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The Value of Growing Your LinkedIn Network
LinkedIn gives us the ability to find out who our contacts know, without asking them who they know. Imagine, the power of searching on the contacts of your contacts… It’s really quite amazing. Of course, it helps if your contacts have a lot of connections. In this article I want to share a few ideas on the how and why of building your own network in LinkedIn.
Why Build Your Network
As you build your network you increase your ability to “find and be found.” The search results you see are based on your first, second and third degree connections. If you have five first degree connections, and you do a search, the results will be much more limited than if you have one hundred first degree connections.
Flip that idea around and think about others looking for you. They don’t know your name, but they might search for something in your profile, and as long as you are one of their first, second, or third degree connections you’ll show up in their search results. Again, if you have five first degree connections, there aren’t as many people in your network as if you had one hundred first degree connections.
In addition to searching, a larger network gives you a larger reach for LinkedIn Answers. If you ask a question in LinkedIn Answers and you only have five first degree connections, not many people will see your question. If you had one hundred first degree connections you’ll probably have a much better response rate, and more second and third degree contacts may see your question.
Finally, as noted in the last article, having a larger network (larger than five connections) shows that you are getting more involved in LinkedIn, and adds some credibility to your LinkedIn strategy.
How to Build Your Network
On the left side, below the main menu, is a button to invite your friends to connect with you in LinkedIn. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but let me bring up one thing that frequently frustrates LinkedIn users.
When you invite people, please click the link to edit the invitation. Not editing the invitation is referred to as using a “canned invitation,” and somehow conveys you as lazy and not caring. I used to think this was an overreaction, but over the years I fully support the notion of customizing the invitation. At the very least, tell me how you know me and why we should connect!
Let others know you are in LinkedIn. One of the easiest ways to do this is to include your LinkedIn Public Profile in your e-mail signature. Not only are you letting them know how to find your profile, you are subtly sending a message that you are open to invitations (since they will now know you are on LinkedIn, and probably the e-mail address you accept invitations at).
Be careful when using the mass invitation/connection tools on LinkedIn. While LinkedIn makes it easy to invite all of the people from your address books, it’s a great way to get penalized. If any of your contacts click “I don’t know (your name),” it goes against your record. If you have five people who click the “I don’t know (your name)” button, you won’t be able to invite people without putting their e-mail address in. It’s not a big penalty, but a penalty nonetheless.
As you think about growing your network, consider your “space.” I use the word “space” to refer to your geography, profession or industry. If you are in the aerospace industry, you should find others who are in that industry, as well as suppliers and customers in that industry. If you are an accountant, you should connect with other accountants, as well as professionals who typically interface with accountants.
Of course, don’t limit your network to your space, as adding diversity is good, but focusing on your space could be very beneficial.
In conclusion…
There are some people who grow their network with no regard to relationships. Others only connect with people they “know and trust.” In my book I talk about these two philosophies as being on opposite ends of a spectrum, and suggest you should figure out where you fit. I doubt you’ll be on either extreme, but maybe you’ll be closer to one end than another.
Growing your network gives you real benefit. Now, who do you know that you aren’t connected with on LinkedIn yet?
© Copyright Jason Alba, 2008. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Jason Alba is the CEO and creator of JibberJobber.com, and author of I’m on LinkedIn – Now What??? Jason specializes in social media, with an emphasis on getting professional or business value out of various social tools. Jason maintains four blogs, including JibberJobber.com/blog, and is co-author of I’m on Facebook – Now What???.