LinkedIn Growth: Connections, Carousels, DMs! with Dustin Hauer

 Episode Summary

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Dustin Hauer Podcast Interview

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, I am your host, Kris Ward. And today we have Dustin Hauer in the house. He is a social media marketer. And frankly, if you’re on LinkedIn at all, even five minutes, you are going to trip across this content and it does stop the scroll. So I’m excited to have you here. Welcome to the show. Dustin. 

[00:00:21] Dustin Hauer: I appreciate it. Thank you. 

[00:00:22] Kris Ward: Okay.

[00:00:23] Kris Ward: Dustin, let’s talk about LinkedIn. It seems to be where we’re all spending a significant amount of our time. We’ve talked about this and other shows why it’s a value in the stats and we should all be there. So what is it we want to do when we get to LinkedIn? I know for you, you talk about how most people stay within their own network and you focus on second and third level connections to expand your reach.

[00:00:51] Kris Ward: So A, I think that’s really valid because you end up, it can be like high school, you just show up every day and you’re commenting on the same things. B, [00:01:00] I’m not sure for the most part, I even look at that, like where are we looking and how do we find the second and third connections? What does that strategy look like?

[00:01:08] Kris Ward: I don’t think I’m mindful of it. 

[00:01:10] Dustin Hauer: Sure. Sure. So when you end up posting a lot of times you’ll see right next to their name, it’ll say, second or third, but I’ll look at both my posts and other people’s posts where there’s a ton of comments, I’ll usually sort it by recent just so that I can stay ahead of ahead of people, but I’ll basically sift through those second and third connections. And then instead of liking their comment on somebody’s post, I’ll go directly to their profile. It’ll show up in their profile views. So that’ll get you some extra exposure that way. But then also when you like their stuff, if you read through it, sift through it and you leave a comment something of value, they you get noticed a lot through there too.

[00:01:54] Dustin Hauer: So then if you’re able to build a connection with those people then their [00:02:00] network, most of their network probably isn’t necessarily connected to yours. So it just keeps amplifying your 

[00:02:07] Kris Ward: Okay. That’s a good point. I do that. And I really didn’t even think about it as second and third degree connection.

[00:02:13] Kris Ward: So you’re right. If I say went to your post and you’ve got 50 people commenting on it and I’m like, Oh yeah, I like connecting with Dustin and I see his stuff and a value and also especially maybe if your post, even though it’s not what you do, you might be talking about as a social media strategist that this week you’re overwhelmed and you finally realized, Oh my gosh, I think I need help.

[00:02:32] Kris Ward: I’m all over the map. And then people are chiming in, especially when it’s my topic, that then I can be going through your list of people engaging with you, connecting to them and making a comment on their comment. So you’re right. I didn’t look at it as academically as Oh, they’re second and third connections, but they are.

[00:02:50] Kris Ward: And so follow that thread. And then as you do that, also send them a connection request. 

[00:02:57] Dustin Hauer: True. Yep. If they kind of align with whether it’s [00:03:00] somebody that you’re interested in or potential, like in terms of colleagues or potential, collaborators or even ICPs. 

[00:03:09] Kris Ward: Yeah. Okay. That’s a good point.

[00:03:10] Kris Ward: Don’t just do it with everyone. If there’s 50 people, you’re not looking just to reach 50 people. Like I don’t reason for it. Yeah. There has to be this looks like my type of person. Okay. So fantastic. So that’s a really good point. Now I think what we talk about, but I think we can never talk about enough is really what you’re saying is engagement is everything.

[00:03:32] Dustin Hauer: It is. And a lot of it, so that it goes in stages. A lot of it is, early on when you don’t really have much of a platform to, to in terms of impressions per post you do want to engage with a ton of people because then that will slowly get you some engagement on your posts.

[00:03:48] Dustin Hauer: And then it’ll just amplify your posts within other people’s feeds. And because if I were to comment on somebody’s post. My [00:04:00] followers will usually end up seeing it a lot of times on their feeds. And then that just gives them some added exposure. The other strategy within commenting on other people’s posts is that if you’ve got a decent following, you’ll probably get a certain amount of likes and loves and engagement on your comment and the more engagement and

[00:04:23] Dustin Hauer: you know likes on a comment the higher it’ll show up on the relevance of In the comments, so then you’ll get more you’ll get more eyeballs on it that way too. 

