Learning how to craft the perfect DM when reaching out to influential people is an essential skill, especially when you want to grow your business or following.
My man Danny agrees with me — learning how to make friends on the internet is one of the most valuable skills you can learn.
They can become mentors, friends, coaches, clients, or customers.
And if they have influence, they can ramp up your business and Twitter growth.
Note: I’m not an expert at this (yet), but it’s helped me grow my Twitter following to 7K. And I’ve only just begun using this technique.
Below, I share what I’ve done and how I plan to expand this skill moving forward.
Let’s get to it.
1. Get Your Mindset Right
If you believe you’re not worthy of befriending someone, you’ll never reach out to them.
If you’re worried about screwing up this opportunity, you’re going to act needy.
If you make poor assumptions, your misjudgments will prevent you from connecting with great people.
Fix this by developing the 5 crucial social mindsets:
- Confidence Mindset
- Abundance Mindset
- Growth Mindset
- Proactive Mindset
- Truth Mindset
If you want to develop these, my guide Social Mindset Mastery shows you how.
2. Know Your Goals
It’s hard to connect without a purpose. You can still meet cool people, but it’s unlikely the connection will produce the results you want.
Cure this by thinking ahead.
Brainstorm your goals. Do you want to:
- Increase sales?
- Grow your following?
- Make like-minded friends?
Don’t take this lightly. Think it through. It’ll make the rest of the process much easier.
3. Find People
You can’t connect with people if you don’t know they exist. I focus on Twitter because it’s a great place to find, meet, and connect with like-minded and influential people.
I highly recommend you do the same.
To find people:
- Search for topics that interest you
- Follow people who seem interesting
- See who they connect with & follow them
You’re not looking for celebrities. Follow people with varying follower counts.
The more people you find, the more opportunities you’ll have.
4. Do Your Research
You need to determine if these people are a good fit.
- Read their bio
- Click their links
- Scroll through their tweets
- See who they interact with
Get an overall sense of their vibe and personality. Are they worth getting to know? If yes, move forward.
Next, search for similarities. Finding commonalities will help you connect.
Then, determine how you can help them and how they can help you. (More on these in the next 2 sections.)
5. How Can You Help Them?
Give people a reason to want to connect with you.
Options for people with similar or less status or follower account than you:
- Help them grow
- Promote their ideas
- Provide testimonials
- Give advice or feedback
- Connect them with others
If they have more status or followers, they’re likely busier and don’t need your influence.
Here are some things you can do:
- Take their advice (free or paid), get results, & provide a testimonial.
- Compliment or thank them. Be specific.
- Help them for free (example below).
When Jay (@sharingideas on Twitter) fixed my image for free, I immediately liked him.
You can bet I was (and still am) willing to help him however I can. Even highly successful people have areas they could use help with.
Get creative.
6. How Can They Help You?
You’re connecting with people so you can grow. They need to be able to help you too. So be smart with your ask.
If you just ask for a retweet, they’re going to think you’re using them for their following — you could ask any large account for a RT.
Instead, ask for something only they can provide:
You want them to say yes. Make it easy for them to follow through.
Remember, you’re trying to build a relationship.
This is a long-term play.
7. Get On Their Radar
Before you reach out to these people, you need to “warm them up”.
Do this by commenting on their tweets. Make your replies thoughtful so they add value to the conversation. This shows that you share important interests and beliefs.
If you do this for a few weeks, there’s a better chance they’ll recognize you when you reach out. You build trust and give them more reason to read your DM and help if they can.
Sometimes they’ll even follow you before you DM them. This helps tremendously.
8. Reach Out
It’s time for you to send a DM. Here’s a good, general strategy:
- Have positive energy
- Compliment them on something specific
- Point out a similarity
- Ask for quick, easy help
- Thank them
- Leave on a positive note
Make it quick and to the point. Here’s an example:
“Yo Dumbo! I found your account recently and love your focus on using natural oils to improve elephant skin. I’ve grown wary of popular products’ chemicals and your content helps me understand the issue way better. I’m currently using olive and coconut oil, but I’m curious — are there any other “MUST USE” oils I should add to my daily regimen? Thanks for your time! Have an awesome rest of your day :)”
Be friendly, have a personality, and let it rip.
9. Ending Note
Boom. You now have what it takes to reach out to influential people. You won’t always get a response and that’s fine. People are busy and this is a numbers game.
But the more you do it, the more luck you’ll create for yourself.
If you liked this email, let me know! I want to create content that best serves you.
Just follow me on Twitter and shoot me a DM.
And if you want to receive value-packed emails plus some of my best free guides, join my newsletter here.
Have an awesome day.
-Rob
Originally published at https://robriker.com on March 3, 2021.
