Use your voice, not your thumbs

Imagine:

You just met someone online. Maybe you both commented on the same thread, or discovered each other through a mutual friend or shared hashtag.

It’s getting serious. A new friendship or professional relationship is about to bloom. So, you decide to take it off the newsfeed and into private messages.

So, you send a DM, right?

WRONG.

C’mon, DM’s are so 2021.

I’m constantly asked how to make meaningful connections via social media. My number 1 tip right now?

Voice memo.

Yes, that’s right – almost every social media network with a private messaging feature also has a private voice messaging feature.

It’s right there inside the DM. Just look for this symbol:

Facebook Messenger has it. Instagram DMs have it. LinkedIn has it. It’s everywhere, and you may have never noticed because hardly anyone uses it.

But I do!

Right around the start of the pandemic I found myself gravitating toward the voice messaging feature more than ever before. Why?

Here are 3 reasons you should be using it too:

It’s Personal

Voice messages are like the digital equivalent of a hand-written letter or postcard.

No longer is your message relegated to the same generic font, size, and punctuation as everyone else on planet earth. Your voice is uniquely yours.

Plus, digital communication lacks tone, rhythm, and inflection. We all know this, and yet continue to act surprised when people misunderstand our intentions. Voice solves this problem almost completely.

And now your new friend feels like they know you, specifically.

(Side note: I had a complete failure of communication via text recently, and a single voice message is all it took to solve the problem. She and I discussed it in-depth on her podcast. Listen here.)

It’s Faster

Most of us speak way faster than we type. Speaking aloud is the shortest distance from your head to another person’s.

When you have something really interesting to say and you don’t want to forget it while your thumbs frantically scurry across the screen, inviting ducking autocorrect fails left and right…

Use your voice.

It’s Unexpected

Voice messages are a pattern-interrupt for most people, because, like you, they didn’t know it even existed.

I can’t tell you how many times someone responds to my voice message with their own, and starts with, “Oh my god, I didn’t even know this feature existed. So cool!”

Not only did you break them out of their routine, making your exchange instantly memorable, but you introduced them to a cool new tool to show off to their friends and colleagues.

Win-win.

So, if we’re connected on LinkedIn and you’ve never reached out personally, feel free to DM me. Just make sure it’s with your voice, not your thumbs.