#204: How To Use LinkedIn for Networking (Effectively)

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Well, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to season five of Life & Law. This is Heather Moulder, your host, and I am super excited to be back with you for a new season. If you've been with me for a while, you may have noticed that there are some minor changes, not really big ones, but I've done a little bit of rebranding in some of the colors and also the name of the podcast. It's not actually that big of a rebrand because it's mostly the tagline. I took the word podcast out of the name of the actual podcast. So we're now just Life & Law.

Are You Using LinkedIn Like Most Lawyers? (You're Missing Out)

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So today we are going to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while because I have noticed that most lawyers do not utilize LinkedIn much at all. We get on it. We check out what others are saying. We might like a few things, but that's pretty much the extent of it.

And some of this is how we think of it. We tend to think of LinkedIn as a place to go to see what others are posting. Maybe even post ourselves, which is great. That's marketing, right?

But this episode is for those lawyers who are interested in finding out how to utilize LinkedIn as a networking tool, especially for those who really want to network more but do not like cold reach-outs and don't really have time for what they think of as a soul-sucking social platform, but really value relationships and connections.

Because LinkedIn is a very efficient networking tool and one that most lawyers just do not utilize in that way. And the really good news is you can utilize it without posting anything. Now, we're not gonna get into that part today, but let me be clear, posting is very helpful on LinkedIn.

Why Most Lawyers Shy Away From Using LinkedIn

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But even if you're thinking, okay, I maybe want to do that, but you have trepidation around it, which I find a lot of lawyers do. We feel a little vulnerable. We aren't quite sure how to use social media platforms. Today is for you because when you change how you think of LinkedIn, it's a lot easier to start posting on it. So I don't actually want you to start there. I want you to get started with utilizing it as your networking tool.

03:39
And today what we're going to do is we're going to talk about how to maximize LinkedIn's networking capabilities. And while you're doing that, get a lot more comfortable with using LinkedIn fully, meaning eventually more comfortable with starting to post some valuable content of your own. So, before we dive into what I like to call the LinkedIn networking blueprint, a quick note about your LinkedIn profile.

The 1 Thing You Must Do Before You Start Using LinkedIn for Networking

Your first job is to optimize your profile. You want that optimized before you start doing all the things we're going to talk about today. Lucky for you, I've covered that already back in season four. So if you have not listened to it, or maybe you did a while ago, but you've forgotten about it, or you never really did the work you thought you were going to do or plan to do, go back and listen to that after today's episode. And do that before you take the steps that we're going to talk about today.

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Because it's really going to help you a lot more if you optimize your profile first. And optimizing your profile isn't that hard, I promise. So that episode is episode 190, and I will include a link to that episode in the show notes.

Step 1: Shift Your Mindset

Okay, so step number one is all about shifting your mindset.

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Remember, LinkedIn was actually supposed to be a networking tool initially. It isn't just a stage for content. It's, oh, I like to think of it as a conference room for conversations, kind of like a really huge conference room. When we go to those big conferences, and you walk into the huge room, that's what LinkedIn is on a supersized scale.

Biggest Mistake Lawyers Make with LinkedIn

A big mistake that a lot of lawyers make is that we lurk. We scroll, we like, but that's it.

I want you to start thinking about utilizing LinkedIn as part of your network. It's full of opportunity to build relationships, just like going to a conference, but without ever having to leave your office, without having to pay for and go take the time-consuming travel, without having to be there for days and days on end to meet new people.

Good News: Being Active Doesn't Require You To Post Anything

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And you do not have to, quote unquote, be active by posting often. You just need to be engaged. In fact, LinkedIn really likes people to be engaged. So...

What does engage mean?

It means commenting on people's posts that you find interesting and valuable. It means sending connection requests to people that you want to be connected with. It means messaging people you want to get to know better and/or to say something you'd want to say to them in person. Like:

• "congrats on the promotion", or
• with a piece of advice a mentor gave you that you found valuable and relates to something they recently posted about, or
• "hey, I read your post yesterday and I know I commented on it, but I really wanted to let you know [then let them know something]".

Basically, messaging is for saying something real and heartfelt that you would say in person.

Why (& How) To Message Your LinkedIn Connections

So as proof of how this works...

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I typically ask people to do coffee chats. Now, I don't do it year round because I don't have time for it year round, but there are certain times of the year, typically towards the end of the year and the beginning of the year, there's like a three to four month period where I will reach out to recent connections or connections that I don't know that well or somebody I connected with a while ago when we lost touch and ask for coffee chats.

