Networking is no longer limited to in-person events or local connections. If the pandemic taught us anything, professionals across various industries can rely on digital platforms to build their careers, share knowledge, and open doors to new opportunities. LinkedIn became the catalyst for networking, revolutionizing how professionals connect and grow. In this week’s episode, Jenn and Kalli discuss how the social platform has transformed networking and what the future holds for professionals, especially those in marketing, with LinkedIn’s Senior Director, Klayton Kopecky.
imPRessions Season 2 Episode #12 Transcript
Jenn: Hey, Kalli.
Kalli: Hey, Jenn.
Jenn: So much is happening in the social media landscape, and I know we’ve had a couple of episodes already, kind of digesting the evolution, but today, I wanted to talk a little bit about how social media is imperative for professional networking.
Kalli: I think that’s a great idea. You know, I know when I first started out, LinkedIn was new, a lot of the networking was in person. And obviously that’s changed not just because of the developments of different platforms and ways to connect digitally, but, you know, the pandemic obviously played a huge role in that because you weren’t able to have in-person networking. So I think this is a great and timely topic.
Jenn: Exactly. A lot to learn here for really anybody in any industry, not just PR marketing. So we are going to chat with Klayton Kopecky, who is a senior director at LinkedIn, and he’s going to give us some advice on, you know, how to kind of up your social networking game.
Kalli: Great. Let’s get to it.
Jenn: Networking across all industries has become pivotal for professionals of all levels, and one platform has completely changed the game altogether. LinkedIn. The social networking site has provided a digital platform to connect professionals globally, facilitating career growth and knowledge sharing. It has transformed from a simple job search tool to a comprehensive professional ecosystem encompassing recruitment, branding and networking events. In today’s episode, we will be discussing the evolution of professional networking with Klayton Kopecky, Senior Director at LinkedIn.
Jenn: Good morning, Klayton. how are you today?
Klayton: Good morning. I am doing well. How are you?
We’re good. So, Klayton, I know for me, and I’m sure so many other professionals, one of the first pieces of advice I got was to network. You need to make connections. It’s so important not just to meet people and get their advice, but really to help form your professional journey and get mentorship and see where people are. So, obviously, things have changed a little bit in terms of networking from when I started networking to now. So, in your opinion, what are some of the core differences between traditional networking methods and the more modern digital networking platforms?
Klayton: Yeah, there’s certainly a ton has changed, especially in the last 20 or so years since I’ve been involved as a professional. I would say the biggest thing that has changed is that you now have this hybrid approach of both traditional or face-to-face networking and then digital networking. And I think it used to be, at least, and I know I’m dating myself here, but it used to be that traditional networking was largely sales and marketing driven, you know, event-based, driven networking where, you know, maybe a sales team or a marketing team has a specific purpose to generate growth in revenue via these networking events. And now it’s really evolved over the last couple of decades into everybody is expected to network. It doesn’t matter what function you’re in. Networking is how you solve problems at the end of the day. And so from that standpoint, I think that there’s been a change in just the audience of who is who is expected to network or who needs to network. I also think the physical difference is obvious. You know, if you’re at an in-person event, there’s limitations both geographically and just how many attendees there are. Whereas in a digital sense, there’s really virtually no limitations other than the size of that, that digital platform, it’s, you know, commonplace that problems are getting solved from people that are tens of thousands of miles away and continents and countries away. And the ability to have that diverse perspective in solving problems and networking is a huge advantage. And so I think just accessibility and scale are the words that come to mind when I think of the differences in traditional networking and face-to-face networking versus more of the digital landscape, right?
Jenn: That makes complete sense. So, a couple of years ago, we went through a little thing called a global pandemic and networking. I mean, all types of work were obviously very much impacted. I’d love to hear your thoughts, like on how you, you know, seeing things from the LinkedIn side. In what ways did remote work impact professional networking, and how did professionals have to adapt their networking strategies accordingly?
