Network Marketing on LinkedIn with Scott Aaron

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Andrew:
Welcome, everybody, to the Clientside podcast. I'm your host Andrew Armitage and it's great to be back with you. This is the show that provides you with actionable steps for you to apply to your business, to support your brand, your digital marketing and your growth. I hope you're surviving lockdown or quarantine wherever you are in the world and I'm delighted that you're joining us today. Now, one of the things you might be thinking of during this time is how to raise your profile. And obviously, there are a number of different ways that you can do this, but for some time now LinkedIn has been a pretty hot place to do it. And more and more people seem to be sharing success stories of how they found new customers, converted leads, and basically, it's becoming one of their go to channels for business development. Now, I'm sure many of you will have been to networking events before, some of which you might have found worthwhile, but we've all been to some of those events where you might feel it's the same faces or the wrong type of network for your products and services. And given that these networks are now unable to work in the same way, given lockdown, now is the perfect time to explore LinkedIn and maximise the time you spend networking to make sure you can get results. So my guest today is an internationally acclaimed, an award winning online marketer, best selling author, podcasts and speaker. He's also a go to specialist when it comes to converting traffic, establishing connections and creating residual value using LinkedIn. So I'm really excited about this conversation; obviously, I always also use LinkedIn and I'm always on the lookout to see where I can improve improve things. So, Scott Aaron, welcome to the Clientside podcast. Thank you for joining us.

Scott:
Andrew, thank you so much for the warm introduction and as always, it is grateful to be here and just appreciate you and the opportunity to share some nuggets today with your audience.

Andrew:
Absolutely. You're welcome. So, Scott, tell me a bit about yourself? What's your background in business and how did you end up settling on LinkedIn as your go to platform for building profile?

Scott:
Yeah, everything, you know, everyone thinks in life that things happen by accident, but I'm a big believer that everything happens on purpose. So I've just turned 41 and married; said to be, I mean we call ourselves married but we're, we're getting married in a couple months. And then I also have a seven year old little boy from my second marriage. So we're parents and I've been an entrepreneur actually my entire life. I started in entrepreneurship at 18, so I jokingly tell people that I've been psychologically a boss of one. So I've I've never had a boss. I've only built businesses and I got my start actually in the health and wellness industry. I was a fitness club owner in Philadelphia, I had three gyms that spanned over a 16 year career, but also was a very successful personal trainer and sports nutritionist. And how I got into the industry was actually not the ideal way. My father had made some, you know, just poor business decisions that ended up landing him in federal prison for two and a half years for insurance fraud with the company that he was working for.

Scott:
And at the time, my father kind of knew his demise and basically to protect the family, ended up buying a failing health club in downtown Philadelphia, which at 18 and a half was turned over to me when I was a sophomore in college. And that was basically my introduction to entrepreneurship. And I fell in love with the gym business. I got my certification, like I said, in sports, nutrition and personal training grew the gym from about 300 members to close to 1,200. By the time my father came back home a year later, we opened up a second location and in 2003, we actually sold both gyms for a million dollars. In 2004, we opened up our third and final gym. And because I was the one with credit remaining, everything had to be financed in my name.

Scott:
So I found myself two and a half to three years later at 1.5 million dollars of liability debt. So literally in a matter of four years, went from a millionaire to over a million dollars in the hole, but continued to push forward. And between 2009 and 2015, I was married and divorced twice, which obviously helped me become more emotionally mature, not just within relationships and obviously I credit that to the amazing relationship that myself and my future wife have, but also in business, the way that we do one thing is the way that we do everything. And I got smarter. You know, I became more of a outside the box thinker, but, you know, really, that person that was wanting to take those risks to reap the rewards. And in 2013, as my my second marriage was slowly starting to to fizzle out, so to speak.

Scott:
I had just become a father and a friend of mine popped by the gym that I had at the time and he he said, listen, you know let's catch a workout, let's catch up, blah, blah, blah. And he was asking me just some questions about business and how things were and I said, you know, things were going OK. And he said, I want to ask you a question; if the gym doesn't work out or you get sick or injured where you can't personally train people, what would you do for income? And Andrew, honestly, it was one of those those like slap in the face type questions.

Andrew:
Right. The stark reality of what could hit, even though it might not, but, you know, choices.