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And coffee chats are really just a quick Zoom chat, 15 to 20 minutes long. It's a get-to-know-you thing.

The way I reach out to people is, hey, we've been connected for a while, but we don't know each other that well. How about we change that? I don't want all my connections to go into what I call the LinkedIn black hole. If you're interested in chatting for 15 to 20 minutes to get to know one another and see how we can support one another better, here's how to schedule a coffee chat on Zoom.

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And those have been really, really successful for me. I've done them for the past three years. And, you know, not everybody says yes, but most people respond back and it starts a conversation whether or not they say yes. And then I would say about 60% do say yes. And then we have a coffee chat and we get to know each other a little bit better.

And funny enough, I do not reach out, by the way, with anything in mind. I reach out to people who seem interesting, people that I've recently connected with that have an interesting background, people that I don't really remember why we connected. And so it's nice to know why and to get to know them a little bit better. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why I reach out to people.

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And I'm really just curious about getting to know them, getting to know why they were interested in connecting, and getting to know more about them so that I also can support them in whatever way I can. And it's mutually beneficial to both of us to do this. So it's not transactional, okay? It's just out of curiosity and interest and figuring out who I want to build relationships with for my network, okay?

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Through those, I have gotten more than – I mean, probably 10 to 15 guests for this podcast just by doing that. I've also gotten clients from it. And often the people who I get – the people who hire me, eventually from these –

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are not people I would have necessarily anticipated. Some of them, if you looked at their bio, maybe I would, but many of them I wouldn't have initially. So these are always surprises for me. I've also guested on other people's podcasts. I've gotten several speaking engagements from these coffee chats. And so this is a great way

09:15
This simple thing of messaging people can really, really work. And that is just one of many examples that I have. Now, you might be thinking, okay, Heather, that sounds great, but you're no longer practicing law. That doesn't work for us lawyers.

How To Make This Work As A Lawyer

I've got a client who said something similar.

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But because he really didn't have time to be posting a lot, he didn't have writing time, he had several big cases going on, several were probably going to go to trial, like he just didn't have the time to do the writing even though he enjoys it. And he didn't have time to go to a lot of networking events. He decided, you know what, I'm going to give it a try.

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I'm going to get on LinkedIn for 20 to 30 minutes per day during the weekday and see what I can do and try this networking thing that you've told me about. Guess what? He started using the system that I'm talking about today. And a couple of months later, he had several new clients. He had a couple more he was talking to and that were in process. And at the end of the day, he's probably going to make a couple hundred thousand within the next year just off of that system.

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Okay? He does high dollar specialized litigation at a boutique law firm, by the way. So I'm telling you this can work for anyone. So get your mindset there. And as always, I started with mindset because it is foundational. If you go in this going, all right, you know what? I'm willing to believe this could happen, that this could be profitable in some way, that this could be really beneficial to me. I want

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I'm willing to give it 90 days, 120 days. I'm going to give it a try and I'm going to go all in. If you go in with that mindset, it's going to be very different than, I don't really believe it. So make sure that you get there. And if you have trouble, reach out to me. Let's talk. Maybe we'll have a coffee chat.

Step 2: Grow Your Network With Intention

Okay, step two.

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You need to build and grow your network with intention. So one of the mistakes I see is that we often just say yes to every connection that reaches out to us.

Connect With People You Meet (& Be More Active)

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Or we don't check the connections that reach out to us. It is interesting to me how many people I will reach out to to connect with, and three months goes by, and they haven't even been on LinkedIn, so they don't see it. And so then I'll recall it. And then if I see them active again, I will reach out then and then it'll be a yes. So it's very clear sometimes that a lot of people don't get on LinkedIn very often. So I would say, you know, check in at least weekly.

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But you want to also make sure that when you are connecting with people, these people make sense, all right? So what do I mean with intention?

Connect (Even Seek Out) People Within Your Industry

Well, you want to make sure that you're connected to people within your industry, fellow lawyers, but also other people within your industry that would have connections to those people you would want to get in front of, right?

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And so it could be all kinds of professionals. It could be all kinds of people with different positions at different companies. It very much depends on what your business is, what your industry is within the legal field.

