I have been on a quest to grow my network on LinkedIn, still the premiere social site for business networking. My goal was to make more than 500 connections. I have exceeded that at 600+.
Here’s how:
- Every time I meet someone at a professional event, I ask for their car. I then send them a request to connect on LinkedIn referring to the event where we met.
- Likewise, when I get an email, from someone I check to see if we are connected on LI and send an invite if we are not.
- I regularly scan the “People You May Know” area of LI. (Upper right when logged in: Add Connections>People You May Know. Be sure when you click Connect on anyone in this tool you also click Send Invitation.
- Scan the activity on my LI home screen to see if my connections are adding connections to people I know or who I would like to be connected to. If I don’t know the person and would like a connection, I send an email to my connection asking to be introduced via a LI message.
These steps have allowed me to grow my network with relative ease and without spending a lot of time. I welcome your tip.
Next, I’ll post about how I am leveraging my connections.