Scott:
And it was it was one of those things where, you know, the trading time for dollars. I don't think any contractor, consultant, coach, I didn't realise how much I was trading time for dollars until that question was posed. And I'm like, wow. I don't I don't know. So he introduced me to an opportunity with a network marketing company called Isagenix, which I, I didn't think that network marketing was a ponzi scheme or a pyramid or what other people think. I saw it as an opportunity. I saw it as a way to diversify not only my brand and my business, but my income. I had all my eggs in one basket. And I always tell people that network marketing is the gateway drug for entrepreneurship. It really it gives you a great sense of community, but also how to brand yourself. And it was some of the best education I ever got. I dove in head first. By 2015, I had built a residual income that matched my income that I was making as a personal trainer. But also something else interesting happened as social media started to change and I think you and anyone that's listening to this can can attest that since 2015 till now, social media has changed radically than it did when it really first honestly exploded in about 2009 to about 2014. I call that the heyday of social media because it was an open market. I mean, there was no talks of CPC's or or acquisition cost, I mean, you literally could use the general platforms of social media and build a whole business until that changed.

Andrew:
Yeah, everything was finding its feet, wasn't it? There was no necessarily right way or wrong way of doing things. You know, there still wasn't the thing of trial by social media, brands weren't in the control of their audiences so much at that time. Yeah. So much has changed for a short space of time and continues to do so and inevitably will continue over the next few years, won't it?

Scott:
100 percent. It's not going to stop changing. I mean, social media is just like life. It it's ever evolving. So I saw this huge evolution in 2015 where I was feeling myself being pulled away from one of my core values personally and professionally, which is connection. And I think obviously with what's going right now in this global pandemic, I always tell people there's two things that that individuals, companies, coaches, consultants, life is craving most right now. And there's two things, community and connection. And I started to see this back in 2015 because I saw all these people just posting and praying, scrolling and trolling. There was less interaction and there was more just kind of watching from the sidelines. And I love being in the game. So I remember something that my one of my first mentors, a woman by the name of Susan Slye, incredible, incredible online marketer. And she said to me, and this was back in 2013, she said to me, Scott, when you wake up in the morning, you have to look yourself in the mirror and you have to ask yourself one question. You have to ask yourself, how am I going to connect with myself today? And it was one of those I like, I went back and I'm like, oh, my God. I'm like, she's so right, because everyone is just kind of over pitching and overselling. I need to focus on connecting with the business version of myself if I'm really looked at looking to make business connections. So other gym owners, personal trainers and nutritionists.

Andrew:
Yeah. That's really interesting to note. I've never heard it put that way. Connect with yourself because most people on LinkedIn and social networking, I think linked in particular, they're looking to connect with other people and looking to make that connection to other people, and I guess if you actually look to connect with yourself, what you're likely to post is much more in alignment with your own values.

Scott:
Absolutely. And the other thing is people are going to be more receptive and more open to talking to someone that they don't know, because here's someone that has a very it's a similar background. So there's going to be, and this just automic relationship where there's a there's a synergistic connection between you and that person, where if I was reaching out to an accountant or, you know, a doctor, they would be like, why is this? Why are they reaching out to me? What are they trying to sell me?

Andrew:
Right. Right. Straight in. I'm not cynical viewpoint, aren't they?

Scott:
Exactly. And so so I remembered that I had this LinkedIn profile. I was doing nothing with it, didn't know how to use it. And I just remember that, you know, it the the lifeline to a business, to any business are leads and not paid leads. I mean, quality leads. But if you break down what a lead is, it's just a connection with another human being that ends up going somewhere, whether it's an introduction to someone else or whether it's an exchange of money. It's an exchange of collaboration or creating something together.

Andrew:
It's a start point of a conversation, isn't it? That's all it needs to be.

Scott:
A lead doesn't actually have to mean there is a money objective at the end of it. And I think that's where people don't understand the the benefit of having the quality over the quantity. And so I drove into LinkedIN and I, I was reading a book actually by it's one of my favourite books of all time. It's called Go For No and it's by Andrea Walts and Richard Fenton; husband and wife. Andrea has since become a really good friend of mine. She was actually on my podcast last week and the cover of the book is what got me. And on the cover it says, Go for No. Yes. Is the destination, but no. Is how you will get there. And I remember thinking, I'm like, that is such a great psychological switch where in business everybody wants the yeses. No one likes to hear the word no. But the person that doesn't have that emotional attachment to the word no is going to go for it. And they're going to get more no's, which means they're going to get more yeses. So it completely made sense to me.

Andrew:
Right, because it's a surprise that somebody says no.

Scott:
Right. And it's going to be the answer that you hear 30 to 40 times more than the word. Yes. If everyone heard yes all the time, everybody would be billionaires. But that's that's just not the way it is. So I was reading this book and I was on LinkedIn and I started connecting with other people like me, other trainers, other gym owners, sports nutritionists at the time.