Audit Your Non-LinkedIn Connections (& Include Other Professionals that Aren't Direct Industry Contacts)

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So the first thing to do if you don't have a robust network, or maybe you do, but you don't know that you have the right people in your network, is to do what I call import and audit. So you want to import your email contacts and calendar connections, okay? Those people that you actually know well. You want to make sure you're connected on LinkedIn. You would be surprised if

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How often I see people who have numerous clients or prospects or people they've met at different conferences that could be referral sources and they're not connected on LinkedIn. So you want to make sure those people are within your LinkedIn universe.

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So review, who have you met? You know, who's on your contacts list? Who do you know? What family members and friends are you not connected with on LinkedIn that might make some sense?

How LinkedIn Works (Who Sees Your Posts + Comments)

So the way that LinkedIn works, it's not just about your first connections, but if you post or comment on things, other people are going to see that.

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Your connections are going to see that. And if your connections see that and comment on it or like it, then some of their connections might see it. So that's how it works. So this is why you want to really look at all of that. And make sure you include everyone. That makes sense. So import and audit. Secondly, connect proactively. So a rule of thumb, you want to connect with somebody individually.

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you meet, right? Anytime you meet somebody in person, get introduced to somebody new, or even hear about somebody that you admire that is relevant to you, that maybe you know somebody, like it's a second connection, don't wait for people to connect with you. Take the initiative to reach out to them and ask for the connection.

Connect With People Who Engage With You on LinkedIn

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If you do start commenting, if you do post stuff upon occasion, and somebody new likes or comments on one of your posts or one of your comments, and yes, comments, we'll get into that more specifically shortly, you want to connect with them too. When you connect, you have two options. You can just ask for the connection. Now, that makes a lot of sense if you know them well.

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It makes a lot of sense if you very recently met them and you guys talked in person. You said, you know what, I'm going to be sending you a LinkedIn request. But sometimes it might make sense to personalize.

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that connection request. So perhaps it's somebody you want to be connected to because they're in your industry and they write on topics that are of interest to you. So maybe you send the connection request and say, hey, I read your article on whatever, really appreciated the part where you said, would love to connect, okay? Mention shared connections or experiences in there, but definitely keep it short and keep it human.

Following vs. Connecting on LinkedIn

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Now note that some people prefer not to be connected. They want people to follow. That doesn't mean you can't request a connection. My general rule of thumb is if you really don't know them and you don't have any shared connections or any reason, obvious reason immediately to connect, you follow them first. Then if they are posting, if they're somebody who posts regularly and you start commenting and you get a relationship going that way, you can ask for the connection request at that point.

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But if you know the person already or you've met in person, I would just ask for the connection. I find connecting is a little bit better than following. Okay, so that's step two. Build and grow your network with intention. And by the way, I kind of lay this out as steps. It's really more of a framework. So you do have to start with your mindset. You do want to make sure you have the right people in your network. But then you also want to keep it going. So this is not a one-and-done, right? You want to expand thoughtfully.

You want to ensure that as you go to new events, you're connecting with people. But you also may want to do a little bit of research every so often to continue expanding. So use the people you may know suggestions so that you can follow people who are relevant industry leaders so that you can see others who might be good suggestions for you to follow or connect with.

Search For New Connections (& Use The LinkedIn Recommendations)

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And think about searching upon occasion. You can use the search function within LinkedIn and search for people by topic, role, geography. You can search for potential clients. You can search for referral sources. You can search for collaborators. And by the way, when you're doing these searches and you request to connect, it's not, again, purely because you want them to be a client or a referral source or a collaborator. It might be something that's like, oh, that would be nice one day.

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But for now, it's just good to be connected to them because they're within your relevant industry, because they talk about interesting topics, that type of thing. So that's piece number two. You want to make sure you've got some intentional connections, and you want to continually do that as you head into step three.

Step 3: Engage Consistently (& Like A Real Person)

Number three, engage. And when I say engage, we're going to get into that, but do it like a real human being.

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So again, you do not have to post to be seen, but you do need to engage. What does that mean?

What Is "Engagement" On LinkedIn?

Well, number one, make sure you're following thought leaders in your industry.

Comment and Like Posts from Thought Leaders & Others In Your Industry

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Again, use LinkedIn's search to discover topics that clients are talking about, potential referral partners posting about relevant work, industry conversations you can thoughtfully join via groups, competitors who are thought leaders on LinkedIn, and other people who are thought leaders in your industry.

