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Brett Deister: And welcome to new episode of PR 360. And I'm your host, Brett Deister. And if you could please subscribe to PR 360 on Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify, and Amazon music, and leave a review, let us know how we're doing, or let us know if we're not doing something right. And we'll listen to you. We always listen to feedback. But anyways, this week I have John C. Morley with us, and he is a techie just like me. He loves tech. He also loves LinkedIn, which is going to be interesting because it's been that social network that no one really used at the beginning. And then everybody's starting to actually slowly use. now he is going to talk about that and branding. He's got a lot of wealth of information on LinkedIn. So welcome to the show John.
John C. Morley: Thank you very much for having me Brett pleasure to be here.
Brett Deister: Right. And my first question for all my guests is, are you a coffee or tea drinker?
John C. Morley: That's an interesting question. I'm actually a decaf he drinker. And I'm one of these hard tea drinkers that actually follows the rules when you're supposed to steep tea for every so many minutes, because one part of my family is actually in England. So, I'm always very into that Green teas, regular teas. And I always liked to have a cup of tea in the morning and one at night as well.
Brett Deister: Interesting. So, you're like me with more coffee. Like I actual do pour overs during the weekend because pour over is a different way of brewing it type of a thing.
John C. Morley: Okay. Yes. I don't know anything about coffee. Other than that, I've had a couple of those coladas and stuff like that. The coffee flavor that's about it.
Brett Deister: Yeah, there is actually different ways of actually brewing coffee. There's French press. There's drip, which most people are used to, which is Keurig as well. That's drip coffee and there's pour over, which basically is like a glass cylinder with a filter on top. You put the grounds in there and then you basically do in a circular form, hot water, and it goes into it. And that actually gives you the most flavor out of the coffee.
John C. Morley: Didn't know that either. So that's the one we should be doing if we're a coffee drinker.
Brett Deister: If you are a huge coffee snob. Yes, I am a coffee connoisseur, but I still will have Starbucks regardless because sometimes you just need coffee.
John C. Morley: Now, do you do a double or do you do a single, I know there's different kinds you can do. You can do a double.
Brett Deister: It really depends. When I was actually doing a barista, the actual shots we would give would be a double all the time. So it really depends on, I think Starbucks just do singles and you can ask for more, but then we can get into cold brew, which actually gives you more caffeine regardless of it, because it has about two and a half more times caffeine than actually regular hot coffee.
John C. Morley: The only coffee that I have experienced with, I taught myself how to make it when I went to Emily was espresso and the Americana. So, I learned how to make those.
Brett Deister: Yeah, Americanos basically expresso with water. And then Italy is big on expresso. That's basically Europe is always expresso. but also, for coffee is the different, so it's light, medium and dark. light, and medium give you more caffeine than the dark roast. the way you actually roast it will give you more caffeine too.
John C. Morley: I didn't know that.
Brett Deister: I can go on for what quite a while about this, but we can actually get onto PR and all that stuff.
John C. Morley: Interesting.
Brett Deister: Actually, moving on to PR. So, LinkedIn has actually added recently the story versions for their own actual site and think it's still only mobile. So, do you think a lot of these social media companies are losing their own uniqueness because they're just copying each other's features because it's popular to do.
John C. Morley: Well, that's a very interesting point. A lot of these social medias, whether you're talking about LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, I think what's happening right now is that they're all trying to see what people want and yet they are trying to clone it, but yet they are trying to become different, but in some ways, and they are also playing that game where we don't want you to become used to something because we'll just take it away from you. So, I think it has a lot of people on the edge because we don't really know what they're going to do. So I think you have to be diverse, even though you're using these platforms, you really need to build your own platform so that once you've been working with them, because one of these platforms could decide to stop having groups tomorrow. So, you need to build your own audience platform on your site, because if tomorrow they decided to not allow that group or decided to not allow that feature, what would you do? I think it's great to have them, but I don't think you can rely on them a 100% for everything you do.
Brett Deister: Gotcha. And LinkedIn actually has become a space or a social space for most PR pros now. And do you think a lot of people still use LinkedIn to its full advantage? Or do you think people are still testing the waters a little bit because LinkedIn was the social networks site that was like, you have an account, but you don't really do anything with it.
