Outreach 101

This is a topic I’ve put off talking about for a while.

Because, it’s uncomfortable.

And I’m not an expert.

But I was recently inspired by a post (can’t remember whose) that said something to the effect of “Write about stuff you know about, AND the stuff you want to know more about.”

While I'm not the ultimate expert here (yet), I'm deep in the trenches learning everything I can.

So, what am I talking about?

Outreach of course!

While I do have a functioning business with an LLC tax designation and clients that pay me monthly, I suck at outreach.

But I’m determined to suck less in the near future.

Because proactive outreach is the only way to build a business.

So, I’m going to share my plan and tactics this week as I work on it.

And, I’ll start with the channels I’ll be using.

Comments

I think commenting under the posts of people you want to talk to is the best place to start.

I’ve started all of my internet friendships this way.

It’s a win-win:

• They get the increased algorithmic attention from increased engagement.

• You get a chance to make their day better by providing more insight to what they said, making them laugh, or just providing a compliment.

Start here, always.

DMs

DM’s are weird.

It’s a dumpster fire for the most part.

Especially if you have any following at all, you’re getting spammed by either people wanting something from you or AI bots spamming you with generic, cardboard questions.

But, it is the next step in outreach funnel. And there are ways to do it right (which I’ll share later this week).

I recommend commenting first for a couple of days, then if you get an answer, send a nice DM.

Calls

I dislike cold calls (even though they may work for some industries), so I’m not going to talk about that here.

The kind of calls I’m talking about are the booked calls from a successful DM conversation.

It’s the next step following comments.

Just recently I had a large account (>200k followers, and following ~70) follow me. It went like this: comment with value → DM → booked call → follow (with a “if you ever need the favor returned, let me know”).

It works.

Emails

I saved the best for last.

Emails are the absolute best way to establish a connection with someone online.

No, I’m not talking about cold emails.

I’m talking about signing up for someone’s newsletter/email list and then replying to their email with a thoughtful reply.

It’s crazy that this isn’t talked about a lot, because it’s an order of magnitude more likely to get you a response than DMs.

For one, hardly anyone does this. So when you reply, it already set’s you apart.

Second, people that write emails LOVE when people respond. It helps their deliverability AND it gives them feedback on the email message.

Win-win.

As always, I hope this was helpful!

See you tomorrow,

Swanagan