[00:04:33] Kris Ward: And I think too With this strategy and i’m only been doing this a couple months, but I think it’s incredibly powerful because Then you’re like every day showing up and you’re one one good post will lead you to another so maybe I look at like I Said your post saying okay.

[00:04:48] Kris Ward: I’m going down the list and I pick a few people in there that I think oh, yeah These are my people I then go over to their profile. I check out their posts. I comment I reach out and I engage on them And then tomorrow I might see, [00:05:00] Oh, they had a really good post. And then I’m following their people on their posts and do the same thing I did with you.

[00:05:04] Kris Ward: And the beauty of that is you’re constantly expanding your network because previously when I finally took the pill of, yes, you need to be on LinkedIn. You need to be engaging every day. You have to commit to this. It’s not post and ghost and it’s like walking into a networking event and just yelling what you do for business and leaving in five minutes.

[00:05:23] Kris Ward: You can’t do that. But then when I show him, do my engagement every day, I just felt like I was in high school. It’s the same people every day and my algorithm so I wasn’t expanding my own reach. I wasn’t meeting new people. I was just, I was like, and then after a while you get bored of that.

[00:05:36] Kris Ward: Not only is it boring, you think I got other things to do. So I think this whole constantly. Following the cycle of second and third connections and expanding that not only feeds the algorithm, but it helps your soul, I think. 

[00:05:51] Dustin Hauer: True. True. And I would say the time blocking is the biggest thing with engagement because it can get away from you and you can, it can overtake you the platform and you’d just be on there all day.

[00:06:01] Dustin Hauer: But yeah, what I ended up doing is I comment around the same time that I post. So right around. An hour in the morning, hour at night, because I post twice a day. And so I keep up mostly on my comments right now, but in, in the past when I was still trying to, make a name for myself, so to speak, I would comment a fair amount, just have a list of 20 to 30 creators on a spreadsheet of their profile.

[00:06:26] Dustin Hauer: I would check their profile every day and then comment on their stuff. Now I don’t do nearly as much of that. And then that second and third connection or level connection strategy is more of a, maybe comment on a few different people’s posts once a week rather than once a day. 

[00:06:46] Dustin Hauer: And so a lot of people will, I’ve heard it praised way too much early on and you get the wrong idea about it.

[00:06:51] Dustin Hauer: A lot of people are like, Oh, I leave a hundred comments a day. I leave 200 comments a day. And I’m like, that’s not sustainable. It’s going to burn you out. You gotta try and split it [00:07:00] up a little bit. And just, so I’ve come up with a new way of doing it. 

[00:07:04] Kris Ward: Yeah, I follow a wise man.

[00:07:07] Kris Ward: He’s teaching me 15 comments, 15 DMs, 15, like just 15 new contacts, right? So keep it simple. And you’re right. You said trigger word here. Time blocking. I’m always talking about how your calendar is your time bank account. And so be purposeful with that. I find too, not only is it on my calendar saying this is what I’m doing, but I set the timer so that when it goes off, the hour is up and there’s a sense of completion there versus Oh, I got it.

[00:07:32] Kris Ward: Like I’ve got more people to reach out because it is a dark, it is a dark force. You could be in there all day. I think that’s a really good point. Okay. So we’re talking about engagement. We can’t stress that enough that you just, you can’t, you can’t play basketball without a ball. You can’t be doing social media without engagement.

[00:07:49] Kris Ward: It just is what it is. So that’s a big one. What, then we get into posting, what do you feel we should be mindful of when we’re posting? 

[00:07:59] Dustin Hauer: [00:08:00] Sure. So what I like to do early on so before I was really getting any sort of engagement at all, I was posting twice a day and I wasn’t getting any, likes, comments, nothing.

[00:08:09] Dustin Hauer: Then I started engaging more, dialed it back to once a day, tried to really just, Get what post, what my audience was, remotely interested in. And then from there you can build that up, you look at the data because you’ll, really a lot of it is testing early on. So you want to try and figure out what resonates with people.

[00:08:31] Dustin Hauer: And then once you figure that out, you can double down on that strategy. I’m constantly, even now, looking at posts from 90 days ago or that, that spectrum and trying to find the best posts, keep those in the rotation, so to speak, because basically I’ve come up with a two to three months of content and I’ll recycle and add about two, two to three new posts per week, but a lot of it is recycled.

