CHAPTER 10
Assess Your Current On- and Offline Networks
Build Your Fan Club
Now that you have some clarity about your message thanks to your exploration in part 1, and you’ve presented your message digitally and visually (parts 2 and 3), let’s talk about growing the audience for that message. And with that comes growth in branding—the taller the tree, the longer the shadow. When you grow and foster strong, enduring relationships, you move yourself across the branding continuum toward the ultimate goal in branding—being a brand in demand (Figure 10-1).
Figure 10-1. The Branding Continuum
With your brand promise crystal clear in the hearts and minds of the people who need to know you, you can create a magnetic field that attracts opportunities. In chapter 2, you defined your brand community, or 5 D team (decision makers, doyens, disciples, defenders, and discoursers). In this chapter, I’m going to help you build and nurture that Dream Team so you can expand your visibility and your level of connection.
As we discussed in chapter 2, selective fame is all about being visible and available to your target audience—the people who will influence your success. The web provides infinite opportunities for you to expand that team. Before we get to growing your network, it’s time to add one more D to your Dream Team. That final D is for diversity. Although personal branding means focusing on your target audience, there’s equal value in diversifying your network.
According to Ivan Misner—called the “Networking Guru” by Entrepreneur magazine—“A diverse personal network enables you to increase the possibility of including connectors, or linchpins, in your network. Linchpins are people who in some way cross over between two or more clusters or groups of individuals. In effect, they have overlapping interests or contacts that allow them to link groups of people together easily” (Misner 2004). And former Merrill Lynch global wealth head Sallie Krawcheck shared on LinkedIn: “If my network is made up solely of female financial services professionals of my generation, who all hail from the South, I will likely feel very comfortable with them. And I will likely enjoy my time with them. And I will no doubt learn from them. But at some point, this will become an echo chamber of similar-enough experiences and perspectives.”
In fact, a study published in the Journal of Corporate Finance and quoted in Harvard Business Review underscored this concept, finding that “CEOs with strong connections to people of different demographic backgrounds and skill sets create higher firm value.”
MINDSET RESET
In building your network, you need to be both focused on your target and open to meeting new people who are different from you. In fact, when it comes to building your network on LinkedIn, my mantra is “be promiscuous.”
Do This, Not That
| Do establish your criteria and accept LinkedIn connections from all the people who meet those criteria, regardless of whether you know them well or not. Criteria can include things like: We work in the same industry. Or we have five people in common. Or they seem legitimate—they are very engaged. | Don’t shut out unexpected opportunities by being too restrictive in how you build your network; don’t keep it “pure.” |
As a bonus, “being promiscuous” will help you build diversity into your network, and it’s particularly helpful when it comes to LinkedIn. Here’s why. When LinkedIn shows the results of a keyword search, the results are partially based on the level of connection between the person doing the search and the people who turn up in the results. So, the more connections you have, the more times you’ll show up in search results, and the higher you’ll rank in those results—ultimately delivering the most opportunities for people to be able to connect with you.
Creating an Open Network
Numerous studies show that the number 1 predictor of success is simply being in an open network instead of a closed one (Simmons 2015).
BRAND HACK
Connect with the connected. When you connect with people who have a lot of connections or followers, you become visible to a much larger, more diverse community. Their network members become more aware of what you’re doing (in LinkedIn, this happens because they become your second-level connections), and that helps you grow your network’s depth and breadth, allowing greater potential diversity in your network.
Here’s how to build your focused-yet-open network with all the right Ds. This exercise is divided into three parts: past, present, and future.
Start With Your Past
Get your online network in parity with the real-world connections you’ve developed throughout your career. For all your social media accounts that you plan to use, search and find the people you:
• have worked with in the past
• went to school with
• met through volunteering and similar activities.
In other words, take a trip down memory lane.
In LinkedIn, you can import your email addresses and iPhone contacts to make this process easier. This will allow you to reach out to a large number of contacts at once, no matter how long you have known them.
Once you’re up-to-date, focus on the present.
BRAND HACK
Face the future by looking at the past. Reverse sort your email so the oldest messages show up on top. Then, look through the names of the senders who contacted you a while ago. Make it a goal to reconnect with the ones you’ve lost touch with. Add them to your digital-brand community.
Broaden With the Present
Build your network deliberately. To get the right people in your network—the decision makers and influencers who can help you reach your goals—begin by performing a gap analysis. Go back to the 5Ds and document your peeps in the five areas. When you know who is in your network, you can identify missing links. You might identify these missing connections by name, job title, industry, and so forth. Then proactively build your network. In all your chosen social media platforms, use hashtags to find people by shared interest, and then add, follow, or connect as appropriate.
Play With the LIONs
LIONs are LinkedIn Open Networkers. This is not a designation that was bestowed on them by LinkedIn. Members decide for themselves whether they want to be a LION or not. LIONs—as their name implies—are delighted to accept connection requests from virtually any other member. To find LIONs, perform a search on people, select the “All filters” option and enter “LION” in the last name field.
I can hear what you are thinking right now: “But I don’t want just anyone in my network; I only want relevant people.” Not to worry. To get to just those LIONs who are relevant to you and your career or business, use additional filters—you can choose locations, industries, and so forth. Then your search will yield a list of open networkers who would be valuable to add to your network. Send connection requests to add them to your growing list.
BRAND HACK
Easily add LinkedIn connections. When you reach out directly to a new contact, don’t send a connection request by clicking “connect” from their profile. Instead, send your connection requests through search. If you connect through a person’s profile, LinkedIn requires that you show how you are connected (via a company you worked for or a school you attended). That’s not required when you use search. Search for the person you want to connect with, and then click “connect” next to their name in the search results. Remember to customize all LinkedIn requests; avoid the generic invitation.