John C. Morley: So SlideShare is still out there, just not on LinkedIn. SlideShare is actually very popular because one of the medias you can use is SlideShare besides audio and video. And it's just another way of getting Google and other websites to see your content. But LinkedIn has just decided to just get off that train. And a lot of times LinkedIn and other social media platforms do things, but we don't always know why they do them. They just do them. So, to answer that question, LinkedIn has always been a network that I put all my time into. Most of my businesses and I want those type of quality connections. I don't necessarily want to know what time somebody uses the restroom or what they had for dinner. And so, on LinkedIn, we don't have those kinds of conversations. We're talking more about maybe your expertise; we're talking more about your opinion on something. You get recommendations on LinkedIn, endorsements. I do believe that LinkedIn is a different crowd. And if you're a B2B audience, you definitely have to be in LinkedIn. I put a lot of time in it and I find that by doing that, it's about cultivating relationships. You don't do that on Facebook. You don't really do that on Instagram. Yes, you try to get followers, but really these other platforms, you don't cultivate relationships. You just don't. LinkedIn is the place for that. And if you do something wrong on LinkedIn, you're going to have your head handed to you. So that's also another reason that some people feel a little afraid or sometimes they feel intimidated about LinkedIn.
Brett Deister: Yeah, I guess one of my pet peeves is most of the messaging where it's like, Hey, I want to be your connection. And then they start telling me all of a sudden, I'm like, yeah, what? thanks. I'm your connection.
John C. Morley: This is the challenge. right now, I think I have probably over 4,000 or 5,000 connections on LinkedIn. And I didn't get them by spamming people. But when I reach out to somebody and say, Hey, I know that you're in a field that is such and such, or we're both in this field. I was wondering what your take on this was. And that's an honest way and a good sincere way to connect with people. But I love the people that send me the 17-page dissertation I call it, the non-doctorate. Hi, I'm Mike, I'm Joe. I just want to tell you, and they have this long thing they just read. And at the very bottom, I usually reply to them by saying, thank you for sending me this very well-written dissertation. You and I really need to connect because you need my help. You don't want to do this on LinkedIn because you're going to really kick yourself in the foot and miss a very valuable contact. And you won't get that second chance to make that first connection.
Brett Deister: I found a tip where if I know they're actually automating their messages, you put an emoji in front of your name. And so, what it does is says, hello, and it has a coffee on it instead of my name. And I know it is just automated.
John C. Morley: It is something that LinkedIn does not like automation. Obviously, there's going to be some out there, but the thing is that a good percentage of it may be okay. It's just, there's a lot of companies out there that just want to just spam people. So, the definition of spam is when you send information out to people that don't want it, if you target a certain audience or a certain group with a message that's not spam. So, if I send an email to a group of people, maybe a group of entrepreneurs, and I'm telling them about something that might help them, that is not spamming them. But if I send that same message out to entrepreneurs, other people that are not entrepreneurs, then I'm spanning people. So, you've got to have a value when you send out your message. And I think a lot of times people, they want to connect with you. And I always say, gee, I'm so glad that you took the time to read my profile. What was it that made you want to reach out and connect with me? And I get silent, I get dead air, or I get, I love the field you are in. That is awesome. Which particular field, I am in multiple. And then you lose them. But these are, that are just trying to basically catch you, or they say, gee, can we jump on a calendar or can you jump on my calendar? I'm like, I appreciate the offer. I don't know about you, but I'm busy. And frankly, I don't think you've given me enough value for us to connect yet, just to be honest and blunt. And then they are like, they go away. So, I don't want to be rude, but I think there is a social nomenclature and also an etiquette, which in public, we wouldn't just go up to somebody we didn't know and just shake their hand. There's social etiquette on these systems. Even on zoom, like for example, would you go out somewhere and meet someone and put a paper bag over your head? Probably not. So why are you showing up to a video meeting with no video? Or why are you showing up to a meeting and not muting yourself and taking phone calls so we can hear you or better yet why are you actually showing up when you really didn't make the time to commit? I think what's happening during this pandemic is that people are networking because they have nothing better to do, but they're not putting in the effort that they should. And I get a lot of these people that they're so quick to say, let's jump on a call or let's meet see how we can help each other. I don't even know what you do yet. And they just want to get on that call. And I tell them right off the bat, look, I'm more than happy to jump on a call with you. I just want you to understand that there's no cold calling. There's no hard selling. So that means that we're going to get to know each other and learn about each other. But in this call, you're going to promise me that we're not going to talk about selling each other anything, is that okay, they drop off.
