šŸŽ„ Kate Paine on Cutting Through LinkedIn Noise

Kate Paine


Kate Paine is the founder and CEO of Standing Out Online, working with change makers to help them get their message out and to stand out online.

We caught up with Kate at Social Media Week Lima smwl22 and asked her how we can stand out from the spammy noise on LinkedIn to make real connections with people.

Find Kate on LinkedIn or at StandingOutOnline.com.


There certainly is a lot of noise on LinkedIn. Microsoft is putting a lot of tools in place to make the user experience much, much better. But thereā€™s still those people who are pitching you the minute they ask you to connectā€”and I canā€™t stand it!

People who are sending you a pitch right when they connect with you have not earned the right to come into a conversation with you. If somebody knocked on your door and they barged in the moment you opened it, you wouldnā€™t want that!

So, first of all, donā€™t be that person. And if a person does decide to do that, donā€™t even bother connecting with them; just let them go, because there are plenty of people out there who do want to connect with you and who will add value to your network.

Essentially what it comes down to is using your own filters to figure out what content you love and then push all the noise away. You can figure out how to do that by building relationships and starting conversations with people.

Specific to LinkedIn, nurture the connections you already have. Comment on their posts, engage with them. Donā€™t just expect them to come to you; this is a give and take relationship. Comment on their stuff,
share your thought leadership on their stuff, send them kudos, put out good things. Model what you want your experience to be on LinkedIn for other people.

Youā€™re also going to be receiving connection invitations from new people, which is great. When they send you an invitation to connect, reply with, ā€œThank you so much!ā€. Just doing that simple act, people are surprised by it
because they donā€™t expect it, and that also can lead to building the relationship and building conversation.


Kate Paine @kate2
Iā€™m the founder and CEO of Standing Out Online. We work with change makers who have a big message to get out to create positive impact in our world. We help them become known and visible online


Tell Us Below:

How do you make sure to bring valueā€”not noiseā€”to your LinkedIn connections?

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I love implementing this comment strategy as it works! For every post I make, I comment at least 5 times, often more! A ā€˜likeā€™ or ā€˜loveā€™ is easy enough as well, but a comment with your thoughts isā€¦ powerful. Great advice @kate2

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For sure Kate.

When I do connect with people with a note I let them know that if thereā€™s anything I can do for them, to not be afraid to ask! Or if I see theyā€™re looking for work, Iā€™ll let them know that if I see a job that may be a fit for them that Iā€™ll tag them!

I donā€™t pitch, but I donā€™t have anything to pitch either. I still wouldnā€™t immediately pitch something to them the moment we connect though.

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