How to Build Meaningful Relationships Online

Post Date: May 20th, 2014

An important part of enjoying a healthy, happy, and prosperous lifestyle lies in your ability to build and sustain important relationships in your life– relationships with not only your family and friends, but also with those you are meant here to help – and those who are here to help you!

 

 

So how do you build relationships with those you don’t even know yet.. especially if you don’t even know where to find them?

If you are reading this then you have already experienced the power of the internet (Afterall, how else would you be reading this?), but to be honest I’m not a big computer wiz myself. So when I was given the opportunity to interview Canada’s #1 LinkedIn Expert (one of the leading social media sites used to make important connections), you better believe I took her up on her offer.

 

Today, I have the great pleasure of sharing with you my interview with Melonie Dodaro, founder of Top Dog Social Media as I host her on on DAY 2 of her Virtual Blog Tour. She is celebrating her newest book launch during the tour:  The LinkedIn Code: Unlock the Largest Online Business Social Network to Get Leads, Prospects & Clients for B2B, Professional Services and Sales & Marketing Pros. That book will be celebrating its official launch on Tuesday June 3rd, 2014.


Below is my interview with Melonie where I asked her about finding connections and building relationships on LinkedIn.


***INTERVIEW***

TERESA: What is the best way to find the connections they are looking for and how would they build relationships with those prospects?

MELONIE: The best way to find your ideal clients on LinkedIn is to either use the Advanced Search feature or to join LinkedIn groups full of your ideal clients. The advanced search allows you to combine keywords with a number of fields such as Location, Title and Company to narrow down your search results and create a very targeted list.

There are over 2.1 million LinkedIn Groups, some of those are full of your ideal clients. By finding and joining the groups of your ideal clients, you can not only get a list of its members but you also have the ability to message members for free and begin to build relationships with them.

Before you can build relationships with your ideal clients you must first connect with them by sending a personalized connection request. Once you are connected you can start to build a relationship with them by sending them one or two messages that offer them something of value. Your goal is to start a conversation.

 


TERESA: Once we have built the relationship, would you please tell us the best way to move the conversation offline and why we would want to do that?

MELONIE: Once you have sent your relationship building messages, (and ideally started a conversation) you can send them a message that asks them to take the relationship offline with a quick Skype meeting, phone call or in-person meeting.

The reason that you want to move the relationship offline is that no relationship can move forward and progress if it is kept on LinkedIn. In order to make a sale, you must move the relationship off LinkedIn.


TERESA: Could share with us golden nugget (or more) about Social selling and howto leverage it?

MELONIE: Social Selling is NOT a gimmick or quick way to make a sale. It is a process to build relationships with your prospects that requires consistency and time.

It is your preparation and consistency that are the true secret weapons to social selling.

Take the time to learn as much about your prospects as you can. It is the attention to the small details that can make a big difference in your attempt to connect and build a relationship. Also, by being consistent in your lead generation and relationship building efforts, you will see the largest return and be able to create an even more efficient and effective strategy.

***END OF INTERVIEW**


Want to learn more about the basics of LinkedIn? Then check out Melonie's interview with Eric Van de Want's blog at http://ericvanderhope.com/erics-blog/ where he asked Melonie about how to use and engage LinkedIn groups effectively and how to make a creative profile on LinkedIn.

And if you are still hungry to learn more about how you can begin racking in new connections and building new relationships then I encourage you to check our her on her FREE 3-Day Tele-summit:

Cracking the Social Media Code:
The Masters Speak!
Register FREE at
http://topdogsocialmedia.com/book-launch/pages/telesummit.php

Here's Melonie's stellar guest line up (in order of appearance):

  • MELONIE DODARO – Founder Top Dog Social Media, LinkedIn and social selling expert, author of The LinkedIn Code
  • LYNN SERAFINN (co-host) – Founder 7 Graces Project CIC, marketer, coach, author of The 7 Graces of Marketing, Tweep-e-licious
  • JASON MILLER – LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, corporate marketing manager for many companies
  • JOEL COMM – Entrepreneur, NY Times bestselling author, new media innovator
  • EKATERINA WALTER – CMO of Branderati, speaker, author of Think Like Zuck, co-author of The Power of Visual Storytelling
  • MICHAEL STELZNER – Founder/CEO of Social Media Examiner, host Social Media Marketing podcast, author of Launch, Writing White Papers and others
  • JOHN JANTSCH – Marketing consultant, business strategist, Founder Duct Tape Marketing, author of Duct Tape Marketing and others
  • PATTY FARMER – Marketing and social media strategist, speaker, trainer, radio host and author
  • KIM GARST – CEO of 'Boom! Social', social media marketing strategist, entrepreneur, speaker, author
  • ALLISON MASLAN – CEO of "Blast Off", business mentor, entrepreneur, author of Blast Off!
  • JILL ROWLEY – Marketing expert, social selling 'evangelist', entrepreneur

Over those 3 days, Melonie and her guests will share their top tips on:

·       Building Your Personal Brand

·       Building Your Online Community

·       Monetizing Social Media

Again, you can register FREE at
http://topdogsocialmedia.com/book-launch/pages/telesummit.php

If you cannot make the live broadcast, register anyway so you can listen to audio replays.

THEN, when you buy The LinkedIn Code during its official Amazon launch, you’ll receive dozens of valuable free gifts from Melonie and her friends and colleagues. You can CLICK HERE to find out more about the book, and these free gifts.

Thanks for reading! Please do share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.


Be sure to follow Melonie tomorrow on the next stop of her Virtual Blog Tour, when she’ll be visiting Charly Leetham at http://askcharlyleetham.com/blog, where they'll be talking about 'best practice' when adding connections.

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