Brett Deister: I think for my industry specifically, it's mostly podcast promoters that I get a little too much of. And I always deny them because they're supposed to promote your podcast. And I'm like, I don't know if you're actually doing this, like in an ethical way. And I really don't want spam people like downloading my stuff. I want people that actually want to listen to my podcasts.
John C. Morley: Exactly. You want people that have an interest in coffee or technology or social media or entrepreneurs. And you want people that really want to hear what we have to deliver, which has a lot of value. And many of these people out there, they just, they feel like they have the magic bullet and there is no magic bullet. Let's be honest. It's about cultivating relationships. It's about creating a long-term relationship with your listeners and your followers or your viewers. And when you take that approach and people understanding, you're not trying to sell them something. A lot of times I say to people, look, we may talk about something, but I want to let you know that we're not selling it right now. All I'm telling you about is so that you have an understanding and a benchmark of what's out there, but there's no point that we want you to buy any of these right now. I just want to compare them. And I think there's a difference to that and say, Hey, go to this website and click now, that's selling. And if you're going to do that, that is an advertisement and if that's your main motive, then let people know it's an advertisement. Don't try to stick it in the shoe. Hey, and while you're listening, if you'd like to, and don't do that, that's just cheesy.
Brett Deister: Moving on to brands, even LinkedIn, how do they actually create their own stories through LinkedIn? Cause I know that's a little bit more difficult, but brand pages have a, getting a little bit more, I guess, prestige in LinkedIn before it was just kind of like you have your brand page, all right, whatever.
John C. Morley: I don't usually say this. so many years ago, I've been using LinkedIn for a long time. And the challenges that everybody says, you should have a good profile. All right, so you're going to dot the I's cross the T's. You want to make sure that you're putting in information that people are going to want to read, but here's the truth Brett, people don't take the time to read it. And here's why, most people leave the default LinkedIn banner profile. They go buy something that isn't even related to them, but it just seems impressive. Or they put some text on it, it doesn't even make sense. So, what I found, and this is where I've been really able to help a lot of people is, we create LinkedIn banner profiles. And it's not just about creating graphics. It's about getting to learn who you are because you only get six to eight seconds, which is the average time before somebody decides to click on to approve you or blocking forever.
You don't get that chance to make the second impression unless you meet the person in person and say, look, something happened. I was wondering if we could reconnect and then there's that saving grace, but I'll tell you a quick story. I had a gentleman and in all the years I've been on LinkedIn, which is a long time that I actually had a report to the LinkedIn group. Now that's rare that happens. But the reason I shared a story is to hopefully help others, so they don't do this. well, it was a gentleman. He was in a networking meeting that I had attended, and he says, Hey John, how are you? We made a group. I said that is fantastic. Nice to meet you as well. You guys take credit cards? Yes. Oh, that's great. Are you happy with your provider? So, I'm being courteous. Yes, I'm very happy with my provider. We use it in all my businesses. Oh, that's awesome. So now I figured he gets the gist and he's going to respect that. Okay. Now he comes back with another sentence. I'm glad you're so happy. A lot of people like you kick themselves when they actually learn how much money they're leaving on the table, because they don't actually have the lowest rate possible. And I'm trying to be polite, but I really am. I said, look, I'm going to call him Joe for argument's sake. Joe, I appreciate this really, but maybe you didn't quite hear me when I said I am really good. I'm all set. Oh, okay. That's fantastic. So, what are you doing this week? And go through another couple of sentences. Then bam! comes back in my face. So, I'm surprised at you intelligent, you are an entrepreneur, that actually is going to leave all that money on the table. Do you know how much money you actually could be putting in your pocket. And said, I appreciate your tenacity and your persistence, but do you understand when I say I'm good, I don't want any more. And then I'm going to say one thing to you. I'm going to say stop and he's, so you don't really want to. I said, look, I'm asking you to stop. I'm not interested in your product. I'm not interested in your service. If you keep continuing down this path, I may not even be interested in continuing to talk with you and network and learn how we can help each other. Okay, Okay. Don't get so hot on the collar. So, we're