Scott:
And I was sending like nice warm messages, just looking to connect and to collaborate and, you know, to see what we could do together. And people started responding back and I started booking call after call after call. And to this day, I still have between 20 to 25 calls every single week like that, I create myself. There is no automation. I do it every single day. And my business started to explode. So I reached out to a buddy of mine and I said, Joey, listen, you got to get on the LinkedIn and I want you to do A, B and C, and I want you to let me know what happens. So he does. And about a week later, he texted me and he said, call me. So I did. And I said, what's up? And he goes, dude. Whatever you're doing, he goes, it works. He goes, I have 14 appointments booked. So at that point I put some structure around what I did. And fast forward 5 years later, I have a wildly successful coaching practice. I have a very successful membership, monthly membership. I have two bestselling books. I do speaking workshops, online summits. And at the end of the day, people. Yes. They say, you know, you teach LinkedIn. Yes, I teach LinkedIn, but I actually teach the art of human connection.

Andrew:
It just happens that LinkedIn is the medium through which you transmit that.

Scott:
100%. And I tell people all the time. The number one business building tool that we all have in our toolbox toolbox in our tool belt that's not being used is yourself.

Andrew:
Right. And very much under-valued sometimes isn't.

Scott:
Exactly human connection is everything, and if you're not going to use it, you're going to lose it. And you're actually missing out on a lot of business. And that's literally what the necessity of wanting to connect with more people is, actually what drove me to getting onto LinkedIn. And that's what I do every single day now.

Andrew:
Right. So you've obviously had a lot of success with LinkedIn. You've you've sort of tutored or mentored lots of individuals to try and replicate that. But still, I mean, I see it all the time, as I'm sure you do. You connect with someone. There's an automated message that comes through. There's still so many people that haven't latched on to it. They haven't, haven't got how LinkedIn works and really the, what underpins a successful campaign, if you will, on LinkedIn, if you gonna use it successfully. So what are the really big mistakes that you're seeing people still making? I mean, you talked about this going back to 2013. Here we are seven years later. And obviously, people will come into LinkedIn as new users all the time. But you would think with all these podcasts and blogs and all these sorts of other channels that are out there, people would be able to find this. So what is it? What's that disconnect? That means people still get it wrong when they using LinkedIn.

Scott:
You know, there used to be just a few things that people were doing wrong. But there's actually a lot of things that people are doing wrong now. And I, in no particular order of seriousness, I would say, number one, automating messages, just like you said, they're using messaging bots. And I'll give you an example. I'm actually going to read this verbatim.

Scott:
And basically, I had this guy messaged me on LinkedIn and he messaged me. Let's see. 7 times going back to October 19th of 2019. And it said high human connection expert. Please join my network. Will you be able to share some time and follow my company page would mean a lot to me. Here's a link. Also, we just added a new site Deucy. Cheers, Richard.

Andrew:
Not much incentive there then is there!

Scott:
Two weeks later. Hello, Scott. Hope you're doing well. I wanted to make sure make a small request to follow my company's page it would mean a lot to me. A month after that. Hope you're doing well - wanted to make sure that you got my request to join my company page. January - Hope you're doing well. Wanted to make a small request to follow my company's page would mean a lot to me.

Scott:
February 27th. Same message. Today, same message. Then I finally wrote back. I said Hi Richard. You have sent the same message to me seven times. LinkedIn is for connecting with people to see how we can support one another, not just to ask someone to do something for someone else, aside from following your business page what kind of assistance are you requiring from me?

Andrew:
Right.

Scott:
No response. So that's one of the big mistakes, is when you use these automated bots.

Andrew:
Yeah. But also, I mean, you can see the mistake is in the automation. But the mistake, the bigger mistake, arguably, isn't how that automation has been set up because there's no value in that is there? There's nothing...

Scott:
Zero.

Andrew:
...nothing of value which has been put to you that incentivises you to go and see what you might be able to do for that person, how you might be able to connect, how you benefit mutually from it. There's just no incentive there at all is there?

Scott:
I didn't ask for his company website. I didn't ask for his anything. You know, you have to earn the right to give someone something, you know. So, so basically, you know, automating messaging, the improper way selling instead of connecting on the platform. So the one thing that I can I can say is that I have something called the four layers of LinkedIn. And if I want to talk like it, people say to me all the time. What's the most basic way that I can use LinkedIn to actually see some sort of result? So without hiring me, without buying my book, here are four things that you could do. All right. So if you want to think about LinkedIn like a layer cake and I use a wedding cake in his example, because basically you have the base, which is the biggest layer, and then it gets smaller tiers. Now, arguably the smallest tier at the top, which is, you know, that little emblem of the husband and wife sitting on top of the cake is arguably the most important because it's letting people know what it is. So so...

