It seems most businesses are more concerned about being active on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter but only a few understand the value of LinkedIn and know how to make the most out of this social network.
LinkedIn is very powerful because it is the playground for professional connections. LinkedIn is where the professional community engages with each other, communicates and refers, allowing you to connect with key decision makers in your industry.
LinkedIn also happens to be the largest professional network online with over 300 million users. Plus, a large majority of users are decision makers, affluent and educated.
So how do you get more Linkedin connections?
There are 6 tips we recommend you follow to grow your network.
Special tip 1:
The first tip on how to increase linkedin connections, is of course optimizing your profile. It’s critical you use a professional-looking headshot of you (avoid cropped pictures at all costs!) with a plain background. In addition, profile pictures should not be dark or pixelated. You should also be looking direct-to-camera and smiling. Too often, a poor choice of profile picture can turn people away.
Then, decide which keywords you want to be associated with, to make sure your name appears in the search results when people look for these keywords. For example, if you own a digital marketing agency, the main keywords used in the summary section, experience section and skills section of your could be: SEO, social media marketing and blogging. Remember to also include a strong headline for your profile together with a customized background to make your profile stand out even further.
Special tip 2:
The second tip is adding connections on LinkedIn by sending personalized connection requests. By default, when you send a connection request on LinkedIn, the person will receive the message “I’d like to add you to my professional network on Linkedin” and most users receive quite a few every day. Instead, edit the message and personalize it, by adding their first name and explaining why you’d like to connect with that person in particular so your request stands out. Before doing so, check the person’s profile and see whether you have anything in common to justify the connection request.
Special tip 3:
The third tip concerning how to increase Linkedin connections is giving endorsements. Endorsements on LinkedIn help contribute to the strength of a person’s profile and increases their chances of being found for opportunities related to the skills they have. To check and manage your endorsements, simply go to the “skills” section of your profile. You can have up to 50 skills listed which can be endorsed, but we recommend just listing the 10 most important ones to you. In order to receive endorsements, a good habit to adopt is giving endorsements first as most people will reciprocate.
Special tip 4:
The 4th tip is posting quality, engaging content daily if possible. The more you publish content that is useful to people, the more connections you’ll attract as you will have created a need for your updates. There are two ways on LinkedIn you can publish content. The first one is publishing an update which can be as short as one or two sentences. The second one is leveraging their blogging platform which allows you to publish long-form articles. The more valuable content you provide on a regular basis, the more profile views you’ll receive and therefore the more connection requests you’ll get.
Special tip 5:
The 5th tip is engaging with your connections’ updates. By liking, commenting and sharing their posts, this will increase your visibility and will make people outside your existing network want to connect with you. This is especially the case when your comments are valuable and interesting as users will find themselves clicking on your name to check out your full profile.
Special tip 6:
The 6th tip is promoting your profile outside LinkedIn. For example, you can add your profile link to your email signature and on your business card. You can also add a Linkedin widget on your website or on any other marketing material you produce.
So to recap, here are the 6 tips on how to get LinkedIn connections and grow your profile.
Step 1: Optimise your profile
Step 2: Personalise connection requests
Step 3: Give endorsements
Step 4: Post quality, engaging content regularly
Step 5: Engage with your connections’ updates
Step 6: Promote your Linkedin profile
So I hope you’ve enjoyed this post on how to how get more LinkedIn connections and grow your profile, remember to like it, share it, and feel free to leave a comment below. To receive more social media tips, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.
About the Author
Corinna Essa is known internationally as the go-to person when it comes to social media marketing.
Corinna owns a social media marketing company helping businesses around the world leverage the power of social media without doing any of the legwork. Her company has been featured in many media outlets including Sky Business news, Working Women magazine, Ymagazine, Tasmanian Times, Channel 7 and 101fm.
Corinna is also the author of 2 bestselling books “Money On Demand – The 16 Fastest Ways to Becoming a Millionaire Online” and “Reach: The SECRETS to converting your social media audience into your network marketing downline fast”
Excellent article, very well written, a marketing insight to LinkedIn thank you
Thanks Tim! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