5 Quick Ways to Grow Your LinkedIn Connections

You’ve finally got your new business up and running. Now all you need are people to sell your products or services to.

If you’re already signed up on LinkedIn then that is an excellent place to get started. Once you’ve established a presence there and have put up an easy to read and communicative profile, you just need to grow your LinkedIn connections to have people to market to.

Why Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Connections?

Putting the time and effort (it’s not that hard or time-consuming) in to grow your LinkedIn connections is worth it. Not only will you look like the authority that you are, but it’s easier to sell to people who already know you. Even if you don’t know the people you’re connecting to, then with some regular posting on LinkedIn, they will soon feel like they know you. That’s the power of social media for you!

What’s more, you’ll be building a bigger reach as you go. The more 1st degree connections you have, the more 2nd and 3rd-degree connections you have.  As people you know ‘like’ your shared content, you’ll be shown on the LinkedIn feeds of other people who you aren’t currently connected to. You’ll be exposed to more and more people.

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LinkedIn is a goldmine

LinkedIn is a goldmine in more ways than one, you just need to know what you’re digging for.

Something that I quite enjoy about making new connections on LinkedIn is that I’m exposed to people I wouldn’t normal mingle with. They bring a new fresh perspective on life that I wouldn’t otherwise be a party to.

LinkedIn works in a similar way to Google. It uses a type of search engine optimisation (SEO). The more connections you have, the more likely you are to be displayed at the top of the search results in LinkedIn. You will of course have to be sure to add the right keywords to your profile so that LinkedIn knows what you have to offer.

As with any new business owner, you’re most likely feeling tight on time. This being the case, I’ve put together a short list of ways that you can rapidly grow your LinkedIn connections and build your LinkedIn network.

Here’s what you need to do to grow your LinkedIn connections and expand your network:

1.    Connect through My Network

First off… you might want to go to the option of ‘My Network’ and then look through all the people you’re being shown below. Connect to those that you can as they will help you to build your network.

As you build your network, you’ll gain access to more connections through your connections. You’ll see who are your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections. You’ll experience a snowball effect in motion.

2. Connect to people in your past

Look up old classmates and past and present colleagues. This is a quick way to expand your connections and you may even come across a few old friends that you thought you’d never find again.

You might even want to sign up for the free profile upgrade that LinkedIn offer. You’ll get to see more information about people and you’ll see who’s been checking out your profile too. You’ll also have access to 30 emails to send to people – just in case you need them. If you do sign up to the free trial, don’t forget to unsubscribe before the first bill comes through though.

3. Go through your contacts’ contacts to see who they know

Another profitable approach is to look through the list of people who your contacts know. If you see people you’d like to be introduced to, then go down to section 5 to find out how you can be introduced to them in the best possible and potentially most successful way.

4.      Use IDK of LION

It’s an unwritten (well kind of) rule to use IDK (I don’t know) on your LinkedIn profile if you’re open to making contacts with people who you don’t know. Some people use the term LION and others use Lioness. The term LION is referring to ‘LinkedIn Open Network’ which is also a ‘club’ where people will accept connection requests from people they don’t know. You can run a search on it and find people who will accept your request to connect,  even if they don’t know you.

5.     How to be introduced to people who your contacts are connected to

There are a couple of different ways that you can go about this. One is to use your connection outside of LinkedIn. This will keep your request more private than using the ‘get introduced through’ approach that is within LinkedIn. In the latter manner, both people can read the message that you send and it could be in your favour to initially communicate with your established contact, and not the one you want to connect to.

I recommend that you go outside of LinkedIn and phone them or email them. You can then be more personal with your contact whilst not ‘exposing’ yourself or the other ‘new’ person to either you or your contact in an over-familiar manner.

Ask your contact how well they know the person you want to reach. If they don’t know them very well, then just thank them for their time. If they do know them quite well, ask whether they could introduce you through normal email (not LinkedIn).

6. Add your LinkedIn signature to your email

Adding your LinkedIn signature to your email lets people know that you’re active on LinkedIn and it also provides them with a quick route to connect to you. If you use Gmail you can follow these instructions to add your quickly add your signature. If you use Outlook follow these instructions.

Other ways to grow your LinkedIn connections include:

• add the URL of your LinkedIn profile to your business card
• join relevant groups inside LinkedIn. You would join the more relevant group to what you want to achieve. ie if looking for a new job, then you’d join the group for recruiters and candidates or an industry group for business.
• another quick way to find people to add to grow your LinkedIn connections is to use the service known as TopLinked. You can pay a small fee to be added to a list of people who are happy to have previously unknown people connect to them on LinkedIn.

If you want to connect to me, you can do it here. This also provides information about my rates for writing LinkedIn material  >> https://www.linkedin.com/in/onlinemarketingservices/

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