talking for another minute and you'll think he gets the message. He comes back again. He says, I have helped probably at least 10 to 20 entrepreneurs and they were losing over a million dollars a year. I was just wondering if you had a statement in hand. Joe, you didn't get it when I said stop, I said, please, I'm not interested. I've been really kind to you. And I'm not interested in your services, but I was still working, willing to network with you, but you still keep being persistent. And I don't like this. No, I get it. But I just hate to see you lose all that money. I said, look, I've just stopped you now twice. If I have to say it a third time, I'm going to report you to the LinkedIn police. you don't have to get all huffy and puffy with me. I'm just trying to understand what you're spending. That's it, stop. I went to LinkedIn police. I sent them a thing and I broke the connection. I said too often I unbreak connections very rarely because I don't just connect with anybody. And he still kept continuing with me, even though our connection broke, he kept trying to keep coming back. I said, you're in California, right? I'm in New Jersey. I said, you don't know about me is that before I became an engineer, I actually studied to become a lawyer and decided I could lie to people for a living. I said, I'm going to cite you the two codes, one in New Jersey and one in California. And you're border lining my friend of stalking. If you'd like me to pursue a filing in New Jersey and in California, you need to knock it off. There was a pause for about a minute or two. He's like, I get it. Just chill a little bit, have a good day. Bye. And so, my point of that, you have to understand that these companies that are trying to get you to crunch numbers, they're not relationships. They don't care what kind of relationship. All they care is what kind of commissions are in the table. That's all they care about. So when you're working with these kinds of people, if they're not going to have a one-on-one conversation, then I think you have to understand, that's probably not somebody you're going to want to do business with because down the road, how are they going to be after the sale? And how would I feel if I referred someone like that to someone or worse, how would I feel if someone else did that to me, I wouldn't be too happy. So, you don't think there'd be a cold day and you know what? I'm going to probably refer anybody to him because of his attitude. So, I think that's the biggest problem. And that LinkedIn is a tool. It's not used to manipulate people. It's used to post quality information, not sales information. Not say you can't have a to action once a while, but every day you shouldn't have a call to action, provide value to your audience, let them see and understand that you're about value. Then they want a conversation with you. Fantastic. If they don't, it's okay. One of the things that I do in all of the meetings that I have; I never ask any of my clients for the sale. A lot of people say to you, you have to ask for the sale. I don't. The reason is if I haven't provided you enough value, enough information. Why should I try to trick you into getting into a psychological sale? I don't do it. So, nine out of ten at time, people say how do we move forward. What would you like to do? I'd like to get started. And I think the point is a lot of people are waiting to be sold. And when you don't sell them, it shows them that you have a respect for them. And LinkedIn is a platform that's about respect. the people that are going to hard pitch you, they're going to be there, that's going to happen. And I think we have to just move on with those people and realize that we can do two things with them. One, we could get angry, which isn't going to help us or two, we can help and educate them and say, look, I wish we could have networked with each other. the way you're doing this, or I ask the question like, gee, who taught you that? Who taught me what? Who taught you how to be solved obnoxious and persistent on LinkedIn, because you're not going to get any business?
And I feel bad for you. And I think these are the things, these are beginning salespeople and you know this. during the pandemic, they show up to a zoom call. They want to grab the chat room information, and then they want to bombard you. And I think the bottom line is that we can't actually do that. because if we're going to do that, it's going to be a big problem. You can't actually do that. So, I think the problem with that is that if people understand what's happening, then they'll understand that if you just do something with an intention to help people, then you're going to be fine. If you don't, then what's going to happen is, people going to realize that you aren't really the you that you're coming off to portray.
Brett Deister: Some pretty sound advice right there. I've met a lot of those people you said the hard sells. And usually what I've found through LinkedIn is that they have those very interesting headlines about how their growth is so amazing on their headlines. And that's usually pretty red flag for me, or I'm like, I really don't want to talk to you right now.
