request, but it gets accepted. And that's why it's important to also not discount it right away. I think that we have to get used to, in the process of networking on LinkedIn, get really comfortable with rejection, which is funny because I just talked about how I don't want to know When I'm being rejected. But I think that it's a good sign when you are not getting every single connection request accepted because a no for right now might be that you need to do more work, right? It might be, you know, if I reached out to you and you didn't know me yet, maybe it's not necessarily, oh, I don't like Michaela. I don't know who she is. I don't know what her intentions are. I don't know why this is relevant to me. So maybe I need to do more footwork and I need to read more of your posts and I need to interact more with your content before that person's going to accept it. I know that I have friends that are LinkedIn trainers. Judy's one of them, Judy Fox. And she has always talked about how she likes to connect with people in the comment section rather than her inbox right away. And I know a few people that are like that. I'm not necessarily that way. I really like my inbox. And I think that there's some conversations that can only be had in the inbox versus the comment section. So I think it really depends on the person that you're reaching out to. My one thing that I will say is don't let it get to you because I think it's good to aim high I think that it's a really good practice to when you go to an event or when you listen to a podcast Or when you read a book to reach out to people that you admire and not worry so much about whether or not they say yes because it's such a great practice in trying to expand your network and Connect with people that you admire, whether or not they say yes or no. ([Time 0:16:43](https://share.snipd.com/snip/690e3f8a-22db-4035-aa6d-f6aa765c2f70)) - **Keep the Conversation Alive** - Avoid sales pitches or just saying thanks after connection acceptance. - Instead, ask engaging questions that invite meaningful conversation and mutual interest. Transcript: Speaker 1 A couple of things that you should not do. Number one, and I think everyone knows what I'm about to say, the sales pitch. Do not do this. We've seen it a million times. I know that someone's listening is like already like, you know, nodding their head. When somebody accepts your connection request, do not send them a sales pitch within minutes or hours or days. It's not a good look. The other thing that people don't consider that is not great networking is thanks so much for accepting my connection request. I know it seems like the easiest next step to say. You can absolutely say that, but add some sort of follow up, right? Because again, I'd like to always flip this so that it's like, okay, what will we do in real life? You know, if we went to an event, let's say somebody invites you to their LinkedIn connection or their LinkedIn conversation and you go there. Imagine if you were to walk up and just say, thank you for inviting me to this conversation. Now you've kind of put the onus again on the person that you've requested the connection request to continue that conversation. So even myself as somebody that is a very open networker, I really struggle with those because I don't know, like, do you want to continue the conversation? Are we just done? Like, I don't know where you want to go with this. So I always think that the onus is on the person that requested the connection request to kind of move the conversation forward. So if you're connecting with somebody rather than a sales pitch, I want you to ask a question. ([Time 0:22:49](https://share.snipd.com/snip/59ac199f-d7cb-4c94-971c-64e9eb5aa285)) - **Use Light Questions to Engage** - Use light and fun questions like coffee orders to start conversations and learn about personality. - This approach opens dialogue and provides insights for personalized follow-ups. Transcript: Speaker 1 One of my favorite questions to ask people, it sounds really silly, but is what's your go-to coffee shop order? I think that would be really fun. I've never done this before, but if you're reaching out to somebody and you're super excited that they accepted your connection request, I would love to ask a question like that and Then like go and send them a gift card to buy that coffee, you know, if they go to Starbucks or whatever. But I love that question because people get really excited to answer it, number one. But number two, it also gives you insight into what type of person that is. So I know with my like prospective clients that they say like black, like bird, goldy hot, you know, I know that they are no fluff, no nonsense, straight to the point. They're probably more analytical versus somebody that's like, I love the seasonal latte with extra this and the more customization, some more likely that person also wants customized Messages. So there's a lot of lessons to be learned in someone's coffee shop order. ([Time 0:25:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/70c0fb2d-6b97-4fdb-a252-89cfb1c76625)) - **Nurture Connections Strategically** - Set reminders to follow up in 2-3 weeks with personalized messages or voice notes. - Keep engaging with their content and suggest virtual coffee for deeper connection and richer insights. Transcript: Speaker 1 Yeah. So number one, we've got to nudge our future self. If you're anything like me, I get really excited about things and then I completely forget. I am notorious for starting like an Instagram story and then I'm like, stay tuned for this. And then I forget to finish the story. So that is just me in a nutshell. So I like to do like a two to three week reminder. I just put in my calendar on my phone and they just follow up with the person. Hey, how's it go? I just want to see how your week is going. I love using voice notes. I mentioned this in my talk at Social Media Marketing World. I think it's such a great personal touch, especially when you're first connecting with somebody so that they can hear your voice or send a video so they can see your face and then keep Showing up in this process. So you want to keep liking their content, keep commenting on their posts, share their content. If it's relevant to your audience, you just essentially want to stay on their, in their radar and like a genuine way, right? It's like very similar to, again, I love to use in person, like models just to show what this might look like. So when it comes to social media marketing world, when I got on my plane, I was still interacting. I look up the hashtag for social media marketing world 2025. And these are people that I didn't even know. And I was just so excited because I was still on that like