Ideas to connect people
Ideas to connect businesses
Ideas to connect job seekers
Ideas to...?
CONNECT
It starts with a strategy for finding people where they are from an on-line perspective. Websites are terrific for subscribing to company newsletters and finding out who their founders and key personnel are. LinkedIn, Crunchbase and more recently, AngelList, provide useful information that complements a company website.
Executives, venture capital and private equity investors, educators and civil authorities tend to be on LinkedIn. Small business owners tend to focus their social media efforts on Facebook and Instagram. Twitter is a catch all site for those individuals that like to share their opinions that may or may not be connected with their employer or place of business.
Job seekers and post-secondary students that are nearing graduation, will find themselves on LinkedIn in an effort to draw attention to prospective employers that they are seeking employment or planning to shift their career focus.
CONNECTING
Cold calling in 1997 is analogous to cold emailing in 2021. Getting the attention of your targeted or desired individual is not easy in today’s social media wired world. This could be a founder of a new tech startup; a college or university student; a professor or instructor; a construction manager or corporate executive; a venture capital or private equity investor; a government official; non-profit administration; or a small business owner of a restaurant, craft distiller or e-commerce website.
Reaching out on LinkedIn is a multiple step process. In the first stage, a 300-character “personalized invitation” accomplishes two objectives: first, it is free and second, it differentiates your outreach from those that simply click on “Connect”. The standard reply from LinkedIn “Allen wants to connect with you” does not inform the recipient of why you are seeking to connect with them.
Reaching out on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter can be accomplished by sending a direct message through the link in the company profile. There is no guarantee that you will reach your target or desired individual (ie. founder, managing director or CEO) but you can always ask the moderator to connect you.
CONNECTED
In early 2017, Allen had approximately 800 contacts on LinkedIn, comprised primarily of past work contacts and colleagues he accumulated upon registering with the site in 2003.
By the end of 2020, Allen had amassed nearly 7,000 contacts on LinkedIn from reaching out to potential investors and advisors for his blockchain project, acting in the capacity of investor relations advisor to several tech and non-tech start-ups and reaching out to potential guests for his podcast initiatives.
In fact, the frequency of his social media posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – whether linked to his podcast guests or posting of articles of relevancy to his contacts -- has many people reaching out to Allen (either via LinkedIn, Instagram or email) requesting to connect for general interest, seeking to sell their services or to be a guest on his podcast.
To date (as of 20 October 2022), the Calgary Business Podcast has over 29,000 downloads; 200+ unique listeners each week are enjoying the podcast
THE INSPIRATION?
