Writers Are In the Business of Making Connections

Strategic Writer: Episode 1

Connections: Fabio Bracht (Unsplash)

In an article for Grammarly in 2021, Mira Khanna reminds us that there is more to writing than communication.

Humans are social creatures. Technology erodes the barrier of physical distance and enables us to constantly talk to each other. Lots of that communication happens through writing, and it’s now normal to send and deal with an onslaught of messages every day. . . . All of this writing brings us closer together. . . . Connecting with someone else may just sound like a nice bonus on top of getting your point across. But getting your point across is only one aspect of communication to consider. . . Writing shapes relationships, and, by extension, your ability to achieve your goals. (link)

Mira indicates that, though writing may always involve sharing information (communication in its basic guise), writing can also create, expand, or enhance relationships. 

This can be true of any writing, even writing for business.  Any marketing guru worth their salt thinks of marketing not just as information flow from a service provider or vendor to the market, but as a means for connecting a business with potential clients (people!).  Making, expanding or enhancing connections is the game of marketing.

Connection and Ilise Benun’s 21-Day Challenge

Nowhere has the lesson that writing can be a powerful form of connection been exemplified than in Ilise Benun’s Get Writing Clients NOW: 21-Day Challenge.

For Ilise, connection can be the key to success for freelance writers.  In her model for success, the key tool for building connections is the Connection link in LinkedIn. 

Connect – don’t Just Follow

Ilise introduces the Connection feature of LinkedIn by comparing it to Following. Following is the essential relationship in contemporary social media, and, as a social media platform (at least in part), even LinkedIn provides a Follow link. 

But following tends to be a one-way relationship.  The thought leader provides information or entertainment that the follower can view.  In LinkedIn, the Follow link is, therefore, the centerpiece of LinkedIn’s Creator mode– which positions creatives to distribute content to followers.

Ilise, therefore, recommends that freelance writers seeking to set up relationships (connections) with potential clients should not use Creator Mode.  Rather, they should use the traditional LinkedIn profile status which has a Connect Link (rather the Follow). This not only provides a means for making a connection. It also serves as a constant reminder that writers are in the business of making connections.

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by Russell E. Willis

If I can help you, your business, or your organization with copywriting (white papers, blogs, web content, case studies, or emails); Ghostwriting (Books and articles -- specializing in converting blog and podcast series into print or ebooks); or short-form "explainer" videos, please check out REWillisWrites.com (and fill out the contact form) or email me at rewilliswrites@gmail.com.

I am also available for strategic planning consultations for not-for-profit organizations and creatives. Contact me at REWillisWrites@gmail.com for more information.