conference high. And I am still commenting and sharing and liking posts of people that I met. So that would be what you would be doing on LinkedIn. And then you want to make that second touch point feel personal. So look for that moment, like that post that they, you know, maybe they shared a milestone. Hey, I saw your post on X. It was so good. Just checking in, want to see how things are going on your end. I personally like to, at this point, send a request to meet up for virtual coffee. I like with new connections to jump on that call right away. Reason being that I want to have more material. So it's nice to see their content, but a lot of people are different maybe than they are on LinkedIn in person. So if I can jump on a 15-minute Zoom call and just over a virtual coffee, it's going to give me insights. I also use Otter if we're going to incorporate some AI. I love using Otter for this. It's going to record the whole conversation. And it's going to remember those things that are important to that person, whether it's they have dogs, they have kids, they're going to X conference. So that's going to give me more information right off the bat, that I can follow up with that person about. ([Time 0:26:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d4085bbb-b4b9-43cb-9a8a-ba015772266f)) - **Craft Clear Virtual Coffee Requests** - When requesting virtual coffee, be clear, relevant, and respectful of their time with a defined 15-minute limit. - Focus on genuine curiosity and knowledge exchange, not pitching or vague "pick my brain" asks. Transcript: Speaker 1 Relevant, I think is like the biggest one is, you know, this is not a pick your brain conversation. I don't do that to other people. I don't expect other people to do that to me. I think like being really clear, number one, that's 15 minutes helps a lot. Right. Because I think that like a lot of us get those messages from people like would love to pick your brain sometime, like could not be more vague. Number one, what does sometime mean? What does pick my brain mean? What's the timeline? Do we, can we do it? Speaker 2 I never want my brain. I never want my brain picked ever. Speaker 1 It sounds really painful, right? Speaker 2 Yeah. Speaker 1 It's saying very clearly, it's a 15 minute call. And I do stick to the 50 minutes unless that other person, like we both have to like agree, we're going to hang out for more than 50 minutes, but 50 minute call. I would love to hear more about your work on X. And so when I'm reaching out to somebody and I'm inviting them for a virtual call, or I want to hear your thoughts on this topic, right? It's usually after like I've looked at their profile, there's something that to me is really intriguing. And Mike, a big part of this too, when I did my, I did recently did a 30 day no fear networking challenge. And this really changed my perception around networking overall. And I think that inspiration and great conversations can come from really unexpected places. There's this guy that's called Rob. And actually I met somebody that was one of Rob's 10,000 friends. If you guys don't follow him, his work is amazing. He's on both LinkedIn and Instagram. There's a lot of Rob's. So it's called Rob's 10K Friends. And he is on a mission to have 10,000 one hour conversations with strangers. And we had a conversation. I was, I don't know, number 8,000 something. And I asked him, I'm like, what are you going to do when you're finished this? And he said, I'm going to continue. He's like, I never would have learned all of the things that I have if I hadn't started this project. And so that really kind of made me rethink the way that I network and the people that I reach out to. And even when I was doing this 30 day challenge, the lessons that I learned from strangers were so unexpected, that it made me more receptive to having these 15 minute conversations. Sometimes even when they're not about business or they're not, you know, leading to sales because I'm learning in the process, it's giving me ideas for content. A lot of the conversations have turned into LinkedIn posts, things like that. ([Time 0:33:25](https://share.snipd.com/snip/98378152-7abb-472c-8812-72d07f3cc47b)) - **MIC Framework for Natural Conversion** - Use the MIC framework: Make it mutual, Invite without imposing, Clarify vibe, Keep door open. - This approach fosters trust, is non-salesy, and leaves room for future engagement. Transcript: Speaker 1 It to the next level. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Let's do that. It's important right it's not all just great conversations and chatting over coffee so i created this that's called the mic form framework for natural conversion for people that are In sales which is most of us that hate selling so number one versus uh m which is make it mutual So set the tone that this isn't just about you. It's a chance to exchange value, right? So if you're open to it, I'd love to swap insights and hear more about what you're building. This is such a great way rather than saying, I'd love to pick your brain. It's, hey, I have X, you have X, let's swap some knowledge here. And then the I is invite, don't impose. So extend an offer, an expectation. And that's where the virtual coffee really comes in handy, where people can either accept it or not. And clarify the vibe. Like we have to be really clear about what we are bringing to people or what we're looking for. So I am very clear about saying 15 minutes, that it's casual. You can even say no pitching, no selling here. Spell it out so that people don't know that it's not a sales call. So it's just a 50 minute virtual coffee. Happy to explore if there's a way that I can support your work. Right. And then don't surprise them. Don't say that. And they don't love the call and say, Hey, you thought about this kind of insurance. Don't do that. And then the K, which is keep the door open. So whether or not they say yes, you planted a positive impression. So, and respect, build trust. One of the best ways to tell someone's character is how they respond when you say no, right? I have built relationships more with the rejections than I have with the acceptance. So if now's not the time, no worries at all. Glad that we connected. That is such a great way to stay top of mind and really like impress that person. I saw something the other day where it talked about networking being that you want to water the plant and not drown it. And I love that because this is what all of that is, right? We're still watering the plant. We're still selling. We're still making conversions, but we're doing it in a way that feels natural. ([Time 0:40:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/333b84ee-8ea2-4603-8c7b-537cb0b179b4))