[00:08:57] Dustin Hauer: So it’s batch comment or batch content creation. And that way I can focus directly on engagement rather than trying to create content. So that’s where a lot of people are like, how do you keep posting twice a day? And I’m like, I reuse my stuff and because people like it and all, elaborate sometimes on, on certain points, if I feel like there’s a

[00:09:20] Dustin Hauer: or even a post within a post I can create, and I mean that, that’s been my success. 

[00:09:26] Kris Ward: I think you bring up two really good points there. One, with what resonates with people, where it’s so easy when, you’re like, ah, I’ve got to do social media. Okay, fine. And so then you post something, you’re like, okay.

[00:09:36] Kris Ward: Or, You show up on LinkedIn. This used to be how I did it back, sadly, maybe even like a year ago. It’s okay, I’m on LinkedIn. I haven’t been on LinkedIn in a week. I’m here. Is there anything happening? No, there’s nothing happening. I don’t feel bad about missing all week. Okay. I’ll do something. Boo boo.

[00:09:50] Kris Ward: So you just run in like a rush and say, am I, and I’ve, my stuff is being posted. What am I missing? I wasn’t engaging very much. So bye. [00:10:00] Not only we talked about, but commenting other people as it gets your reach up and the posts that you’re doing but being consistent about posting, being consistent about being on LinkedIn, then starts to show you what’s resonating, right?

[00:10:13] Kris Ward: Instead of you just showing up once a week saying, is there anything happening here? No, I got other things to do. So now we’ve got some stability, some consistency. And so we start to see what’s resonating and then we can recycle. Cause I know as much as I’m all about efficiency and having less to do and your business should support your life, not consume it.

[00:10:32] Kris Ward: The mistake I’ve seen too many people make is they whip up these posts and then they’re going to recycle them like, like a, I don’t know, like it’s Tuesday taco night and they just put this out. In a constant rotation on the same time, but we, that post didn’t earn it’s right in the rotation yet.

[00:10:50] Kris Ward: So as much as I’m about efficiency and repurposing and content and all that stuff, there has to be a strategy to it and be mindful of what you’re doing with it. [00:11:00] 

[00:11:00] Dustin Hauer: Oh yeah, absolutely. That’s the biggest part is that it’s got to earn the spot. I mean, and that’s the thing is you’ll. You’ll develop a rotation and slowly some of the stuff, it’ll just, it’ll slowly lose its stay within your audience.

[00:11:15] Dustin Hauer: Your audience will not like it nearly as much. And I’ve got a pretty consistent feel on the num, or like the engagement rate, the impressions. It’s pretty, it’s like a boring line straight up, but it going in the right direction. Let us not complain. Predictable growth.

[00:11:32] Dustin Hauer: Yeah. So really that’s been the thing and slowly lean in more to my design background, and I’ll 

[00:11:39] Kris Ward: Okay, so for you, which I know it sounds silly, but I think it’s really important, is that consistency beats everything. You talk about that a lot, right? And showing up daily, posting with intent, engaging outside your circle, and that also growth isn’t just about posting, it’s about conversation.

[00:11:58] Dustin Hauer: Yep. And that’s, [00:12:00] yeah, that’s the thing. A lot of people you’ll post an idea, they’ll have questions on it whether they’ll DM you or they’ll comment. Really seeing those engaging in the conversation that starts on that and just, trying to help people first and foremost, rather than selling anything is really is really what I have tried to.

[00:12:23] Dustin Hauer: To lead with because then that way it’s, it, it builds more awareness. It just shows, it just builds a lot of goodwill. And when those people do come to a point where they’re like, I need help with this next stage, you’re the first person that they’re going to come to. 

[00:12:39] Kris Ward: Yeah. And I think too, one thing I always talk about is it helps maintain relationships instead of rotating relationships.

[00:12:46] Kris Ward: Just last week Jeff C, who’s got a great podcast, he’s a really good speaker and he had been on my show and I had been on his and he made a comment about somebody and I commented something nice on his post and I, whatever. And he’s Oh my gosh, Kris, when you show up my [00:13:00] feed, it makes my day.

[00:13:00] Kris Ward: And I’m like, are you kidding me? Like I didn’t even know I thought he knew who I was, but. I was pretty sure, but I, but that it had that kind of impact versus if he’d been on my show and that was six, seven months ago, and I haven’t talked to him since. So I was like, so excited.