Andrew:
And that's the strongest part of the connection, I presume in your, your model.

Scott:
Exactly. So. So it starts with the base, which is your profile. Now, I will tell you this. If anyone goes to my website, scottaaron.net, there is a tab that says free infographic. And this is it's a it's a simple download.

Scott:
It's six steps to perfecting your profile on LinkedIn. Because when Microsoft bought LinkedIn out about four and a half years ago, they embedded search engine optimisation on the platform. So what happened was when you start to build out your profile the right way, you're going to appear in more searches and you're going to have more people visiting your profile. When that happens, you become more visible. If your profile, I'm not even talking about getting it to quote unquote all star. That means nothing anyone can get their profile to All Star.

Andrew:
That's just box ticking, isn't it?

Scott:
Exactly. It's just making sure all this you have to make sure all the keywords are on there. You're letting people know what you do, how you help them getting recommendations. I've been very, very keen on this. I have 395 written recommendations on my LinkedIn profile. So the credibility that one gets is not by what you tell people, it's by what other people say about you. So when someone visits my profile and they go to my recommendations, first of all, they're gonna see all my skills and endorsements. Every single one is at 99+, all 50 of them. But also, if they go to my recommendations, I have almost 400 written recommendations of people saying, yes, this guy knows what he's doing. So making sure that your profile, which is basically your website, is optimised the right way. That's the first layer.

Scott:
The second layer is actually building the right kind of network. We're allowed 30,000 organic connections. I've grown my network from 500 to nearly 28,000 in the last four years organically. No follow for follow or any these stupid things that you see people doing like, you know here's how to grow your network. Number 1, like this post. Number 2. Write on open, Number 3, connect with everybody that's on here. That's that's not organic. That is called bait posting.

Scott:
So what you want to do is, just like I said a few minutes earlier, is that connecting with the mirror image of yourself? You want to make sure that if you're allowed thirty 30,000 connections, which seems like a lot, which it is, but it goes very quickly, you want to make sure every single one of those connections is a viable connection for you to actually do business with or get an introduction from. So really understanding who your avatar is, who you should be connecting with and how you can find them. So using the search engine, using the My Network area, or if people are connecting with you at any given time and you, I literally have over two hundred connection requests sitting in my box at all times that and I'm getting 6, 7, 8, 9 a day. And I go through and I see who's the best fit for my networks. I'm very specific about not only who I connect with, it's who I let in.

Andrew:
All of that affects your parents then as far as things can be, open the feed and so on. Does it extend that far?

Scott:
Absolutely. If you're connecting with the wrong people that see no relevance to you and what they do. Number 1, they're not going to want to talk to you. Number 2, they're never going to engage with you. So what's the point of having them in your network?

Andrew:
Right.

Scott:
It's not Facebook and it's not Instagram. Now, the third part is messaging. And I have something called the magic formula. It's a three step process to actually sending the right kind of message and it breaks down like this. Step 1 is mentioning the person's name. Hey, Andrew, great to see that we're connected. Number 2 is writing in the body of the message why you're actually connecting with the person. Why am I sending Andrew a message? I saw that you also had a business podcast as as do I would love to hear about yours. Share more about mine to see how we can support each other here on LinkedIn. So I've I've bridged the gap between myself and Andrew. Why it's a great idea for us to connect. But also I used one keyword, and the word is support.

Andrew:
It's an open an open thing that both sides can benefit from then, isn't it?

Scott:
Physiologically, when people read or hear the words support, it's comforting, but it's also inviting and it's pulling people away from that thought of like, what's he gonna sell me now? What what. What's he going to pitch me?

Andrew:
And it's a collaborative word, isn't it? So you're going straight in for collaboration and not not one sided. It's something that you can both benefit from on both sides, isn't it?

Scott:
The Science of Getting Rich. It's a book by Wallace de Waddle's that was written in 1910. Also, one of my favourites talks about the actual science of getting rich is not through competition or comparison, it's through creation and collaboration. So if you're going to constantly create and collaborate, you will find the riches in business and in life. And that's, and I can't tell you, Andrew, how many people I actually message and they want to talk to me, but they're wary because of how many people have been messaging them the wrong way. They're like, all right, what are you trying to sell me? I'm like, I'm not trying to sell you anything. I just want to I want to learn about you. And maybe there's an introduction I could do or maybe there's something we can do together. And then they're like, oh, OK. I actually had a call with someone last week and I sent a message similar and I got on the phone with her. She's an artist. And she said, Scott, I just got to let you know. She goes, I have close to eleven thousand connections. You are the first person to ever message me the way that you did and I could not wait to talk to you. And that meant everything to me.

