Digital engagement doesn't mean casual engagement.
Did you ever see the interview with Jesse Eisenber and Romina Puga? Here's the link in case you haven't.
In the interview, Ms. Puga referred to Morgan Freeman as simply "Freeman." Jesse responded with quite a bit of sarcasm and was like "Freeman? Are you on a baseball team with him?" When I first saw this interview, I thought Jesse was being a bit harsh...and then something similar happened to me.
I get a Linked In request that read:
Arbuckle,
I can help you blow up your sales!-Z
Really? Look, I'm not super-stuffy when it comes to business relationships. I enjoy having friendly banter and being casual. But on an introduction, "Z" goes with just my last name, like we went to school together?? Come on.
I also had an invite where the gentleman sent me a note saying "I have nothing to pitch you, just wanted to connect and share ideas." I accepted on that pretense...and within an hour of accepting, the guy is pitching me.
I respond "hey, I accepted this because you said you weren't going to pitch me...yet here we are." His note back? "Sorry, sent that to the wrong person."
No he didn't. In fact, in that follow-up pitch he sent me, he addressed the note to "Brian..." Come on. Own the mistake and apologize.
I like using Linked In as a prospecting tool. I know a lot of advice exists that recommends reaching out only to people you know. I don't agree with that line of thinking, digital connections can be useful for everyone involved.
Where people fail is in executing digital connections is based on the assumption that because the connection is happening on the inter-webs, it somehow means we can skip the cultural norms that we follow in face-to-face connections. I'm very transparent in my outreaches on Linked In and tell folks upfront why I'm reaching out. Then the ball is in their court. If they want to connect, great! They know what's coming. If they choose to ignore? Great, move on to the next.
What's not acceptable is adopting too familiar of a tone or outright lying about the intent of the connection request.
Connecting digitally isn't that different than face-to-face introductions. Be authentic. Be honest. And give people the information they need in order to decide whether or not to accept the connection. It's that simple.
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