John C. Morley: Or if they're starting with the packages. it's one thing if somebody asks you to tell them about their packages, that's fine, but don't go ahead and say, okay, let's get you into a package. How do I know if I even can help you? What I tell people is, look, we will help you open the floor so that you can have more conversations, more engagements, more discussions, create more value, potentially do more business. Is that something that's an interest to you? You say no, John, I'm not, okay, no problem. I didn't sell you. I just asked you if you'd like to provide some value to the market. A lot of people can't take no for an answer because the reason I take no for an answer is I realize if you're not my market, either A, you're going to become my market or B, I'm wasting time talking to you. And there's a lot of other people that need, want, can afford what I do. You know what I am saying, I'm waiting for that. I think that's the biggest problem that we have that type of thing. And I know that what's going on right now is, it's going to become an issue. But if people don't take that kind of time and they really don't care about what's going on, then I know the real issue is that it's going to kick them. It's going to kick them in the belt. If it kicks them in the belt, then we know what the problem is going to be. You've been lied to before I'm sure, what happens when somebody tells you something and then it's really not the way it's supposed to. What happens with that?
Brett Deister: I usually get pretty upset and go; I am done talking to you.
John C. Morley: You get pretty upset and you talk to them and that's a whole problem. You just don't know, and you really don't want to talk with that person again. You have no inkling to want to talk to that person again.
Brett Deister: That is about right.
John C. Morley: What I find is this. We want to have conversations with people, but we don't necessarily want to sell people. You know what I'm saying? We don't want to do that. We don't want to sell people. We want to just create those engaging dialogue. And that's really the issue. People are out to try to hard sell people. And the problem is that if they hard sell people, it's going to become an issue.
Brett Deister: Going on that, how can businesses thrive through it? Is businesses going to basically need to do that? Have more interesting conversations, bring out more interesting articles, either through them or through somebody else. Is that how it's going to be for businesses to thrive? Because it seems like LinkedIn is a lifeline for a lot of businesses during this time.
John C. Morley: LinkedIn, I should say is one of the lifelines, but it's not the only lifeline. Which is why understanding what goes on. And my background being an engineer, but seven years ago, I got tired because I had a very large marketing company that was working for me. They were taking cheques for me. I didn't know a thing about marketing. And the thing about this is that it has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't know anything about it. The people that were supposed to know what they were doing, didn't know what they were doing. And they were taking checks. You're working with the wrong company and I'm going to use an example, let's just call $1 or $5 and $10. And when I paid them the dollar, let's just say, they would say, let's take you out for Dunkin donuts. When I paid them $5, let's take you out for lunch. When I paid them $10, and these are just arbitrary numbers, let's go ahead and the $10, let's take them out for a steak dinner, right? That's the whole thing. And I think the problem is that people have to understand that when you get people that say, they know what they're doing, and they're behind a big facade, they may have people in that company that have known what they're doing. But a lot of these beginners or these other people, they don't know what they're doing. And that is the whole challenge because you're paying them for this great big office, but they're not doing anything for you. And my problem is that I didn't want to leave. It was a big risk to actually leave. So, I decided to fire them after they made some mistakes, and they couldn't help me. And I bought my first print production system from Xerox. And then I started, I decided to build a marketing company because this is it, Brett. Nobody could help me. And I just want to help small and large businesses just do the right thing. There are a lot of people I talk to say, Hey, you know what? I'm not going to guarantee you anything. What I am going to do is I'm going to listen to you, and I'll come up with a clear plan of what we can do. And I'm going to tell you about how we've done it the past. I don't want to paint you a bad story about or lie. I want to be as honest as I can. And if I can't tell you something truth, I'm going to say, look, I don't know the honest truth on that. Cause we haven't worked with that industry, but this is how it's working in similar markets. So, I think being honest with people is what it's about. And if you can do something like that, they trust you. in the marketing industry, there's a lot of people with whatever it is. It's a problem. It's definitely a problem. So, I think if we can understand and realize that it's about respect, then that's the bottom line. That is that's the bottom line. Because if, whether you're a consumer, you're a business owner, you want to be treated with respect, right? You go to home Depot or you go to a store. Even you go to buy a new car, what do you hate when somebody comes right up to you? Now maybe they say hello or good morning. But you say, I'm just looking, right. I'm just browsing. And then five minutes later, the guy comes up to you, right? Again, what happens after that? You're a little annoyed, aren't you? Maybe you're like, I'm just looking. Maybe you're okay. But the third time, look, I told you, I'm just looking or maybe you walk out. So, I think we have to treat people with that same type of respect. And that's why I developed something called the LinkedIn banner profile system. whereby it's not just creating a graphic for people, it's getting to know them. There's lots of things we ask them. And by interviewing somebody for about 60 minutes, a profile of based on what people are trying to understand, but they're not going to get the chance if it's 6 to 10 seconds. Now, most people won't spend 60 minutes to develop something that's going to engage someone. Oh, that's too much time. I feel that is the best use of our time. Because if I can get to know who you are, I can help put your best foot forward.
