How To Get Magic Gigs via LinkedIn

Who here misses the good old days when everyone cool had MySpace, and only a selected few were on Facebook? When there were only a handful of platforms to know about and actually spend time on? A time when you could keep up with all platforms, DMs, and Snaps?

I sure do, and as I'm typing this, I feel decades older than I am.

But still, I've learned to master social media and leverage it to get great corporate bookings. It took a lot of research and practice, but I'll share my secrets with you today. Let me take you back to a time when I had no clue what I was doing—to be honest, not that far back—and teach you exactly how I landed significant career opportunities via one specific platform most magicians are missing out on.When I didn't know what I was doing, I would wake up, start my Moccamaster, and get ready for another day in the life of a professional magician. Well, I was a "professional magician" in that it was my only job, but that didn't keep me very busy. I would usually drink my coffee in bed and watch Netflix for a few hours in the morning before eventually checking emails and trying to figure out what else I could do to get some more work.My website was up and running, and my phone number was printed on more business cards than I had ever thought I'd see in my lifetime.

I was ready to be booked!Spoiler: The phone rarely rang. And if it did, I got a lot of calls about it being "good for me to perform there because someone from the audience would absolutely book me for something after seeing me at their event." We both knew the chances of that happening were minimal, but still, I'd accept the no-budget gig, and I'd even pay for my own travel, too.

If you're a full-timer or semi-professional, I'm sure you know exactly how the call went and how little I got out of going. If I were lucky, I'd get a free lunch.It became clear to me that I needed a new approach. Something needed to change if I wasn't planning on returning to my old job, and I wasn't ready to give up. I tried several marketing strategies, and I even hired consultants to create Google Ads. Nothing I tried ever had the impact I was hoping for.One day, scrolling through all the platforms you're supposed to have time for, something caught my eye. It was an entrepreneur sharing his journey from homeless to millionaire and homeless again. Not only was the story captivating and full of vulnerability, but it was also very inspiring. It got me thinking a lot about my journey as an entrepreneur and business owner.

What was my purpose?And then, BAM!

An idea popped in and out of my mind – helping people!

That's what I do! That's what all magicians do, really. We help companies, families, and functions of any sort with the entertainment for their event.

But if I'm just a random magician, why would they hire me?

And how would they know I'm the right person to contact?After some soul-searching, I came up with this valuable insight: LinkedIn is where I build relationships with potential clients and business partners of all kinds. I had heard the phrase, "Content is King", when business leaders discuss the power of content on the internet. I thought a good follow-up would be this, "Content is King, but the relationship is Queen, and she runs the kingdom.'I've now been active on LinkedIn for the past four or possibly five years. I've come to understand that LinkedIn is a social media platform for busy corporate professionals. Some even use it as their source of current news. This is brilliant; now I know what to say and how to approach LinkedIn users.Always at the back of my head, like an echo, I hear the rule that applies to all sorts of content: the content must be inspiring, educating, or entertaining to be impactful. I'm an entertainer - so this shouldn't be too hard to figure out.I figured that if I'm looking to bring in more clients, add authority, or even expand my network on LinkedIn. There are some ways to help me in that process, which I'll outline now. Small but impactful, I should add!Starting out, I went on with the basics: my bio and picture. I ensured the picture represented me as I am today, not ten years ago. The bio needed to reflect that I am the absolute perfect fit for events I'm trying to get or get as close as possible.Caroline Ravn. Professional magician and emcee. 5x TEDx Speaker.I made sure to add the keyword 'magician' to my profile. This way, I'll be shown as a suggestion if someone searches for a magician. After I made this change, especially adding TEDx Speaker to my bio, I got a lot more exciting connections on the platform. People were noticing me.In the beginning, I posted anything that was on my mind. Literally, anything I could think of. After I realized I'm in the business of helping people, I decided that the topics I should be talking about are magic shows and emcee gigs I've done, the life of a busy corporate entertainer, and cruise entertainment.

That last one includes blog-like material and behind-the-scenes footage of me losing my luggage and finding it again, etc."Losing my luggage" wasn't really a topic or keyword I wanted to rank for, but the engagement was insane. There I was, a cruise entertainer embarking on a ship with no show - what would she do? The plot thickens!I realized that I had found a perfect sub-topic for my LinkedIn content.Now, I had my main topics, so I decided to dig where I was standing.

I found some sub-topics I could focus on within my niche. I had a much broader toolbox to use so that I knew what I could and should discuss to stay relevant, exciting, and top-of-mind.If we focus on the topic of "show," a lot could be addressed in a LinkedIn post: the show itself, pre-show talk and preparations, weird things that happened during a show (like the time an egg exploded in my hand on October 14th, 2018—never forget), and so on. Maybe I could even write about where magicians learn tricks and the fact that we have conventions in Vegas and Blackpool yearly.

I made a lot of mistakes when I started. I'd spend hours on a post, perfecting, writing, and changing it before finally posting.

Then, I committed the worst social media crime: I posted and ghosted.

I expected my ideal clients to engage with my fantastic piece of content even when I left the platform—a big mistake. Being an active user is the best way to get favours on any platform.Ah, one more piece of the puzzle!I have to be active myself. Comment on other people's posts. Come from a magician's perspective, no matter what the post is about. I added value to others by spicing up a conversation with something they usually wouldn't see in the comments section.After playing around with different formats and analyzing other people's posts that got a lot of engagement, I found that the best recipe for me and my targeted audience is to start with a story that moved me somehow and then what the lesson was. I would then follow up with a piece of advice and finish it all with a short about-me section and tell them where to find out more about my services.There was a pattern to the people who booked me for events. I saw a lot of executive assistants, HR specialists, front office managers, and event planners. Knowing that these people will have the party to plan and the go-ahead to book me, I decided to connect with as many of them as possible.They wouldn't instantly book me just by being connected. So I ended up sending each and every one of my new connections a DM saying something like this:

As I keep telling people, I'm not just pretty!Through the magic of LinkedIn, I went from very little engagement to booking three out of the five TEDx Talks I've given. I made sure to make myself look like the authority I am, connecting with the right people for my business and starting to build meaningful relationships with them.I always thought of magicians as superheroes, so if you see me being all fierce and confident in the comments, that's me wearing a cape. Put yours on, too, and let's go out there and save the world, one mind blown at a time.