Andrew:
So an immediate stand out, isn't it?

Scott:
Absolutely so, so and then you finish with a call to action. So, you know, you state the person's name. The reason for reaching out and then you finish with a call to action. Do you have any time this week or next week for a call? So I always tell people that questions lead to answers. Statements lead to nowhere, because if I just say, you know, Andrew, let me know when's good.

Andrew:
It's a closed statement, isn't it? Exactly.

Scott:
You're never going to let me know.

Andrew:
There's no incentive to answer it.

Scott:
So the simple analogy is you have to ASK to GET, you have to ask in order to get. So making sure that you do that. Now, that magic formula right there, even if you just create it yourself, will get people on the phone with you. And any viable business, you have to connect with more people. But the fourth and most important tier, which is that husband and wife sitting on the top of that of that wedding cake, is is your content. Know, what you put out to your social network on LinkedIn is everything. So content is number one? It's the most important, because if you're building the right kind of network, if you're having the right kind of conversations, you have your profile build out the right way. Your content should reflect all of that so you're actually speaking to that audience that is the mirror image of you. So you need to do 2 things. Number 1, you need to provide one piece of content a day. And that could be a post. That could be a video. That could be an article. Number 2, you want to do two things with that piece of content. Number 1, you want to educate your audience. So if you're going to be the thought leader, if you're going to be the one that's the expert in that field, let them know why. Educate them on something that they maybe don't know. Number 2, inform them, give them some how-to's, some takeaways...

Andrew:
Something they could do themselves.

Scott:
Exactly. You know the way that you build the best business is leading with value and leaving people better. So if you follow that 4th step, basic way of using linked in your profile, searching for the mirror image of you, reaching out to people the right way and providing value added content daily, you will see great results on LinkedIn.

Andrew:
Yeah. So this obviously starts offline. You've started some of this process thinking about your avatar, your ideal audience. That's nothing to do with LinkedIn, is it? That's just back to basics in terms of how you're running your business and who you're doing what you're doing for.

Scott:
100%, it's it's I'm just I teach LinkedIn, but I actually teach human connection to build your business through the means of LinkedIn. And I found that I couldn't do it through Facebook and Instagram because those are social entertainment platforms. That's where people go to sit and watch and scroll.

Andrew:
The attention is not there, is it?

Scott:
They don't want to network. They're just too busy complaining, whining or doing what? You know, I call Facebook the barbecue of social media and I call Instagram the reality TV show of social media. That's it's that's just what it is. I'm not looking for reality TV show and I'm not looking for a barbecue right now. That's on the weekends. I'm looking to do some business networking and LinkedIn is a global networking event every single time you log on.

Andrew:
Yeah. Yeah. Which in these times is something that we need, isn't it?

Scott:
100%

Andrew:
Because there's, and also you know, I've been to some of these more local business networking groups and, you know, there's great value in those. You meet local people that might be doing similar things and it's good to have those local connections, but it can't scale, can it? You're forever going to be within the vicinity of where you are, physically where you are, whereas LinkedIn and you're obviously networking online, building these connections around the world allows the business to potentially scale way further than than what any localised networking event could could create for you.

Scott:
Absolutely. It's just one of those things that if you if you don't know how to use it, you're truly leaving so much money and so much impact out on the table. It's just imperative that especially right now, you need to have some sort of marketing strategy for you.

Andrew:
So you talk about posting once a day. I, I don't tend to post once a day. Sometimes I get into a bit of a habit and I do start posting once a day, but it probably only lasts for about a week or so. And I see that a lot of people, people start getting to a routine, but things drop off. Why do you see that interest waning? Is it because they're not making the right connections? Do they run out of things to say what's what's the most typical scenario as to why that frequency is difficult to maintain?

