Demystifying LinkedIn Conversations: Be Found, Remembered and Chosen More

LinkedIn Conversations

There’s an old adage that your network is your net worth; your personal brand plus your professional network are among your most valuable assets.

Within the Nimble network, no one understands how to build relationships than Jo Saunders, a dear friend and social media strategist, educator, speaker, and expert trainer at Wildfire Social Marketing. Affectionately known as “The LinkedIn Demystifier,” Jo has been thriving in the marketing ecosystem for nearly 15 years, thanks to her common-sense relationship building practices.  

On her way to speak at Social Media Marketing World 18 (#SMMW18) in San Diego, California, Jo connected with Mark Fidelman, Nimble Growth Hacks show host, to unpack how she utilizes Nimble to build intimate, long-lasting relationships from one of the most isolated cities in the world: Perth, Australia.

Check out Jo’s effective approach to building relationships with Nimble CRM in the video above.

Here are the highlights.

How Jo Builds Global Relationships from Down Under

Jo professes that her strategy is not some mystical process or relational panacea:

“There’s no magic formula and it’s not some quick fix. . . It’s a long game, as most relationship building is.”

For Jo, the real key to building relationships goes back to good old-fashioned networking; albeit with the modern twist of harnessing the power of social media. While Jo isn’t a fan of the term “social selling,” she acknowledges that this is essentially what she teaches business professionals to do; though she prefers the terms relationship marketing or social networking.

“It’s really just taking the time to research and get to know people, using the tools to do so. . . A tool like Nimble adds so much value to LinkedIn, provides so much social intelligence, and ability to build those relationships. Nimble is probably the secret weapon, really.”

When asked about her specific tactics for maximizing the efficacy of social networking, Jo doesn’t proclaim to possess a detailed strategy as much as a set of activities that she carries out on a regular basis.

Jo finds that the most effective methods in building relationships are the most commonplace and elementary actions. She believes it comes down to simply taking a genuine interest in people, asking them relevant questions, and taking the time to go back and carry on with conversations.

“It sounds like basic sort of stuff, but I think that a lot of people…make the mistake of just broadcasting [on social media]; trying to hit that scale on content. But, the power is in the conversation. The power is in the individual relationships, which take time; but that’s just how life is.”

Jo gives a prime example of this “strategy” in action:

A woman connected with her through LinkedIn. Using Nimble, Jo was able to quickly identify the woman’s other social profiles. By beginning to study the larger “social footprint” of this individual, Jo was able to uncover common experiences and interests so she could quickly determine how to go about starting to build the relationship.

As it happens, Jo discovered she used to sit on a toy library committee that her new contact now serves. Additionally, the woman’s and Jo’s sons share the same name.  This gave Jo ample knowledge and insight to make a meaningful connection and start creating a rapport.

“That’s the sort of stuff that you can bring from Nimble. That’s just one relationship, but it takes you seconds to find out this information. It sounds like a lot of work – these one-on-one relationships – but it’s not, thanks to Nimble.”

Final Thoughts

Jo’s model of relationship building clearly shows that there is no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to connecting authentically with those in your social circles. The use of powerful technological tools like Nimble serve to enhance the connection process and make networking and communication a more fluid and natural practice.

If you want to learn more about Jo’s methods for forming meaningful professional connections online, you can start forming a relationship with her by leaving a comment here, connecting on LinkedIn, reaching out on Twitter, or by visiting Wildfire Social Marketing.