Klayton: Yeah, there’s a few different things that come to mind here. The first thing is just an increased reliance on digital platforms like LinkedIn. We saw, you know, unfortunately, people cooped up in their in their homes, their apartments, what have you, and not able to get out and in-person network. And I don’t just mean at conferences; I mean just going to the office where networking happens. I think that’s something that, you know, we took for granted is the ability to solve problems in person and share knowledge just out like a water cooler, you know, type of approach. And so that increased reliance and increased effort digitally to network is one of the things that stood out when it came to the lockdown and the shutdown. And so expanding your network, expanding the diversity of your network, which is important, making sure that you’re not just concentrated in one area that came through as far as the impact of remote work tactically. As you saw, a lot of digital platforms have started to cater more to the remote worker in terms of digital job opportunities or how they present those on the network. It used to be like niche job sites would offer remote jobs. Now all the job sites, you can filter by that. And so people had to adapt their strategies, be more proactive, participate more in virtual networking events, which were around pre-COVID, but they became even more prevalent during the pandemic. And you see them on LinkedIn all the time. There’s live virtual events. And so just being able to engage that way with thought leaders and industry leaders and peers was something that definitely emerged.
Jenn: And it did kind of teach us to be better at it. Totally. To your point, networking, virtual events and things like that were around before Covid, but Covid forced us to be good at it. We had to be, because even people in your city or in your work and your office, everything was through Zoom or through Teams. So it did teach us to be a lot better at it, but they’re obviously very glad that we’re back in a place where we can have the best of both worlds because there is something special about having that 1 to 1 time or face-to-face time. But, you know, something like LinkedIn being able to, you know, filter the results for looking for jobs that are just remote or filter, you know, webinars or events that are just remote has really, really been helpful and beneficial for a lot of professionals.
Klayton: Absolutely. And I think you hit on a key point, which is “best of both worlds”. It’s not one or the other or it doesn’t have to be. It can be a combined approach. And I think that’ll be the most effective approach.
Kalli: Yeah, I definitely agree, especially these days. You’ve got to come at it from all angles and really make those connections because it is harder. And like you said, Klayton, like people are kind of just readjusting to doing in person, and now with the digital on top of it. So what are some of the common networking mistakes that professionals can make, you know, as they’re trying to navigate this? And you know, what’s the best way to either avoid or rectify them?
Klayton: Yeah, I would say one of the common mistakes when networking is taking a transactional approach versus a relationship-based approach. And so what I mean by that is if you’re only focusing on what others can do for you and not a mutual, genuine relationship, then that is generally going to be perceived as self-serving and not going to land well with your target audience on who you want to network with. And so I’ll give you an example. And this is probably more personal preference, but there’s, you know, birthday notifications on a lot of digital platforms, including LinkedIn. And if I get a happy birthday from somebody that maybe I’m connected to, but I don’t really know, that doesn’t really mean a lot to me. I see that as very transactional and more, I don’t want to say, let’s say, self-serving because that’s probably being a little bit too punitive on the person doing it. I’m sure they have like good intentions, but that’s not that’s not something that I value highly. Whereas if I get an invitation to connect from somebody and they take the time to read my profile, they take the time to explain a mutual benefit to us connecting, even if it’s not something that either of us will realize immediately. Or maybe they will immediately, but I won’t until down the road. That means a lot more to me. That’s more relationship-based. And so that’s one common mistake. I would also say, like not nurturing your network or not following up with your network, you know, obviously, like you’re not going to be able to do that for everybody, especially if you have like a large network. But depending on your strategy and where you’re at in your career, what problems you’re trying to solve, you know, just staying in contact with them, nurturing them, that relationship, um, there’s lots of different ways to do that. I would also say waiting too long to start to build your network. And that can be for somebody that is new to professional networking or looking to pivot in their career. But you should always be thinking about how you’re nurturing your network depending on your career goals.
Jenn: Yeah. And these are very similar to honesty… a lot of our listeners are in PR marketing,… very similar to working with journalists. Provide value. Don’t just be self-serving. You know, these are kind of like tools that go across the board in a lot of different industries, not just building your own brand or PR really, really vital for me. For instance, I get a lot of really weird…. I get messages that are trying to like, sell me something, like sell me like a product or sell me a tool, but they don’t look at my profile to know I’m not in that industry, and that isn’t a value to me. And that’s the only time I get annoyed if anybody reaches out to me on and not just LinkedIn anywhere. Right. Like a cold email regarding, you know, wherever, because it’s like, that’s not building a relationship with me. You didn’t even bother to look at my profile to know what I do for a living. So why would I give you the time of day? You’re just, you know, we call this tactic and PR spray and pray when you just, like, pitch out, like something to thousands of reporters, but without personalizing it, without actually, like, finding, you know, common ground or knowing their work and knowing their beat. So it’s very similar to a lot of what we do here in PR as well.