Scott:
I think it's a it's a patience problem. I think people we live in a world of instant gratification. And if we're not seeing the result right away, this obviously doesn't work. But I know in business, because I've ran various businesses, the long game is what builds success, not the short game. And if you're going to treat your business like a lottery ticket and not like a 401K, you're going to fail every single time. So business ramps up and that's the thing. You need to take a 10,000 foot view of your business and what holes or gaps are missing. Whenever whenever someone gets on the phone with me, I never try to sell them. I asked them one question. What is your business requiring the most right now? What is the biggest need that your business needs right now? Because I'm not, like, telling them what I do. They're revealing to me where I can help them. If they say, well, you know, visibility and having more calls and increasing my income now because I'm an active listener, I'm now going to let them know how what I can do can fill the need. Then it just becomes a money thing whether they can afford me or not. That's on them. But that's what makes a really good business person, because it's not about you. It's about what you can do for that person, because it's it's it's all about helping someone else succeed with something that helped you succeed first.

Andrew:
And even if that's just passing a referral to someone else sometimes, isn't it? If you can't help them, you've still been able to make a connection there, haven't you?

Scott:
Here's someone that can and I always say that, you know, whenever I get on the phone with someone and I'm not a good fit, I'll say, listen, you know, I may not be the best fit for you, but here's who I would be best connected with. And if there's anyone specifically that you would like me to connect you to, I would be happy to do that. All you have to do is ask. And I tell you, you don't hesitate to reach. I, I am so open with people, you know. Time is the most valuable thing that we have. And I can't tell you how many people apologise to me for, quote unquote taking up my time. I wouldn't have offered to speak to you if I didn't feel that was going to be value from the conversation. And it's so funny. I do free 15 minute discovery calls. And I can't tell you how many times I get to that 15 minute mark where they're like, I know I've used up my 15 minutes, so, you know. Stop. I'm like a blocked off 30 minutes.

Andrew:
There's a buffer; this happens.

Scott:
I blocked off 30 minutes for us just in case we do get into a good conversation so we can continue this. So please continue. And they're like, really? I'm like, yeah, this is what I do. Right? I connect with people for a living. And whether that ends with an exchange of a monetary result or not, it's not going to stop me from not wanting to connect with people.

Andrew:
Absolutely.

Scott:
The mission that I have is not to say, hey, give me your credit card. The mission I have is how can we form some sort of connection where we could be viable connections for each other either now or later.

Andrew:
You've hit the nail on the head that it's not just about the now, is it? Because they could be going through this thought process in the back of their mind for two to three weeks? Further down the line, it could be two, three months further down the line. You know, some things will have quite a long lead time. But if you've made the difference at that point that that interaction, then they're going to remember you and you've given a bit of extra time, bit of extra value, then, you know, likely that they'll come back to at some point in the future, even if, again, that just results in some sort of referral.

Scott:
It's having the farmer mentality and not the hunter mentality person. The person that plants the most seeds is always going to reap the greatest harvest. And that's how I run my business every day.

Andrew:
So a couple of quick things around posting. You talked again about posting once a day. Have you seen any differences around the types of posts, whether it's your articles, whether it's just an update, video, photos? Do you see any difference in interaction, depending on the type of post that people people put out?

Scott:
Well, video is number one, so making sure that you do at least two to three videos per week. I myself, I always do a video Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I always keep them between a minute and a half to three minutes because, you know, unfortunately, goldfish now have a higher and longer attention span than human beings. So I, I want to make sure that I, I give the value, I give them some tangible takeaways and I'm out.

Andrew:
I'm guessing I'm guessing that's using LinkedIn native video. You're not you're not recording on YouTube...

Scott:
No, you want to use the native video. And basically the reason why is so anything over 10 minutes you would have to upload through YouTube. So, you know, under ten minutes you can, I have a little process, I, I actually recorded on my phone and then I actually upload the video through an app called Mixed Captions. I think it's 3.99 for the app and it actually auto generates captions for your video, which I'd then upload right to the mobile app of LinkedIn. I write some content above it, so hashtags, a call to action and then I post it and people love it because I get my my content and my information from what my audience actually says, because I ask them a question, they're gonna give me an answer and then I can start building content around what they're saying. So I always tell people, don't post things that you want to talk about. Post things that your audience actually wants to hear.

Andrew:
That's a huge point. That's so, so important. I'm really pleased that you've brought it up, because just by listening to what people are saying to you, it just creates a flood of content ideas, doesn't it?

Scott:
It does. And the other thing is how-to or list posts, whether it's written in the form of an article, a post or done in video form, always get great traction because you're actually giving people tangible takeaways. You're not just getting on there and just saying, you know, just be grateful for today. It's going to build your business. I mean, that's great and all; gratitude is the best attitude. But explain why gratitude is the best attitude. And that's something that I always do, is I explain why I did a video on gratitude. And I basically explained that it's been proven that it's physiologically impossible to feel any other feeling while you're practicing the act of gratitude when you're thinking about what you're grateful for. You can't feel sad. You can't feel angry. You can't feel hatred. So that's why it's so important to anchor yourself back to gratitude, because it's going to reinstill a happy, loving, positive feeling. Just saying something like that, whether it's in a long post form or written in an article called The Power of Gratitude or just doing a video. It's going to impact your audience in the best way.