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So just note that it's okay to follow competitors. It's okay to comment on their stuff if it's real and relevant and it's something you would say in person, face-to-face. I wouldn't shy away from that. But also there's going to be other people in your industry who are thought leaders. And if you're not sure what that means, I have a whole podcast on thought leadership with a wonderful guest, Jay Harrington, who loves to talk about these things as well. And really what thought leadership is,

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It is. It's those people who are out there talking about stuff all the time, who do a lot of marketing, who become known as experts within their industry because they're out there marketing on it. They're out there talking about it. They present presentations. They get on podcasts. They post on LinkedIn. They might do all of those things or one of those things a lot, but you see them. There are thought leaders on LinkedIn in your industry. Find them. Start following them. Start engaging with their stuff.

Be Sure To Ring the LinkedIn Bell (To Get Notifications When Thought Leaders Post)

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Sign up also to get their notifications. So when you follow somebody or connect with somebody, there's like a bell that you can ring, especially if they're a thought leader, so that you get notifications when you log into LinkedIn that so-and-so is posted. And that will help you to find their stuff more quickly and be able to engage with it.

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So first you have to find people to follow that actually talk about stuff that's relevant to what you do. Then you need to follow and or connect with them and ensure that you get notifications when they are posting. So then you need to start checking their posts on a regular basis and start commenting thoughtfully. So here's what you want to do. You want to comment and like and in that order.

Comment First, Like Second

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I don't know why this is, but the algorithm works better if you comment on somebody's post before you like it. So help them out when you do it and comment on it and then be sure to like it. Like it, love it, laugh at it, whatever it is you want to do. Don't just like it. This is what real engagement is. And I recommend getting onto LinkedIn at least three times per week to check out what's been posted recently by the people you're following, by these thought leaders, and start commenting thoughtfully. I aim for...

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Five comments or more each time I get on there, often even more. My suggestion for you is initially start with three, then move up to five, then go higher if you can. And you especially want to look at posts that are written by people you want to build a relationship with, people within your niche, and clients or potential clients you want to support their visibility to.

Add Real Value To Posts (Here's How)

Now, let's get into how to comment better.

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Because most people don't do this very well. You've got to add actual value. Don't just say great post or thanks for posting or thanks for this or this really resonated. No. Tell us why.

• Why is this a great post?
• What is it you got out of it?
• What else might you add to it?

Here are some examples of things you can do:

You can share a story or an experience that supports the point of the original post. You can add new insight or some nuance to it.

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And nuance can be, okay, yeah, I've seen that a lot. But also, here's something else I've seen that's a little bit different. You can add nuance. Yes, you can do that if done professionally.

You can even challenge their point. Also, if done correctly, there's an art to that.

You can ask a thoughtful question that would take this even deeper. Now, this needs to be a real question. Something I see a lot on LinkedIn, which drives me a little bananas, is people will ask questions that are meaningless or that are already answered or that really don't relate that well.

Only ask the question if you have the question, okay? If you're like, hey, I'm wondering about, what do you think about, right? So treat this like you would as if you were talking one-to-one with the author of the post at an in-person networking event. The goal again is to add value,

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The point is to take the conversation further while, and this is important, differentiating yourself based on your approach, your take, your style, your experience, and not in a look at me way. And yes, you can do this gracefully in a way where the original poster will actually appreciate it even when challenging them or pushing back a little bit. Again, think about how you do that in person face-to-face.

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So for example, let's say they make a point that you agree with, but only in certain circumstances. You can say that and then add your insight to when their lesson or tip might not apply and then ask what they think about it. Do you agree? What are your thoughts about this? That is a polite and professional way to do this.

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Or let's say you don't quite agree because you've had experience that taught you a hard-earned lesson that maybe they haven't had that experience yet. You could say something like, you know what, I used to ascribe to this too, until, and then briefly share your experience. Now, in that case, you'd probably want to end with, what are your thoughts about how to navigate in this instance, given your viewpoint? I'm really interested in knowing to see if I could be swayed back your way or if we would agree or disagree on this.

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Now, if you absolutely do not agree and can't do this in a professional manner, do not comment. Okay? You do not have to comment on everyone's posts all the time. You just want to comment when it feels right. So this is another reason you want to follow numerous people, more than a couple.

NOTE: How Many Thought Leaders To Follow

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Try to follow five, six, seven, eight, 10 if you can. And that way you'll have plenty of people if they're all posting at least a couple of times a week and you get in there three times a week for 20 minutes at those times, you'll have plenty of people to check out their posts and say, okay, who has the most relevant post for me today that I'm really interested in commenting on? And you may be asking, well, why would people want me to say these things? Why do they want it back and forth? Well, here's the deal. You're helping them by commenting.