[00:13:15] Kris Ward: I was like you just made my week. This is amazing. It’s also the continuum of that relationships and the, not just networking, but growing your net worth and keeping these people, it really does make a difference. Just being consistent. And I think. If so many of us, it’s really easy to get lost in the busyness of your business.

[00:13:35] Kris Ward: And then you hop on LinkedIn, it’s Oh, my numbers aren’t good. Or people aren’t liking my stuff. And that’s not what the name of the game is really truly.

[00:13:45] Dustin Hauer: Yeah, there was a thought there that I was gonna think of something profound. Yeah Okay, 

[00:13:52] Kris Ward: While you’re thinking about that, do you have any preferences on what kind of posts that you think work or don’t work 

[00:13:59] Dustin Hauer: I [00:14:00] like to do Carousels a lot. I like to test out in for infographics on the weekends I want to lean in more on the infographic side of things, just because it seems like those reshare or they get reposted a lot more.

[00:14:18] Dustin Hauer: It’s goes along the idea of if you if you post something that somebody would be proud to, to repost, maybe not have my face all over it but something that more just aligns with them. And infographics are a quick quick, 

[00:14:32] Kris Ward: a love hate relationship with infographics because you’re right.

[00:14:35] Kris Ward: When somebody does, 

[00:14:35] Dustin Hauer: they’re overdone, 

[00:14:36] Kris Ward: but not even they’re overdone, I find there are a lot of work to do. You have to have the stats or whatever, and then you got to build it. And then you’re like, oh, but when I see somebody do infographics, I’m like, oh, that, that brings up a really clear point.

[00:14:47] Kris Ward: And it’s very, eye catching. And then I think I should do one. And then it seems like a lot of work. But. Yeah. So I keep, I think I have to revisit that again. Okay. So you’re looking at infographics. I think too, [00:15:00] we’ve all been a little bit more relaxed on LinkedIn where you have your own images.

[00:15:03] Kris Ward: You’re very good at that. You’ve got a lot of personal images up there and it does, it makes you memorable because when people feel like they see your face enough times, they show up, they think they know you. They can’t help it. True. Yeah. Fantastic. Okay. So you talk about personal quotes with insights, mindset, direction, which people understand who who you are and what you believe in. 

[00:15:24] Kris Ward: So what does that look like? 

[00:15:26] Dustin Hauer: Sure. Yeah. So that’s a really good point. I like to so between my two posts per day, I like to, the first post is marketing, social media driven actionable stuff. And then and then the second post is more of philosophical, it’s value driven, it’s it might be a post or a quote that somebody has already heard before, but just the way that I’m, presented as what it means to me and how I see, moving forward, between action and just, a reminder of or something like an approach [00:16:00] that’s in the back of my mind.

[00:16:02] Dustin Hauer: I try and share that and it seems to do decently well that and on the flip side, like other parts of the world, see it other people that maybe engage more at night versus in the morning, they’ll see it. So it’s almost building two different audiences and they somewhat overlap too because I’ve noticed, so I’ll get, the main part of my engagement.

[00:16:23] Dustin Hauer: The first couple hours, but my quotes they’ll slowly gain more engagement throughout the day after I’ve posted my, my marketing, social media thing. And then my marketing and social media will slowly get more engagement after I’ve already posted the quotes. 

[00:16:40] Kris Ward: I gave up quotes. We used to do it once a week and I was like, Oh, who the hell cares about my quotes? 

[00:16:46] Dustin Hauer: I’ve felt that many times where I’ve I’ve posted it and early on, it was like, it kind of dips and that’s usually where the growth seems to happen with LinkedIn, I’ve noticed is you’ll, it’ll spike up with some engagement and then it’ll slowly dip, but [00:17:00] it won’t dip to, below what it was before 

[00:17:03] Dustin Hauer: and then you keep at it and it slowly climbs again and then it’ll.

[00:17:06] Dustin Hauer: And then it’ll jump and then it’ll dip again. 

[00:17:09] Kris Ward: Okay. Okay. 

[00:17:10] Dustin Hauer: Yeah. It’s just a weird pattern that I’ve seen for about four times now. 

[00:17:14] Kris Ward: Okay. So we need some LinkedIn patience. Okay. Huh. Then DMs. You talk about appreciation DMs daily. What does that look like? 