Brett Deister: Gotcha. Yeah. I think LinkedIn is all about mostly value and you're supposed to showcase yourself as well, but it's mostly about value, especially for businesses. Like what value can you bring to people and not hard sell them all the time?
John C. Morley: Exactly. So, if you're trying to answer an opinion, maybe give them a fact about something, give them a warning about something. So, you could post video content. You can post articles. The point in LinkedIn is that you want to try not to link to things in LinkedIn, even though it's LinkedIn, you want to post videos that are just 10 minutes or under. when you link to other content, LinkedIn frowns upon that, they like the content to be their own. So that is a tip there, you can upload videos or audio. You have to make sure that stays within the 10 minutes. And you're going to see that people will like that. Then share that to groups, but hashtag things properly, research the right hashtags, join the right groups. again, and get to develop value in that group. Once you develop value, then post to those groups. But don't just post them if you haven't provided value. because people are going to look at you like, Hey, who are you? You have the provide some value, comment on people's things. That's what it's about. Facebook never got this because Facebook was never about giving value. Facebook as was originally designed by Mark Zuckerberg, who actually designed something to be an app to help guys and the ladies find the person they wanted to go out with and whatnot, but they made it more of a dating plus app. And that's not what Facebook is now, but that's where it went. And I think Facebook should have stayed where it was, but it should have stayed in college. because then they could pitch this to the businesses that wanted to sell to that community. I think they did a bad job by bringing Facebook to the world as at large. I think it just doesn't handle the right things. They're not set up for the right thing. They don't even have customer service you can talk to on the phone. all these companies, you call them, you chat with them. And the last thing that really got my goat with them is they have an outside company. I'm not going to mention who, and they try to get you to spend money. If you're spending money, then they give you free consultants. They have an outside company, it is supposedly helping you as Facebook, but they're not really Facebook. And all they try to do is tell you to spend more money, but they really don't have a clue to why your ads not working. Well, we need to up the budget. Why? Because the population is red. What about my target? we need to get you some more targets. How much is that going to cost? Oh, maybe another $50 or a $100. no, per day. Is that going to work? It should. Then you do that, it doesn't work. well, we have to up the budget again. They just don't care. And what happens is eventually people say, you know what? We've had a problem, and this isn't working. So, you know what we're going to do. We're going to leave you. And they know that people are going to leave them, but they figure if they can get a few of those suckers on the egg for the beginning, then they've done what they have to. They'll get more people like that. I think in LinkedIn it is different, because people understand that it's about value. They understand it's not about being pitched, but they also are on guard for being pitched. When you curate connections with people in LinkedIn, there's a genuine reason. You want to learn about them, maybe refer business to them. Maybe you want to get some insights from them, but it's not pushing a product. Maybe it's about sharing a networking event so that you can attend. I do that a lot on LinkedIn. I share networking events and say, Hey, this is a great event. I think you'd like to go to it. I think on LinkedIn, the whole key is trying to figure out what it's going to set you apart from other people. And to do that, you need to do your homework. You need to search and use like LinkedIn advance, the pro and try to figure out who you want to connect with. You do some studies on them, read their profile. Don't just fire up a message. Hey, I read your profile, read their profile because the guy comes back and says, gee, thanks for reading my profile, have like egg on your face. So, I think people need to be honest and take that time to really read their profile. Because if you're not really willing to read their profile, you just looking to scam people.
