How to Grow Your Network on Linkedin

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Part II of III: How to Use Linkedin to Market your Brand

In the previous post we gave tips on how to create and optimize your Linkedin profile and also gave some action steps to take. Click here to review the previous post: How to Create and Optimize your Linkedin Profile.

On to step 2: Grow Your Network

Know your Target Audience First

Before you start randomly connecting with members on Linkedin, you should first take the time to know what type of professional you want to connect with. Complete this worksheet to develop your target audience profiles:

Worksheet: Developing Target Audience Profiles

Linkedin Rules: You Can’t Connect with Just Anyone

Linkedin has a rule about connecting with other professionals; you essentially have to know them or be in the same group as who you want to connect with. When you ask a member to join your network you have these choices to choose from:

Create a Custom Invite

Your invite to connect is your first impression, so personalize the message rather than using the computer generated invite. Briefly state that you want to connect and the reason (300 characters or less including spaces). Important: The invite message is not the time to market your product or service; an invite should give a compelling reason why the other member should be a part of your professional network (collaboration with likeminded professionals, potential mutually benefiting opportunities, looking for guest bloggers – whatever the reason may be). Here is a blog I found helpful:

11 Ways to Personalize a Linkedin Invite

Keep in mind that people can respond to your invite by choosing:

• “accept”
• “ignore”
• “report as spam”

You obviously do not want to be reported as spam, so don’t be salesy in your invite and be genuinely interested in connecting with a quality contact.

It’s not About Quantity! Seek Quality Connections

When I receive a Linkedin invite I do not approve the connection without first scanning the member’s profile. This is important for a couple reasons:

1) You want to connect with quality professionals that you can potentially work with even if it’s just to collaborate or give referrals; it’s not about how many connections you can get, it’s about the quality and connection potential you have with each person.

2) After you approve the request to connect, it’s important to send an email message thanking them – this is where you should restate something on their profile that is interesting to you or relates to what you do, etc. Making the connection personal is essential if you truly want to build substantive business relationships that could help you (and them) make more money.

Linkedin Search Box is Your New Best Friend

You can search for people, companies, groups, job postings and more using Linkedin’s search feature. Depending on what you are searching for make sure the appropriate choice is selected as shown below:

Ways to grow your network

1. Find people you already know! As discussed in the previous blog post, you can grow your network by adding those you already know. Export your contacts from your CMS system and email accounts to import into Linkedin Connections. Go to Connections Tab, select Add Connections from drop down menu and then click on the link that says “Import your desktop email contacts.” From here you can easily upload a CRV file (excel) as shown below:

2. Search for Companies you know! Linkedin has recently added Company Pages where you can search for company profiles. Often employees of the company will be connected to the company profile; follow the companies you know and then request to connect with its employees.

*Create a Company page for your business in order to be found by others too.

3. Join Groups.

Industry and Target Audience Specific Groups

You can join up to 50 Linkedin Groups so join 50 groups. Yes, you should join a few groups that are specific to your industry to connect and collaborate with professionals within your field, but join more groups that your target audience are members of. For example: One of my clients The Woombie has this awesome patent on a unique baby swaddle. Some of the groups she could join on Linkedin are:

Moms Extraordinaire 3,272 members!

Kids Stuff: New baby and children’s products 2,095 members!

When Karen (invetor of the Woombie) joins these Linkedin Groups, she has access to the thousands of members; members that are likely interested in connecting with The Woombie and learning more.

Further, being part of a group allows you to deliver valuable content to your target audience through group posts (will cover this in part III). Join in on conversation threads and post helpful information; create a name for yourself in each group…eventually people will start to recognize you. Tip: Create a signature line for every post or comment you create in a group: name, company, website URL or Blog URL, and Twitter handle.

Open Networking Groups

There are “open-networking” groups such as “LION” and “Open Networkers.” The members of these groups are open to connect with anyone on Linkedin hence the term “open networker.” Joining one or two open networking groups may be a good idea so that you can have access to a variety of professionals. By joining a group like this however, you are also saying that you are an open networker and will connect with anyone. If you choose not to connect with someone from an open networking group, make sure you do not mark as spam so they will not get docked by Linkedin for you not accepting their invite.

Tip: When inviting someone to connect that you do not know, state the reason why you would like to connect with them in your invite.

4. Add your Linkedin Profile link to your email signature line, newsletters, white papers, articles, eBooks, or any other communications you send to your target market. Ask people to connect with you on Linkedin and make it easy for them to click an icon or link to do so.

Conclusion…

Overall, growing your network is an important step in order to effectively brand your company (or yourself) on Linkedin. Before you can deliver valuable content, you must first have connections to reach out to; connections made up of people in your industry, but - most importantly - connections that are within your target markets.

If you have not completed your action steps from Part I, please do so before we post Part III: How to Create and Optimize your Linkedin Profile. Linkedin will help you build a recognizable brand and will bring in business if you follow each step. Feel free to post any questions in the comment section below and I will help you!

Your Next Steps:

1. Export all contacts from CRM system and all email accounts (repeated step from Part I) so may already be done!
2. Complete Worksheet: Developing Target Audience Profiles
3. Create a generic invite that you can use (300 characters or less); then when you are ready to send an invite, personalize it according to the person you are trying to connect with.
4. Write a list of search terms associated with your industry and target market.
5. Use Linkedin Search to find people and companies you know.
6. Enter keywords from your list in Linkedin Search (select “Groups”); join 50 groups…a few industry specific, a couple open networking groups, and mostly groups your ideal prospect would be a member of.
7. Once the group approves you, start posting value in each group and join in on the conversation! Don’t forget to create a signature line with name, company, URL, blog, and Twitter Handle so if a member likes what they read, they can easily get to more information! (more in Part III on posting valuable content)
8. Download Linkedin icon or create a link asking people to connect; link icon or link to your profile page. Say the words: “Connect with me on Linkedin.” Use this link in emails, newsletters, etc.

Do you have any other strategies to grow your Linkedin network? We want to hear from you! Post your comments below.

Also, follow us on Twitter @SMMSEO22 to be entered to win $100 gift card for any of our services – drawing is at the end of every month and the winner will be announced on Twitter.

Part III coming soon: “Post Valuable Content that Drives Action”

Godspeed.