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The more comments and engagement somebody gets on their post, the better that post, it means the better that post really is. It's getting real engagement, which means LinkedIn gives it more juice, shows it to more people. And why do you want to do this? Well, you want to do this because, again, LinkedIn shows it to more people. People don't just look at posts. A lot of people actually look at comments.

Why Engage? How This Works On LinkedIn

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And an interesting thing you'll notice when you start doing this, if you go back to an old comment, so let's say you comment, you ask a question, they answer it, you see that the next day, you go back there, you're going to be able to see how many impressions your comment got. Some of them are going to shock you. Some of my comments to other people's posts get more impressions than some of my posts do. And I'll get a lot of engagement from it. And I'll get people checking out my profile because of it.

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This is why you want to be engaging on LinkedIn. Now, what to say in these comments and when to say it is an art. It is something you're going to get better at and quicker with as you do it, just like with in-person networking.

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25:30
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Okay, let's move on to the next piece of engagement.

Step 4: Message thoughtfully.

So, as mentioned before, you want to take the conversation further when warranted. Now, when do you do this? How do you do this? So you can do it when you've read somebody's post that really resonated, that you really enjoyed. Hey, Heather, I really enjoyed your post about what? And then include why it helped you and thank them for it. That's an easy thing to do, right?

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If it's somebody who just connected with you, you can thank them for the connection and ask for a coffee chat like I do. You can ask a question about something they posted recently about or that they referenced or something that's public that you would ask them if you saw them in person at an event. Basically, think of this as a hallway chat at a conference. Don't sell, just be human. Remember, this is the beginning, y'all, of a relationship.

Now, you also could take something further if you're going back and forth in the comments.

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So let's say you commented on somebody's post, they commented back, you've had a back and forth. Well, that might be a good reason to reach out and say, hey, I've really enjoyed this. Thanks so much for the wonderful, you know, commenting on this or the wonderful chat about this. I've enjoyed your take. Ask to take it further. Ask for that coffee chat. If they're local, ask for a lunch or breakfast or coffee. Like you can actually ask them to go meet in person.

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Or if they're in your same industry and there's an upcoming conference, you could ask about, hey, are you going to be at this conference? And then schedule a meeting then. There are so many ways to take this further if you want. This is just a starting point for you. All right, so now you know my simple framework that got my client several new clients in just a couple of months. I really want you to get started and try it out.

Your 5-Day LinkedIn Networking Challenge

So I'm going to give you a LinkedIn networking challenge today.

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I'm gonna give you one that takes five days, okay? So you could start this today, you could start this tomorrow, or you could start this, depending on when you listen to it, next Monday.

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So that you can do it Monday through Friday. You choose. And maybe you do it over a two-week period. And day one is a Tuesday. Day two is a Thursday. I don't care. But just get this done within the next two weeks. That's my ask of you. So here's your LinkedIn networking challenge:

Day one: Optimize your profile

Again, go listen to episode 190. Make sure it's optimized. It should not take you too long.

Day Two: Identify Your Top 10 Contacts (& Make Them Connections)

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Import your contacts and identify your top 10, so the top 10 people you want to be connected with that you're not, and send connection requests to those people.

Day Three: Follow 5+ Thought Leaders

Find (and follow) at least five thought leaders in your niche or industry. Follow them and ring the bell for notifications.

Day Four: Comment On 3 Posts

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Get in there and find three posts that you can comment on. Okay, just three. Those thought leaders, of course. And by the way, doesn't have to be that day. LinkedIn sometimes will show you stuff that's older, that's getting more juice. You can comment on older stuff, too, if it's relevant and you enjoy it. All right, so just comment on three posts. Be sure to spend about 15 to 20 minutes doing that.

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And then check in a little bit later for five minutes to make sure nobody's commented back, right? And you can continue the conversation if they have.

Day Five: Connect With Anyone Who Liked/Commented

Day five, make sure you've connected with anyone who liked or commented on those comments from the day before. And then DM one new connection with a heartfelt human note. Then take what you've learned, take this system, and create your own system for keeping up.

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Networking does not always have to take place in person or at time-consuming conferences. LinkedIn gives you access to the exact people you want to meet, and meeting people there works, y'all, but only if you use LinkedIn as a networking tool it actually is. That's it for today. Bye for now.