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Growing your network on LinkedIn
Part 2 of my LinkedIn Series. There are many different ways to grow your network on LinkedIn.
If you’ve read part 1 Why LinkedIn needs to be part of your content strategy, you’ll understand what a powerful tool LinkedIn can be.
One of the big impact things that I do is I give data away.
I know that Facebook, LinkedIn etc love data. The more you give away, the more you can get out of them. So I literally give them as much data as possible.
I connect my Gmail account, Yahoo account, upload a .csv file with all my clients and contacts and anyone I’ve met or known. I put the app on my phone, and when it says “can we have access to data on your phone?” I say yes. Most people don’t want that, but I do. Because I know that the next time I go onto LinkedIn, it’s going to look and find these people using their email or phone number and it’s going to say “do you know Susan Smith?” I’ll say yes and it will send a connection request to her.
It’s also going to keep a note of all these phone numbers and email addresses.
And maybe Susan Smith isn’t on LinkedIn yet, but when she does sign up for an account, it’s going to say ‘do you know Jonny Ross?’ and my lovely face will be waiting for her! So there are two massive benefits of giving your data to LinkedIn. And that’s the first step to growing your network.
The second step is to tell people about your LinkedIn profile.
That could be adding a link to your email signature and business card, putting it into a call to action at end of a blog, video or email campaign… so actively sharing your LinkedIn profile link and asking people to connect with you.
Other ways to grow connections are to:
- Join groups, look who members are and send connection requests
- Search for companies and employees within those companies, and send connection requests.
My suggestion is to always send personalised requests.
Don’t just click the ‘Connect’ button. Actually go to their individual profile page and then click ‘Connect’, as you will then get an option to send a message.
People are much more likely to connect from a personalised request.
Something like, “Hi Sue, we’ve got a common interest, I’m looking to grow my network and I would love to connect with you.”
And of course the other way is to make your profile stand out so that when other people are doing a search they can find you. I’ll cover this in the next article.
Other articles in the series:
- Part 1: Why LinkedIn needs to be part of your content strategy
- Part 3: Pimping your LinkedIn profile to be loved by LinkedIn and found on Google
- Part 4: Rocking your LinkedIn content and getting to grips with groups
- Part 5: Exploring LinkedIn Premium and tools like Sales Navigator and LinkedIn Advertising
What’s your strategy for responding to connection requests?
Do you curate your contacts and connect only with people you know, or only senior people? Or are you a LinkedIn tart like me?!
If you want to upskill our team on using LinkedIn for business, why not check out my LinkedIn training.
Does your event needs a LinkedIn speaker or digital marketing panellist? I speak regularly at events so give me a call on 0113 493 1819 or contact me online and we can discuss your requirements.