Plan for the Future
With your online network current and a plan in place to create growth, put systems in place to keep it that way.
Make Meetings Matter
Every time you meet someone you would like to have in your network, reach out immediately. Or better yet, keep the LinkedIn app open on your phone and add them as soon as you meet them. Turn this into a ritual so you will always keep your network up-to-date.
BRAND HACK
Use the LinkedIn QR code to connect in real time (and to show how digital savvy you are!). The QR code is the best way to add people to your network immediately upon meeting them. And as an extra bonus, using this feature demonstrates that you’re socially savvy—putting yourself in the category of “innovative” in the mind of your new contact.
In the LinkedIn app on your phone, you’ll find your unique code at the top on the right side of the search bar. Tap on it, choose “my code,” and the image will be displayed at a size that will make it easy for people to scan it. Here’s mine:
Put Others to Work
You can accelerate the growth of your network by enlisting others in your mission. They’ll be happy to help when you make it easy for them. Here’s how.
Add a direct link in your email signature to your preferred social media accounts. Including a link to your LinkedIn profile will help people get to know you.
Ask people to connect with you when you deliver presentations or web conferences. Include a slide at the end requesting that the audience members connect with or follow you.
Put your social media contact details on your real-world communications materials like your business cards, letterhead, thank you cards, and more.
BRAND HACK
Keep your contacts in one place. Maintain your own professional contact management system in LinkedIn. You can add your contacts to your connections and LinkedIn followers by connecting your LinkedIn account with your email and phone contacts. Then, you have all your people in one place. People change jobs, and their emails change as well—making it hard to stay in touch. That’s less likely to happen with their LinkedIn profile, as long as they keep it updated.
Just remember to export a backup copy of your LinkedIn community every six months or so. This way, you always have a list of your contacts just in case LinkedIn is unavailable. Downloading backup copies is a good habit to form for all your important cloud-based information.
Maximizing LinkedIn Groups
In LinkedIn, the easiest way to find “your people” is by joining groups. When you engage in groups, you can start to identify the people you’d like to stay in touch with. Groups are like professional associations online, with three big benefits:
• They usually have a lot more members. Some groups have hundreds of thousands of members who are all interested in a specific topic.
• They’re 24/7. Unlike real-world associations with monthly meetings, you can engage and connect when it’s convenient for you.
• Although they are focused on one topic, their members are often more diverse than in traditional professional associations, including a variety of people from various parts of the world, who all share an interest in the topic.
LinkedIn allows you to belong to 100 groups. Join groups related to different aspects of your life. These may include:
• alumni (schools and previous companies)
• thought leadership (your area of expertise, industry, and job function)
• social causes (philanthropy, volunteer groups, and so forth)
• interests and passions
• local groups (New York City Running Club, for example).
You want the right mix of groups to help showcase your personal brand. The groups you belong to not only allow you to increase your visibility and build relationships with others, but they also say something about who you are and what’s important to you. When someone looks at the groups you’ve joined, they make a determination about who you are based on the company you keep. Here’s the process:
1. Research. For each of the categories, research potential groups. Type the appropriate keywords in the search box at the top of the LinkedIn page, search, and then click on “more” and click “groups.” You’ll get a list of relevant groups along with the number of members. Briefly explore your options by reading the descriptions of the groups.
2. Join and lurk. Join the groups that meet these criteria:
• They have a high number of members who meet your criteria.
• The members are active, adding content and comments regularly. Belonging to inactive groups is like attending a networking function where no one shows up or people aren’t really engaged.
• The content resonates with you. You’re learning from true thought leaders and have an interest in sharing your own opinions and ideas.
Spend time understanding the culture of the group, discovering which members are most active, and finding out which topics generate the most engaging content. You can hang out in the background for a bit to acclimate yourself.
3. Introduce yourself. Just as you’d do at a professional association meeting, let people know who you are and that you are thrilled to become part of the conversation. Introduce yourself to the group and let them know why you are excited to be a part of their community. Other group members will likely reach out to you—and that will be a great opportunity to grow your relationships within the group.
4. Become an active member. Only after you have completed the previous steps can you start to maximize the value of groups. In the next chapter, I share ways to tap the full potential of groups.
5. Join the conversation. Before posting any of your own content, comment on others’ and use the “like” button. It’s much like the art of real networking. You shouldn’t rush into a group that is already formed and start speaking. Listen first.
6. Be consistent. When you join a group (online or not), become a regular part of the community. Set up a weekly calendar reminder. Consistency builds brands. You will see little benefit in being an intermittent member who posts and reads without regularity.
7. Identify brand community members. You will start to identify people who can fit into your 5 D brand community strategy: mentors, business partners, future hires, colleagues, trusted advisors, and mentees. Add these people to your LinkedIn connections, and reach out to them occasionally to build and maintain these relationships.
Learn About Others
Another great aspect of networking is getting to know others. You can check out people who are on a meeting attendee list that you haven’t met or learn about prospective clients, research competitors, and identify and source the ideal candidates for open roles. Use it before meetings to get the 4-1-1 on the people you’re about to meet. Find common connections and interests and start building stronger relationships.
BRAND HACK
Research on the DL. For those times where you want your sleuthing to be on the down-low (especially if you’re looking to poach talent or check out a competitor), be sure to change your privacy setting in the profile viewing options to “private mode.”
Summing Up
Can you hear your fans applauding your accomplishments? All strong brands have a fan club of people who know who they are and respect them for their expertise and point of view. When you build your network and stay connected to your network members, you make them aware of your expertise and your viewpoints on pertinent topics. This external community of people becomes a valuable asset as you progress in your career. But building and nurturing your fan club is just one step in the process of becoming a demanded brand. The next (and crucial!) step involves turning those fans into promoters so you have a full-time sales force touting your brilliance.