Kalli: Yeah, it’s really funny. I actually have a funny story. Someone reached out to me once about a job opportunity for a company that I had worked for previously, which was fine and nice, but it was not tailored at all. It wasn’t like, hey, you know, we know you worked here. We’d love to talk to you about a new opportunity. They clearly didn’t even look at my profile because it was pretty recently that I had left. So. if you would have looked, you would have definitely seen it. And so it’s just like, even for me, I it kind of burned a bridge because I was like, there’s no care and no thought that went into to that. It really was just that spray and pray.
Klayton: Yeah. I received a message a week ago from a recruiter, and this is kind of the opposite side and the opposite approach that I think is very effective, which is even though I wasn’t interested or qualified for the position that she was discussing, she did read my profile and she referenced that she said, this may not be for you, but you’re well connected in this industry, and I would appreciate any referrals you can send my way. And that meant a lot because that was not spammy to me, because it was like, okay, she at least looked at my profile and made an assessment, and therefore I sent her like 2 or 3 names. I said you can use my name. These are very highly qualified individuals that I think could be a great fit, and I’m always willing to help people do that. And again, that goes back to my point about being a bridge. I think being a bridge can be really effective.
Kalli: Yeah, I agree. I’ve made some great connections that way. And you know, sometimes you do know someone that’s a great fit, like you said. And you know, I’ve had people reach out to me and say, oh, I saw you’re connected with so and so on LinkedIn, and if I’m connected with you on LinkedIn, like, I want to actually have a conversation with you and know who you are, because there have been times people have come to me and said, oh, can you connect me with so-and-so? And I don’t want to be like, oh, I just clicked accept. Like, that’s not valuable at all for anyone.
Jenn: So LinkedIn is a great tool, especially for people that are starting a business or entrepreneurs. But what’s important is when you’re doing that, when you’re really trying to advocate for yourself and advocate for your business or your project or your passion, you have to brand yourself. So, can you discuss some of the ways in which your personal branding is important in a climate like LinkedIn? What steps can an individual take to sort of build and maintain a strong personal brand? Because back to what you said, you can’t be too self-serving. You have to show value, but you also, you know, need to be able to showcase your strengths.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean this has held true at LinkedIn ever since I’ve been there. It starts with your profile. Everything starts with your profile and your brand. And it used to be that people would only get your, your quote unquote profile resume if you were applying for a job. But now, you know, in the digital world, your profile is out there 24 over seven for everybody to see. And it’s no longer this static document. It’s a living, breathing thing that you have to nurture and build. And so that identity carries across, you know, digital worlds. And it carries across certainly platforms like LinkedIn where you could not be doing anything and somebody might search for you or stumble across your profile. And that’s essentially, your brand and your tool. And so in terms of like its importance, I think, you know, people certainly understand that. I would say that it also helps distinguish you and builds trust with your audience. And your profile should reflect both. You know, your experiences as a professional and your goals, but also your authentic voice. You don’t want it to be, you know, it’s not your resume. Your profile is not your resume. It’s bigger than that. It’s really who you are and what you want to be as a professional. And so sharing insight as you share and engage in content on the platform or create content on the platform, your profile starts to represent that as well. So you can put yourself out there as a thought leader or somebody who has opinions on a particular topic of professional interest, and people can see that, and they can engage with that. And so it’s much more vibrant. So I guess the main tip is, you know, be authentic. I would also say regularly update your profile, your experiences, your interests, and your knowledge changes all the time. And I would advise at least once a quarter, once every six months, going in and updating your digital presence because you are not the same static professional that you were, you know, even yesterday. So, making time to actually, you know, spend 5 or 10 minutes just updating your profile and making sure that it’s current and it represents you the way you want to be perceived in the market and the way you want your audience to engage with you. And so that’s kind of the main things. Be authentic. Update it regularly, treat it as a marketing shingle, and not just this static piece of content.
