How to Build an Audience and Grow Relationships on LinkedIn
What you need to do right now.
Sam Browne, a native New Zealander was a bonafide rock star. His band - Black River Drive’s debut album had a #1 hit. ‘Bullet for Your Gun’ topped the charts in New Zealand for five straight weeks, beating out ACDC (watch music video here.) But his childhood dream of having a lifelong rock career disappeared as his band mates started to leave and his voice gave out after an intense season. What did he do? He pivoted and poured his energy into his side hustle.
Turns out, Sam’s creativity wasn’t just in song writing, he grew his side hustle to 7 figures and started two other businesses since his rock star days.
I reflected on our conversation and a key lesson emerged from his successes 👇🏽
THE LESSON
Reciprocity: give and you’ll get.
It’s a deep human instinct that is the basic currency of all our relationships.
Howie Chan
❤️ Heartset: Give without expectations and it comes back 10 fold
Sam shares how his first entrepreneurial venture Find A Band business blew up. Find A Band helps people book bands for live events. Think weddings, corporate gigs etc. At the beginning it was really hard to convince bands to sign up to the website. They had no credibility and no other bands on it. But he turned it around with one bold move. He gave every band a free video shoot to join his platform. Everyone said yes. He gave first in order to get.
He then did the same thing in his LinkedIn journey. He gave away free content everyday to help others grow on the platform and in doing so, he built an audience who were eager to buy his stuff and work with him.
The secret to giving more?
Give without expectations. Know that it always makes someone’s life better. The truth is you will feel better about yourself too. Especially when you think you don’t have anything to give, but once you do, you switch to an abundance mindset and it will instantly elevate your story about yourself.
“Only by giving can you recieve more than you already have.”
Jim Rohn
🧠 Mindset: Small gifts result in big returns
Reciprocity is a proven technique. Consider the case of Disabled American Veterans (DAV). For a long time, the organization relied on a standard form letter to reach out to potential donors, yielding a respectable 18 percent response rate. However, DAV wanted to achieve even greater results. Leveraging the principle of reciprocity, they devised a clever new approach.
Rather than simply mailing the usual letter, they decided to include a small gift—personalized address labels. This thoughtful addition paid off, boosting their response rate to an impressive 35 percent.
This simple study along with others illustrate the real power of reciprocity. Why do you think in some restaurants a tiny treat comes with the bill?
"We were taught to ask ourselves, 'Who can help me here?' But the first question you should really ask is, 'Whom can I help here?'"
Dr. Robert Cialdini
🧰 Skillset: The LinkedIn advantage
So where can you put in the reps to give? You can probably find them anywhere. But one of the best places? LinkedIn. There are over 1 billion members and almost half of them are active monthly. That’s A LOT of people. Whether you have a corporate job or you are a business owner, there is nothing like forming win-win relationships using this platform:
It can help you get a new job
It can get you new customers
It can get you new opportunities
It’s about WHO you know.
“If you don’t know people, you don’t know business”
Simon Sinek
If you are a complete newbie, this is what you do:
(Listen to the podcast at 32:50, this is where Sam gives this advice.)
COMMENT
Find the 10 people who are most successful in your niche (e.g. Google search: who are the top experts and creators for brand strategy on LinkedIn?)
Find them on LinkedIn and follow them (anyone can follow, you do not need their permission, the best ones are those a few steps ahead of you)
Leave thoughtful comments on their posts (for the posts you find valuable, add more value to it by expanding on it)
Keep doing that for a month (be consistent!)
Then connect with them, if they start to engage with your comments
Proceed to forming an “offline” relationship where appropriate
By delivering value and supporting them without expectations, you leverage reciprocity.
POST
Start posting content (it will be daunting and uncomfortable at first)
Think of a question or problem you are frequently solving (could be for a customer or your team, think about who you are helping)
Write the answer to that question (what is the best way to teach it?)
Wrap a story around it (get personal by telling a story of how you discovered the solution or how it impacted someone)
You may feel uneasy because you don’t know what people are going to think. But understand the Spotlight Effect - one where we think everyone is noticing us but in actuality, most aren’t.
Next, you may feel like you’re speaking into the void. You’ll get a few likes and maybe no comments, but that’s ok. It’s about putting in the reps and becoming comfortable and better at teaching, at giving. Don’t worry, most people who see your posts won’t actually engage, but they see you.
Keep on giving.
Overtime, you will develop a following and relationships you can benefit from for the rest of your life. Trust me, the people whom you look up to will soon be in your circle.
Howie Chan
Creator of Influence Anyone
Don’t miss:
The Influence Anyone Podcast
Sam tells his story from rockstar to LinkedIn master and entrepreneur. Hear his raw reaction when I played his hit song from back in the day.
🎧 Listen to it on Apple, Spotify, the web or wherever you get your podcasts.