LinkedIn has 810 million members, and it has massive power to help you connect with your desired audience, whether that audience is made up of clients, employees, or potential employers.Â
You can use it to build name brand awareness for your own personal brand and to help grow an employerâs business, too. And you can absolutely use it for job-searching purposes, with 6 people being hired through the platform every minute.
In order to take advantage of these incredible benefits, though, you need to have a strong network. Mass-spamming connection requests to anyone who seems to have a job title thatâs in line with what youâre looking for definitely isnât going to cut it.
Want to grow your network into something that can truly benefit you? These are the 6 tips that you need to know.   Â
1. Look for People You Really Want to Engage WithÂ
You want to start by reaching out to people who you want to connect with. This can give you some early momentum in building a network.
Itâs important, however, to be strategic in who you connect with.
Because sure, âconnectingâ with an industry superstar like Gary V would be pretty great⌠but it actually isnât likely to land you anywhere. Those mega-famous individuals have so many followers and connections, that there wonât be much likelihood youâll get real engagement.
Instead, consider looking for people who meet the following criteria:
- Theyâre extremely active on the platform; they seem to be posting great resources, starting discussions, or engaging regularly with othersÂ
- You know them personally or have a âfriend of a friendâ type of connection
- They are in your exact target audience of who you want to connect with, which may require some research; donât be afraid to get specificÂ
And when you send that connection request, send a nice message and explain what you have in common and why youâd like to connect. That increases the odds of acceptance significantly.Â
2. Engage Publicly & Privately Â
Interact with other connectionsâ content.Â
Thatâs a basic cornerstone principle of social media, but itâs easy to forget it.
The more you interact with other usersâ posts by commenting or liking, the more the following things happen:
- Youâre establishing some sort of relationship with the poster (which may only be minor, or significant, but it can go a long way when youâre looking for a job later on)
- Your comments are visible to other people reading the discussion; if they like what you have to say, theyâll often reach out to you with a connection requestÂ
- Your activity shows up in your own feed, so you get to stay relevant without creating full-length posts
Youâll also want to engage privately with other users, too. You can reach out to share a personal story about someoneâs post that resonated with you, or to thank them for advice or a referral. Relationship building is the name of the game.Â
Just donât reach out to do a hard sell with new connections who donât want to hear it.Â
3. Take a Content-Centric ApproachÂ
77% of content marketers say that LinkedIn has the best organic reach and can drive the best organic results compared to other social media platformsâ especially for professional content. Â
Creating truly valuable resources that share your unique knowledge and experience in order to help others is one of the best ways to build your network and your brand all at once.Â
Long-form content does exceptionally well on LinkedIn, and itâs a fantastic way to start to work your way towards becoming a LinkedIn influencer. And a few quick tips:
- Start with a story or experience that people can relate to or that grabs attention
- Include relevant statistics or sources if possible
- End with actionable tips that users can take away from the post and implement themselvesÂ
4. Make Sure Your Account Looks GreatÂ
Thereâs something I like to call the LinkedIn profile checklist, and youâll want to have every item checked off before you start trying to build connections for the best results. This includes:
- Having a smiling but professional profile picture (just you and wearing something youâd meet clients in)
- A bio that is clear about what your experience is and what youâre looking for
- A strong tagline that reinforces what you have to offer while adding some personality to your profile
- An up-to-date website (if relevant) and job experienceÂ
5. Add Images to Your PostsÂ
Want a quick way to increase the reach of your posts on LinkedIn (which can directly impact visibility and thus your inbound connection requests!)?Â
Add images and/or videos to your posts. Even a single image can draw a ton of attention in the LinkedIn feed, and multiple studies show that they can garner 2x higher engagement than posts without images.
If youâre at a loss for what images to post, remember that there are free stock photo sites like Unsplash and Pixabay that can give you plenty of great options to work with.Â
6. Be âRealâÂ
This may be the most important tip of all.Â
Be yourself. If youâre not, and youâre trying to play a character or put on a persona, people will be able to sniff it out a mile away. It will actually drive people away instead of drawing them in.
If youâre edgy, itâs fine to be edgy. But if youâre not, itâs not something to try to adopt.Â
Be funny. Be kind. Be assertive. Make bold statements. Be witty. Be whatever you want to be, but know that it will impact how your professional network sees you and that youâll have to stand by it. Â
Final ThoughtsÂ
If youâre looking for new ways to grow your LinkedIn network, these six tips are the most reliable ways to do so. It is a long game that youâre playing here, so youâll want to remember to be both patient and consistent. Â
Looking for more help to exceed on LinkedIn? Check out our LinkedIn Marketing course here!Â
Meta description: These 6 tips can help you assess how to grow your LinkedIn network effectively so that you can build a personal brand and find new work.