Kalli: You know, that makes a lot of sense. And actually also brings me a little bit to my next question. Talking about profiles, including LinkedIn, how has social media influenced professional networking, and what are some of the strategies to effectively leverage these platforms for networking?
Klayton: Different digital platforms, including LinkedIn? There’s lots of different ways that social media has made networking more accessible. But to my previous point, continuous, right? It used to be that before social media networking was very event-based, and you’d have a networking event, you’d go to it, exchange business cards, and maybe there was a follow up that occurred afterwards. Maybe not, but it was very event-based, driven. Whereas now it’s just always on. It’s always on. I would say that the sharing of knowledge and joining, you know, different conversations and showcasing achievements but also showcasing failure. And I think social media is actually a great place. A lot of times people put their best foot forward, which is great, but a lot of times what resonates with audience is actually showing where maybe you learn something and people really gravitate towards that because there’s a vulnerability and authenticity there that I think is uncommon on social media, where if you do it in in the right way and in a constructive way, people really appreciate that. And so, I think social media has had a lot of impacts on the sharing of knowledge. In particular, it used to be that this knowledge was shared in breakout groups at these different events, and now it’s just constantly shared through a lot of different mechanisms and tactics on the different digital platforms.
Jenn: I want to kind of circle back for a second because we sort of touched a little bit on networking events and conferences and things like that. And we talked about Covid and how a lot of things were remote for a little bit. And LinkedIn was kind of the epicenter to have a platform that people were still able to network and connect during those times for somebody say, their new in their career or they’re looking for a job, how effective are networking events and conferences, and how can attendees make the most out of these opportunities?
Klayton: They’re still very highly effective with networking, in-person events, and conferences. I think you still have to have a strategy, right? You still have to have especially, you know, the bigger events, the bigger conferences where you have thousands and potentially tens of thousands of people. If you don’t have a strategy of what you want to get out of that event, you may walk away feeling fairly empty-handed. And if you’re in Vegas, maybe even a little less of a pocketbook. But you still have to have that strategy. I personally find the smaller regional Networking conferences and events more effective because they, by the very nature of being smaller and more regional in nature, are more focused on specific topics.
And so I can get more out of that, I can network with like-minded people with similar interests and goals, and experiences that I can learn from. So, the bigger the event, you know, the more the more strategy you have to put into what you want to get out of it. I also think that maximizing the opportunities and setting clear networking goals also allows for you to do more effective follow-ups after the event concludes. And so instead of having like this broad range of takeaways, you might have like 2 or 3 things you take back and, and you network and follow up on. So just my personal opinion and experiences that in person events are still massively effective. You just have to have a strategy and an approach that works all the way from, like selecting the right event to what sessions you go to you know, what other companies or people are attending. I’ve made some of the most impactful connections at those types of events.
Kalli: Yeah, that’s really great. And I want to take a step back and kind of talk a little bit about what’s the next step in professional networking. So, how do you see artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies shape the future of professional networking? Because I know there are so many discussions about how AI is infecting so many different careers, but what does it mean for that career growth in terms of networking?
Klayton: Hard to have a conversation about technology and not talk about AI these days. It’s certainly, at the forefront of networking and how these digital platforms are, you know, implementing AI technologies and solutions to facilitate these opportunities to network and share knowledge, share your experiences in a more personal way. And I think that’s the big thing is that this has been consistent with a lot of AI; I think technologies and different industries and problem, you know, problem statements is that it’s going to facilitate personalization and more information at a professional’s fingertips that allows the networking to be more effective.
And so let’s talk about a couple of examples. To make this a little bit real, I’ll use LinkedIn because it’s what I know best. But LinkedIn has of course the LinkedIn premium account. And with it now comes an AI widget. That will essentially like on your feed, you’ll see, you know, your feed that you get today. If you have LinkedIn premium, it will provide prompts and the ability to interact with that post using AI intelligence on recommendations of how you might interact with that post, additional information about the topic that’s being discussed in that post. So let’s say I had something in my feed the other day that was about root cause analysis techniques, which is something that as a customer service operations person I’m always interested in. It presented me with additional information about root cause analysis and, you know, what the discussion was about and how I might do additional research on my own. And so just making that easier and surfacing that at my fingertips. Also, if you’re looking for a job, on LinkedIn in particular, I can be a huge game changer in like how you connect with that company, how the insights about that position and how it’s relevant to your profile, like what skills or maybe missing from your profile that will allow you to have a better shot at getting that job and then introducing course material on platforms like LinkedIn, learning to help you bridge that skills gap.