Andrew:
Sure, sure. And then you took some hashtags. Where do they sit in the grand scheme of things? Because they if I remember rightly, they first appeared on Twitter and obviously they've appeared now on on LinkedIn. You know how powerful those because every now and again, I'll get an alert that pops up and says such and such a post is trending on the hashtag. Yeah. So is is that really the motivation for using hashtags or to people tend to search using hashtags?

Scott:
Correct. A little bit of both. So number 1, LinkedIn as you're writing your content before you're posting it, they will always give you suggested keyword hashtags that people have been searching for based on the content that you're pushing out. Now, people, again, are using LinkedIn like a search engine. So they are following, quote unquote, certain hashtags.

Scott:
So if you end up writing some good content, it gets some good engagement. It's going to quote unquote trend in that hashtag, which means it's at the top of that feed. So it's a way for you to actually grow your network organically through like minded people. So on average, I have about one to two trending posts per week, which basically leads to more people seeing my stuff, which has them want to connect or follow me, which is going to lead to more engagement. So it's all organic. I don't have messaging pods or engagement pods. And, you know, there's a lot of people that disagree with that, that they're important. No, what's most important, if your content is good enough, you're not going to require anyone else to, quote, unquote, post and engage with you. People are going to like your stuff. It's going to happen naturally. So I don't care what people say about that. Well, you know, in the beginning, you should use an engagement pod. No, you're just trying to take a shortcut and, you know, less browed actually says it best. He goes those that take the easiest road end up living and creating the hardest life, but those that take the hardest road will live and create and live the easiest life. So I am always willing to take the longest, hardest road possible to create the best and most amazing life possible.

Andrew:
Yeah, go, go the extra mile at the outset and see the extra benefits delivered over time.

Scott:
Exactly.

Andrew:
Yeah, that's really good stuff. And there are certainly things I can take away there. One thing that I do every now and again, which I'd be interested to get your view on sometimes you know, I love the idea of, yes, adding some sort of education. adding something that's of value every now and again, I might just drop in a quick reminder. This is what we do. We're a digital agency. And we can help you with content. We can help with this. Do you have a view on that? Is that is that sort of stretching into sales territory that can detract a little bit? Or is that reasonable enough just to give a little nudge every now and again that says this is actually what we do?

Scott:
You know, the only time I ever do any self promotion is with gratitude. So the other day, my my two of my books were respectively number 7 and number 25 in the multilevel marketing category on Amazon. So I'll do like a grateful post, like, you know. Thank you everyone for your continued support of my two books. You know, this one was number 7. This one was number 25. You know, if you'd be interested in checking them out here, the link is in the comments below where you can, you can get the book. So that's the only way. So I always thought that the first initial aspect of that post is, you know, thanking people for their support and being grateful for that. And then if they're interested, they can take action on their own.

Scott:
I don't let, I don't ever post about my business. But if I if I ever would. Or if I do. Always gonna be, you know, leading with value, like in the sense that, you know, just like I did that the magic formula, I would say, you know, I get a lot of really spammy, you know, bad messages. But if you are going to message someone on LinkedIn, here's what you should do. This is called the magic formula. So I talk about my business from a very high level where they're not really they're not even understanding that I'm actually talking about my business. But I'm I'm I'm just providing that content so people will know what you do if your headline of your profile is done the right way because when mine comes up, it says Scott Aaron, human connection expert and then it says, you know, two time bestselling author, international speaker, you know, LinkedIn lead generation coach, whatever it is. So people will see and know what you do just by your content coming up without you having to promote it.

Andrew:
Yeah. Yeah. No, it's some some really good advice. There are definitely some things that I'm going to take on board. I've got to start posting more myself. I guess I'm probably posting three to four times a week, but it sounds like we need to update a little bit. So we're posting on a daily basis and not to worry about not seeing some interaction sometimes and just get over that fact that there might be some posts that go out there that don't have likes, that don't have comments and just keep on posting, keep posting the value, keep educating people. And over time that's going to chip away. And I guess just being seen on a regular basis he's been doing that. Will naturally start enhance the interaction that you get around your your posts and activity?

Scott:
Absolutely. 100%. And that's that's being visible and in front of your audience every single day is absolutely imperative right now on LinkedIn.

