When it comes to sales, business and relationship building, LinkedIn is the top performing social media channel out of them all. When trying to grow your network on LinkedIn, one thing that matters is the number of connections you have and the quality of those connections.
What tactics can you use to grow your LinkedIn network to maximise the opportunities that the social platform presents?
Personalise your connection requests
You clicked the Connect button, sat back and waited but your connection has not been accepted after a few days – why not? LinkedIn is a very collaborative space, but time after time we ignore a connection request from someone who hasn’t bothered to explain why they want to connect. Add a more personal touch by including their name, explaining how you know this person and why you would like to connect with them. Try to offer some value in any way possible to your network connection by writing a message asking how you can help them.
Join LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups are hidden gems. They are a great way to reach large numbers of like-minded people all at once and see what topics are being discussed. Engage with these groups by commenting and asking questions. After joining a new group you’ll see a list of members who engage the most, from there you can send personalised connection requests to expand your network even more.
Include images & videos in your posts
The LinkedIn platform is known to prioritise video content. By posting videos you will have a greater chance of making a lasting impression in the news feed of your network. Along with video content, Images will increase engagement on your posts and will massively increase the likelihood of your post going viral.
Remember, your images and videos don’t have to look polished – people are more interested in what you have to say in the caption than your production skills. It also helps to tag relevant people and companies in your post. This is an easy way to get seen by more people.
Optimise your profile
Complete the profile. An incomplete profile looks unprofessional. Make sure you fill in as much information as possible whilst leveraging keywords relevant to your business for SEO purposes. One great tip is to add keywords to the headline of your profile.
Pick the right profile photo. The best LinkedIn profiles are those with a photo because they make the profile seem real and human. Avoid the chopped photo with friends or a picture of you during a night out is unlikely to attract professional connections in your network.
Add an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is an introduction wherein you highlight what you want the other person to know about you. Under your photo is a space for you to introduce yourself to the LinkedIn community. If you’re worried about having little work experience, instead write what your values are, and what attributes you can bring to a company.
Post quality content, often
Unlike with Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms, quality content will stay active on LinkedIn’s feed for weeks! Also posting more often will increase your chance of more engagement.
What you share on LinkedIn does matter. This is what will define you as a trusted authority within your industry and with your target markets. The key content people want to see on the LinkedIn platform are news, articles and insights that are relevant to your connections if you want to attract and grow the right audience.
If you’re ploughing your blog posts into LinkedIn as status updates or into LinkedIn Groups without asking a question or trying to achieve engagement, this will not be productive. It is fine to share your content, but it’s important to be considerate when you do and position it in such a way that can potentially get your connections to engage with you.
In Conclusion
Getting new connections on LinkedIn won’t happen overnight. However, following these tips, creating great content and engaging with the right people will grow your network exponentially.
Copper Square hopes you find these recommendations for growing and engaging your LinkedIn network helpful. As the network itself continues to develop and add new features, it’s important to refresh your LinkedIn engagement strategy and make sure you are leveraging all of the great features. Contact us for more details on how Copper Square can help you create a well-executed Linkedin strategy.