All of this was essentially possible before. You could manually do that on your own, but AI is facilitating the ease of that. Now, what it’s not doing is you still have to curate. You still have to, you know, make human decisions based on what information is being presented to you. So it’s not going to eliminate kind of the critical thinking and the thought process that has to go into that. But it is going to make the information to make those decisions much more accessible. And I think you’re going to see that as a common thread across a lot of the AI technologies on these digital platforms is that, you know, it’s not really replacing the human layer, but it is augmenting it with better information.
Jenn: Yes, AI has been across all industries so instrumental, but especially, you know, on social media and any kind of digital climate. I want to ask our last question for today because this has been really, really interesting. I want to ask for professionals starting out or for those maybe who are transitioning to a new career. We see a lot of people like moving, especially after Covid. People are trying out new things, sort of stepping away from something that doesn’t feel good anymore, especially the younger demographics, like the GenZers. What advice would you give on how they can effectively network within their industry or their niche?
Klayton: Yes. One of the common, I think, apprehensions that, and I’ll start with the newbies, whether it be like recent graduates or people just entering the knowledge workforce. But some of this also applies to career transition situations as well. But with the newbies, one of the common, I think, apprehensions is I don’t really have any experience and I don’t want to put just a blank profile out on LinkedIn or other digital platforms that, you know, actually paints me in a negative light because it makes me look like I don’t have any experience. And my advice would be to start now and to overcome that apprehension. Be creative with what you can put on your profile, even if you don’t have extensive work experience. What projects have you been involved with? You know, what are some of maybe the initiatives at your college or university that you can that speaks to your capabilities and your skills or your potential? Connect with your parents, your family, your educators, your professors, and your alumni. Like, you can build a pretty vast and diverse network. You just have to be a little bit more creative with it. And then this becomes what I’ll what I would call an interest-bearing account. The sooner you get started, the more value that professional network is going to realize for you over the course of time. And so I like to give this example because it’s my example. I was a fairly early adopter of LinkedIn. I think I’m in the 7 or 8 million range in terms of when I signed up for a membership. And in a lot of ways, I was like, your typical newbie, I was just out of college and I didn’t really know what to do on the platform, and it was all very new to me.
But I did create a profile, and I worked in banking for a few years and one day I got an email or a message from somebody who was a client at the bank that I was working at, and she told me that they were opening a LinkedIn office in Omaha. She was LinkedIn’s first CEO, and I provided, you know, great account support for her while she was a customer of the bank. But she said, “hey, you know, we’re going to be launching some jobs here in this new contact center. And I was wondering if you’d be interested.”
And I was like, yes, of course. But this is an example of the interest-bearing account. Like, I didn’t really even do anything on LinkedIn other than have a presence. But she searched her network and was looking for people, and she thought of me and reached out to me. And that fundamentally changed my life. And so I live and breathe this example. I would use that as an example with newbies that are just starting out. There is value to be had and start small, maintain and nurture it over time, and you will use LinkedIn to solve problems and build connections and other digital platforms to solve problems and build connections and build bridges over the course of your, you know, your 20, 30, 40 year career, whatever that winds up being.
Jenn: This is such great advice. I’m taking notes as we speak. Even for me, this is such fantastic advice. I think that it’s so clear. The evolution of professional connections is obviously a continuous trend. And today’s conversation further proves that when it comes to networking, I think we’ve only just begun. So, thank you so much for the insightful conversation, Klayton. We appreciate your time and enjoy learning about the dynamic landscape of professional networking.
Klayton: Well, thank you for letting me share this with you and asking such amazing questions. And I really enjoyed the time today and being able to share this.
Jenn: Thank you so much. Thank you to our listeners for tuning in. And be sure to connect with us on LinkedIn as well as other social media platforms. As a reminder, we publish new episodes every other Wednesday, so be sure to rate, review, and download our latest episodes that cover all things PR and marketing. ‘Til next time.
