Leveraging Your LinkedIn: Connections

In last week’s e-zine, we talked about how to improve your LinkedIn profile as a way to better leverage your online presence. For the second step of improving your LinkedIn experience, we’re going to look at your connections. Your profile is complete, but if that’s all you have, we need to now really use LinkedIn for it’s purpose – “linking” or connecting professionals.

Here are some statistics about LinkedIn you might find interesting: 

• People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.
• All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.

Here are few tips for expanding your circle of connections and nurturing those networking relationships you are building.

1. Challenge yourself to reach out beyond close personal and work friends. Make a list of the top 20 people you would like to connect with and reach out to them – leaders, speakers, former colleagues, someone you always wanted to work with, industry rock stars. If LinkedIn protocol prevents you from reaching out directly, make it a goal to connect with someone who can “introduce” you via LinkedIn.
2. When inviting a new connection, make use of that tiny little link in the invitation box (“add a personal message”) to add a personal note – it’s always appreciated and can often help you attain a connection that may not have happened.
3. Each month, add 20 more people to your list to connect to. Look at who your current connections are linked to and see if there is anyone from your list there – or people you may want to add to your list.

As your connections expand, so will your horizons and you will find there are a wealth of valuable people within your reach. Next week: Good Karma (Recommendations). How to give and how to receive. Now go out there and start connecting.