Today, I have the great pleasure of being the host on DAY 12 of the Virtual Blog Tour for Melonie Dodaro, author of the brand new book, 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.
MELONIE DODARO is the founder of Top Dog Social Media, a social media agency that helps brands, businesses, professionals and sales teams use social media marketing and social selling to boost their visibility, attract new customers and increase their revenue. Dubbed by the media as Canada’s #1 LinkedIn expert and social media strategist, Melonie provides LinkedIn training to corporate sales teams and speaks worldwide at both industry and corporate events and conferences.
Yesterday, Melonie visited Callie Carling’s ‘Olio Terapeutica’ blog at http://olioterapeutica.co.uk where they spoke about creating effective, clear profile summaries on LinkedIn Today, I’d like to share with you a recent interview I had with Melonie where I asked her to share her tips for building relationships on LinkedIn.
***INTERVIEW***
KATHI: I know a lot of people who are healers, massage therapists, etc. and we know nothing about setting up our profile on LinkedIn – and really, if we even should bother. Is LinkedIn for us?
MELONIE: Absolutely. LinkedIn is full of business owners, professionals, sales reps and entrepreneurs, many of whom may be your ideal clients. These are people who often lead high stress lifestyles and have a higher average income than the other social media platforms.
If you want to check out the potential of LinkedIn for your business, do a search and join LinkedIn groups of business people in your local area. Just this little bit of research will help you to decide if LinkedIn is the right choice for you.
KATHI: How does one “build relationships” with LinkedIn – I thought that was what Facebook is for, and that LinkedIn was mostly to share business cards.
MELONIE: That is certainly what many people use LinkedIn for, but LinkedIn is in fact one of the best platforms to build a relationship with prospects. Once you have connected with a potential prospect you can build the relationship by offering them something of value in a relationship building message as well as actively participate in groups where your ideal clients are members, to help establish yourself as a credible expert.
It is just like building a relationship anywhere else. It is a process that takes time and consistency. It is vital during this building process though that you do not try to sell or pitch anything to them. That is the fastest way to kill the relationship.
KATHI: Can you explain a little bit about LinkedIn groups, what are they for and how do we use them to increase clients?
MELONIE: LinkedIn groups serve two purposes as I have mentioned previously. The first is to help you find and connect with your ideal clients. There are over 2.1 million LinkedIn Groups for you to choose from. Most healing modalities should be able to find numerous groups with people who suffer from an ailment that you can treat. The secret is to search for the ailment and not your modality.
The second purpose you will use LinkedIn Groups for is to help establish yourself an expert. Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust. This does not mean just posting things in the group. This is about becoming a valuable member of the community by posting information that would be of value to the group whether it was written by you or someone else as well as commenting thoughtfully or otherwise interacting with others who are posting or commenting.
I hope you enjoyed this brief interview with award-winning social media expert Melonie Dodaro. You can find out some of Melonie’s TOP SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES – along with those of 10 other TOP world-class social media experts – on her FREE 3-Day Telesummit:
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 Tai Goodwin’s ‘Bankable Brilliance’ blog at http://www.taigoodwin.com/blog where Melonie will share her expert advice for service-based solopreneurs.