Andrew:
And I guess the other point that you make is use all the features. It's not all about just posting posts, posts, takes posts every single day. You know, like like most things, marketing related. Nothing works in isolation. You mix it up a little bit with the video, with your post, with photos, using the hashtags and maintain that frequency. That's when you're gonna get the best results.

Scott:
Absolutely.

Andrew:
OK. Well, Scott, that's been a fascinating conversation. I really appreciate your time. Now, you've talked about your book and you've talked about your coaching course. Your book is The LinkedIn Book for Network Marketing. Obviously, it's on Amazon. It's also available on Kindle. Just tell us a little bit, a little bit about your your coaching program and where people can find out more about you and where they might find this free infographic that you mentioned.

Scott:
Yeah, if anyone goes to my website, scottaaron.net, two T's, two A's, everything is there. My podcast, Network Marketing Made Simple. My my latest book, which is called The Network Marketing Academy. And obviously my other bestselling book, the LinkedIn book for Network Marketing, which it's not a book just for network marketing. Yes, it's geared towards that, but it can be applied for any business to market themselves. Also, I have some one to one coaching. I have a virtual coaching program. And obviously I always do free 15 minute discovery calls, which can be done on my website. But if you all could just kind of follow along and kind of see a little bit more about me, what I do. Social media is the best way to do it, Linked In...

Andrew:
Although you've got many connections left have you? You've only got about 1,500 connections.

Scott:
Get me while you can! And on Facebook, it's also under Scott Aaron. And if you're on Instagram, the handle is @ScottAaronLinkedIn and would be grateful and would love to connect with you.

Andrew:
That's amazing, Scott. Thanks very much for your time. Really appreciate it. Take care over on the other side of the pond during this lockdown period. Stay safe. Really appreciate your time.

Scott:
Andrew, thank you again so much. And just grateful to be here and continued success.

Andrew:
Cheers, appreciate it.

Andrew:
So thanks, Scott, for joining me on the Clientside podcast today. Really good conversation around Linked In and, you know, I'm hearing a lot of people have success with it around their lead generation and their business development. But as Scott was saying, I'm really not a fan of this automation. I think it can go horribly wrong and really, you want to be looking at people's profiles, seeing that they're the right fit and not just necessarily sending out invites left, right and centre and, and equally just jumping on, you know, direct messages once people have connected, particularly with the sell message that really grates with me and I know it grates with a lot of other people as well. So so I think it is very much about, you know, behaving in a way that you would really if you walk into a room at a at a networking event, offline. You know, you don't just suddenly go and introduce yourself and start selling to people. It's about listening. It's about conversation. It's about understanding and trying to identify where you might have common ground, where you might be able to support each other. It's a two way street. It's not just about trying to to sell directly, but looking to see where you can offer value to individuals, where you can be useful and who knows what sort of introductions that might lead to. So thanks, Scott; it's certainly kicked me into gear - there's there's a few things that are falling short on my own LinkedIn inactivity. I'm certainly not posting on a day-to-day basis, as Scott suggests, but perhaps that's something that I will try and get into the habit of doing over the coming weeks. So do look out for that, look me up on LinkedIn if you want to see how I'm getting on.

Andrew:
So there's a couple of things that Scott mentioned during the conversation. The book, the Power of No and and an app that can put subtitles on your social media posts, video posts. I'll put links to that in the shownotes which you will find over adigital.agency/podcast. While you're there, you might also want to take a quick look at our scorecard. About halfway down on the home page, you'll find the button to our online scorecard and you can fill it in; it's about 35 questions, multiple choice questions so it's nice and easy and and those will give you a score based on the current level of marketing, digital marketing that you are doing in your business. You'll get a personalised report sent back with that score broken down into four key areas; strategy, your assets, your profile and your skills. And that really just gives you the opportunity to benchmark your current digital performance and see where you might want to focus your activity going forward. So do check that out. The other thing we have is a Facebook group. We've got the Clientside Digital Community over on Facebook. It's a fairly new group, but do check it out. We're posting in there from time to time with some video content and it would be great to see the numbers grow there, too. Finally, if you've enjoyed the show today or enjoyed the content that you've heard on recent shows, then we'd love to get your feedback, we'd love to hear your reviews. If you take, if you've got the chance just to jump across the Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, leave is a review and a rating, then we'd be massively grateful and really appreciate you taking the time to do that.

Andrew:
So that wraps up another show. That's it for this week. Hope you stay safe. Take care. And we'll see on the next show. Thanks very much. Bye.

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