Interview with Melonie Dodaro, Author of The LinkedIn Code

Today, I have the great pleasure of being the host on DAY 8 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.  

The 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 Amy Baumcratz's 'Hospitality Social Magnet' blog at http://www.hospitalitysocialmagnet.com/blog where she asked about finding clients and taking your LinkedIn relationships off-line. Today, I'd like to share with you a recent interview I had with Melonie where I asked her about how to network with people who are not in your community.

Enjoy the following interview I conducted with the author....

MEG: What is the best way to approach a person who you would like to network with, who is not in your community?

MELONIE: The first thing you would want to do is to check your network to see if you know someone who knows this person and then ask for a warm introduction.

If this is not possible, I would look to see if you share any common groups, as you can message and connect with anyone who you share a group with easily. If you do not already share a group, look to see if they are a part of a group that you can join.

If using groups is not an option, you will need to provide a valid reason when you send them a connection request that explains why they would want to connect with you (from their point of view). Include any common interests that make sense to share.

MEG: What is the best way to get the word out about a new group that you create?

MELONIE: One method that has worked extremely well is to include a short description with an invite to your group, in a nice personalized message after someone connects with you or accepts your connection request. You can also seek out other active members in other groups and reach out to them personally. Lastly, you can have a link to your group on your website with a sentence describing the benefit of joining your group.

MEG: If you only have one hour a week to give to LinkedIn, how do you best spend that hour?

MELONIE: If you only have one hour each week to dedicate to LinkedIn, this hour would be most effectively spent by committing to 10 to 15 minutes a day, Monday through Friday. Each day have some specific action items that you will implement. i.e. reaching out to and connecting to new prospective prospects, building relationships with those in your current network etc. Create a checklist of daily tasks and then follow this each day to keep you on task and on time, but also make it easier to track your results.

By ensuring you consistently put in the time each day and follow your checklist, you will see far greater results from your lead generating activities, than if you randomly spend an hour each week.

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. 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 Jacqui Malpass's blog at http://jacquimalpass.com/blogging/ where they'll be talking about personal brands and creating meaningful headlines on LinkedIn.