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Before you hit “send” on a critical email, do one thing.

And no, it’s not editing for brevity, spell checking and proofreading. Those are a given. For every message.

There’s another strategy that can increase the impact of your message – whether you’re asking someone for a favor, inviting them to speak at an event, requesting a reference, or making any number of asks. This simple strategy could tilt the scales toward a positive response.

What is it?

Check your recipient’s latest social media posts.

Why?

Here are 3 big reasons.

You may see recent updates that change your approach. Maybe your recipient has started a new job, been promoted, received an award, or spoken at a conference. Those are great accomplishments to congratulate the person on, in a genuine and authentic way.

For my regular readers, you know I advise never to send someone spam (a.k.a., an unsolicited pitch for business or a job) immediately after connecting in LinkedIn. These messages generally aren’t worth the time to read and respond to, especially the jargon-filled ones where it’s difficult to know what the person or business actually does.

But someone recently followed up his pitch for a meeting with a note that said, “I just noticed it looks like you left your company recently. I apologize for not checking that first. Congrats on your new venture! That sounds exciting.”

He had actually looked at my LinkedIn profile, I assume, and saw that I recently launched a business, The Carrelle Company. Born on Labor Day 2018 from this blog I began on New Year’s Day 2015, the company helps people grow their careers and businesses through digital branding in social media.

His message was kind enough and human enough that I decided to respond. His is one of the few pitch messages I’ve ever answered. The door is cracked open in a friendly way. That wouldn’t have happened if the sender hadn’t looked at my social media.

And who knows what might transpire in the future. We’re all connected and on paths that could converge in the future, in ways we can’t even imagine today.

You may learn something that helps strengthen your relationship. When someone you’ve worked with previously reaches out to you to ask what’s new, find out what they’ve been up to before you respond.

A few years ago I got a note like that from Karie Willyerd, who recently became Chief Learning Officer at Visa. She had been a fabulous speaker I’d invited to a few DIRECTV leadership events when I led Corporate Communications.

Was I ever glad I checked her social media before responding. At the time she had just released a new book called Stretch, about lifelong learning and future-proofing your career. That gave me the opportunity to congratulate her in my reply and learn more about her ideas.

In addition, you may gain insight into what’s important to your recipient, and you may be able to appropriately connect your interests with theirs. Maybe you share a passion for a charitable cause, have a colleague in common, or are reading similar books.

But don’t go overboard. Someone sent me a message recently that was over the top with praise for my blog, including examples from multiple posts. It was a bit jarring a few paragraphs later when the pitch for new business emerged. It had an inauthentic tone, and it did not motivate me to respond.

You may find out there’s a better time to send your message. Are you seeing beautiful vacation photos on Instagram? Ones that aren’t hashtagged as #latergrams? Then you might hold your message until the person returns home. They could be more receptive then.

Maybe they’re in the middle of a big work event and they’re sharing it in social media. That could mean they don’t have time to give your message the attention you’d like. When you do send your message, you could mention the event and your impressions of it, along with your congratulations.

Or maybe they’re dealing with a challenging personal issue like a family member in the hospital. That’s another reason to hold off on your message. If your message is urgent, at the very least you can acknowledge the situation and offer your support.

One caution – take a light approach in your message so it doesn’t appear that you’re cyberstalking the person or feel like you’re invading their privacy. Be friendly, sincere and brief.

There’s mostly upside to knowing your audience, what they’ve been doing lately and what’s important to them. This is what their recent social media activity can tell you.

How has social media helped you improve your email effectiveness?