Brett Deister: And also speaking of events since events actually have gone more virtual. Do you think LinkedIn has a better opportunity of making more professional or helping with professional events through maybe say using Microsoft teams is they're now part of Microsoft or they have been in part of Microsoft? Can you see that helping facilitate that more and using their livestream platform as well to do live streaming through that?
John C. Morley: The livestream platform is very picky. Number one, they don't approve everything. The second thing is I like the LinkedIn events, the big challenge is they don't share with you, what the size it should be. So, you have to do some work to figure that out. They don't publish it. And I like it because you can then invite your contacts. And by doing that, you're trying to show value to an event. And the events that are on there are not sales events, typically like educational events, they're networking events. And I like it because it gives you a reminder to attend that event. And then you can tag more value to that event. And then people could say, Oh, gee, look what this person said or look what this person says. What I do a lot of times when I post an event is, I do something about one-on-one networking. And I ask people questions about what you should do when you network. And then I post like a poll and that gets a lot of people connected. And I tell people on the post, don't attend this event if you just have nothing to do,go get lost for an hour. No, don't come. If you can't be present and focused for the hour or the two hours, don't waste the other people's time. The people on LinkedIn want to create relationships. And if you're going to be in there muddy the waters, that's not fair to the other people. And it's disrespectful.
Brett Deister: Alright. And fun question. If you could create one killer feature for LinkedIn, what would it be?
John C. Morley: So the killer feature that I would create on LinkedIn, if they would listen to me, would be to set up, you already have something that has a happy birthday and all those type of things. I would set up something that would give us a score. Now you already to have a score as a LinkedIn person, you have a LinkedIn index. I would like to see a score on your network reputation. So, they have a score right now based on how well you connect. But I would like a score on your reputation. Now your reputation is based on everybody else that can vote on you. So, it's not based on automation, it's based on what people think about you. just because they're in your network, doesn't mean they value you.
Brett Deister: So, almost like a similar to cloud, but a little bit more authentic than what cloud was because cloud was a reputation in a way, but it was like, what's your cloud score. I never really understood it.
John C. Morley: So they have something now like your networks score, you have your reputations score for you and then you and the industry, but this would basically be not based on your, on any metrics that LinkedIn's running. It would be based on authenticity, like saying, Hey Brett. So, it's not like a recommendation. It's more rating my value as a connection. Does that make sense? How well does John rank in networking, 1 to 10? How well does John rank in providing value to the LinkedIn community? And takes those three or four and then give that as a score.
Brett Deister: Interesting, actually it would be a really good feature.
John C. Morley: And then those people might be able to join premier groups that are only available to the premier LinkedIn people that have stepped up to that level. similar to , where if you get it to a certain level, they give you certain perks. So that's what I was thinking.
Brett Deister: All right. Any final thoughts for our listeners?
John C. Morley: The only thing I just want to let people know is if they are going to network and they want to do that, I would encourage them to take the time and basically plan what it is that you're going to say. Not word for word, maybe have an outline and then practice what you're going to say to people. Maybe come up with some questions. The last thing I would tell you is this, don't worry about being interested, worry about being interested in someone else as our good friend once said about how to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie. And if they have more information, they would like to check out what I'm saying. They can, you know, check me out on LinkedIn, which is J-O-H-N middle initial C, last name M-O-R-L-E-Y-I-V. linkedin.com/in/and my name or they can visit my marketing company at ourprintnexion.com. And I just hope everyone stays safe during the holiday season and does smart networking and realizes that this is a long game everyone. This is not something we're doing just because it's a pandemic.
Brett Deister: Alright, thank you John, for joining PR360 and giving us a wealth of knowledge on LinkedIn.
John C. Morley: You're most welcome. Thank you for having me. I've enjoyed being here.
Brett Deister: Thank you for listening to PR360. as always, please subscribe to PR360 on Apple podcast, Google podcast, Spotify and Amazon music, and join us next week as we talk to another great thought leader in the PR industry, all right, guys, stay safe, do better on LinkedIn and get some authentic connections on there and have a good week. See you later.
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