#42: Listen as Adam Marx, the Zero-to-One networker, shares his expertise for building high-quality social media networks from the ground up. We discuss the importance of online community, strategies across different platforms, and why patience and consistency are vital to the process.
Listen to the full episode below or search “the sales lift” wherever you get podcasts!
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Don’t feel like listening? Read the Episode Cliff Notes instead below:
Community Dynamics (0:30)
Whatever your preferred platform is, it’s about finding the community and conversation that’s most comfortable to you and where you can provide value and interesting perspectives.
There are millions of people online, and you want to find the community, that smaller group, that you can resonate with- it could be your target audience or maybe others that think like you.
Some people are out of reach, but there are so many talented, interesting, engaged people who are accessible through strategies like consistent patience, creation, dialogue, and empathy.
Create a dynamic where people want to come back to the conversation because things change factors change. By getting to that next conversation, you can explore business opportunities that might not have occurred to you before.
It’s not just what you sell, it’s how you sell, and how you sell is in those conversations.
The Importance of Patience (8:17)
People make excuses to do business with people they like and excuses to not do business with people they don’t like.
When you feel like you’re on the periphery of the universe, maybe you’re at 50 followers, and you see all these people around you with huge followings, it can seem incredibly daunting.
Building a network is like building credit: you have to start small and gain trust before expecting people to listen.
Patience really pays massive dividends in the long run.
Tips for Content-Driven Networking (11:38)
Adam explains the huge differences between people who aren’t confident, people who don’t like other people, and people who feel they have nothing left to learn.
You can’t improve your network if you don’t like interacting with a network or open to the value of new perspectives.
Building entails a lot of dialogue, reframing, and consulting. It’s a lot of talking about situations and how to approach those situations.
Creating and changing habits is a long-term way to build and maintain a content-driven network. There are little things that people can do in their habits that will change their trajectory.
For example, commenting and sharing, sharing content. Not just, “this is a great link,” but tagging the author and saying, “wow, this is a great article on marketing.”
Quick Wins (18:03)
In terms of “quick wins” to implement, it really depends on which platform you’re using.
Commenting really wins on LinkedIn. If you really want to get into LinkedIn, the very first thing Adam recommends is to get in on the comments.
Twitter can be very humor-based, so using gifs and references to get people to laugh is a great way to get their attention.
Adam also recommends looking for collaboration opportunities, like anyone looking for feedback on something they’re working on.
Other ideas respond to somebody else’s content, engaging with a podcast episode saying I loved hearing about this from this guest, etc.
It’s also crucial to recognize that networking isn’t sales by nature. It might lead to sales, but it isn’t sales.
Adam Marx’s Bio:
Adam Marx is a networking & branding consultant, tech founder, journalist and music entrepreneur, and is The Zero to One Networker.
Formerly the founder & CEO of music-tech startup Glipple, Inc., and as a writer appearing in Crunchbase News, Startup Grind, Mattermark, and others, Adam draws on more than a decade of experiences in the music and tech industries to teach others how to cultivate powerful relationships using strategies of patience, consistency, authenticity, and value creation.
As a networking & branding consultant and speaker, Adam works with clients to develop mission-driven narratives that help them open doors to long-term, magnetic relationships. Adam uses his brand persona as The Zero to One Networker to help others build their networks from scratch and engineer a movement around positive, non-transactional networking.
With his trademark orange sunglasses as his calling card, Adam uses his voice & reputation in tech to further missions of equality, diversity & humility.