[00:17:23] Dustin Hauer: Yeah. So I try to it goes, and that’s the point that I was thinking of before is You know, you had said that that somebody had messed or messaged you or replied to your comment and said that your comment really brightens their or your engagement overall and their day that simple, like message, not only, makes you feel more important within them, but it acknowledges it. It acknowledges your engagement. And that really that really feeds into building community too. So even just the simple act of not acknowledgement but like saying, telling [00:18:00] you that your message brightens their day.

[00:18:01] Dustin Hauer: That, that seemed, it’s leads into the appreciation DMS where it Yeah. 

[00:18:06] Kris Ward: So should I have then followed up with, I now I’m thinking I should follow with him and sent him a, like a nice message in the DMs rather public is good, but I could have, I do believe say nice things. I do that with my friends and family.

[00:18:17] Kris Ward: I’m always leaving messages. So I could have done that in the DMs. So I could have taken that one step further, a hundred percent. And then with your process of appreciation DMs, do you just pick different people or you see something like, Oh, I saw Kris’s post today. I’m just going to send her a message. What’s your criteria for that? 

[00:18:35] Dustin Hauer: Sure. It’s generally more peers, I would say. And even just like up and coming creators. I like to try and pinpoint just some, yeah, some people that, I see some positive things that they’re doing and I like to just, and it’s almost like a, like I liked your hook or I liked that graphic that you made or.

[00:18:53] Dustin Hauer: I like the way that analogy that you used or the way that you described that, a the way that you labeled like [00:19:00] fears that ICP might have that kind of thing. It more than even just Cheering them on. Yeah, exactly. Cheering them on. It’s more of more. I do that more than I do oh, thanks for engaging because it just feels 

[00:19:12] Kris Ward: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:19:13] Dustin Hauer: Feels automated almost, I would say. 

[00:19:16] Kris Ward: Yeah. That’s a good point. Because it’s not sincere. If we look at this as a networking platform and if I’m standing in a networking event talking to you and you’re chatting with me, I wouldn’t then say, thank you for your engagement in this conversation.

[00:19:28] Kris Ward: I wouldn’t say that. No. No. Not at all. So then I would say, Oh my gosh, I really love when you said that to this, blah, blah, blah. So I would be more specific about that. That makes sense. It’s yeah, very simple adjustment, but I think it’s meaningful. Okay. So with just a minute or two left, what do you feel that often people still overlook with LinkedIn or that we’re not talking about enough?

[00:19:50] Dustin Hauer: I would say, just the so I did a post today about the habits that you can create within LinkedIn. Within LinkedIn, just a daily [00:20:00] checklist kind of thing. And. It gets boring for a lot of people to do the same thing over and over again. And it almost makes them feel probably inauthentic to do the same thing over and over again.

[00:20:13] Dustin Hauer: But the you still have to go through the motions to grow. And in between that, you’ll have a lot of days where you kind of question why you’re even doing it, but there’s a lot of moments too, where you actually make a connection and you feel appreciated or you show appreciation and that’s, where the magic happens, I would say.

[00:20:34] Kris Ward: Yeah, you’re right. Cause some days I’m like, Oh, I love LinkedIn and please, I want to have a business that I’m like, I’m turning, whatever my setup would never, I, my setup would always allow for more business. I’m very strategic that way, but I want to be in a position where no, I’m turning business away and I can’t even go on LinkedIn anymore.

[00:20:50] Kris Ward: But so there’s a highs and lows of LinkedIn, but I think to your point, it’s the example I often give is which pushup get you in shape. So [00:21:00] you have to get your reps in and it is the accumulation of those reps You know There’s days that you feel like you’re doing great in the push ups and there’s days you don’t and but it’s a Accumulation of all that you know gets you know Your social media approach your business all that it brings and networking in shape.

[00:21:17] Kris Ward: So you just got to stay the course 

[00:21:20] Dustin Hauer: exactly 

[00:21:21] Kris Ward: Yeah, oh my gosh, okay Dustin where can we find more of your brilliance? 

[00:21:27] Dustin Hauer: Sure. You can you could follow me on LinkedIn You can send me a DM if you want I’d love to hear, just, the insights that may be other that I share. I’d love to hear how you’re putting them into practice and see if I can help.

[00:21:41] Kris Ward: Fantastic. Thank you again, Dustin and everyone else. We will see you in the next episode. Thanks again. 

[00:21:49] Dustin Hauer: ThankKrisris. I appreciate it.