Linked to Influence Page 6
I also recommend cleaning up your e-mail list before you upload it to LinkedIn. It will save you time as you sort through your contacts and send invitations to connect on LinkedIn.
Leverage Your Unique Market Opportunities
The best way to determine whether or not to connect with someone on LinkedIn beyond your existing contacts is to understand your unique market opportunities.
Your unique market opportunities include people who fall into the following categories:
• location (where you live and work)
• industry (past and present)
• referral sources
• natural affinity markets (shared qualities or characteristics)
• friends of friends (or connections of your connections)
• relevant influencers
• hobbies/interests
• associations or organizations you belong to
• conference or event attendees
• community or charitable causes
There should be a good reason for why you would accept or send an invitation to connect with anyone on LinkedIn. Don’t evaluate making a connection based on whether or not you personally know someone; evaluate making a connection based on your unique market opportunities. Does the potential connection fit with one of your criteria?
LinkedIn discourages connecting with people you don’t know. However, there are many ways to identify common connection points to leverage with almost any LinkedIn member you want to reach. If you can establish a base level of rapport with someone founded on a shared interest, industry, group, or connection, it would not be out of the ordinary to send an invitation to connect.
I recommend connecting with influencers, journalists, and editors in your community and/or industry (94 percent of editors and journalists are on LinkedIn4), even if you don’t know them personally.
Most of these professionals are well connected and active on LinkedIn. Don’t look for media professionals and influencers to help you out. Instead, look for ways to serve as a resource and give value. Build relationships with these important people.
Also, I recommend connecting with people who resonate with you based on your perspective, values, and beliefs. For example, I will accept LinkedIn invitations from people who mention that they have heard me speak. These individuals can become your biggest advocates!
Map out your own unique market opportunities to build a smarter network on LinkedIn. Once you know exactly with whom you want to connect, you can accelerate the network-building process.
Find the “Low-Hanging Fruit” Connections
There are some obvious LinkedIn connections to make that result from going about your daily work and social life that you may not be thinking about. If you start to become more aware of formalizing these connections on LinkedIn, you can steadily grow your network with very qualified people.
Here are some examples of “low-hanging fruit” connections:
1) Top-of-Mind Connections
Top-of-mind connections are the people you meet in person, or have phone calls or e-mail exchanges with. These are also the people you come into contact with in the course of your daily work, family, and social life.
For example, another parent sitting in the bleachers at your kid’s basketball or soccer game might be someone you would want to connect with on LinkedIn. Another example is the owner of a local business or restaurant where you are a frequent patron.
Top-of-mind connections can include people you’ve interacted with for the first time or people you already know but haven’t connected with on LinkedIn.
2) Alumni
I have found LinkedIn’s alumni search tool to be one of the most effective ways to find relevant connections. You can filter alumni people searches on LinkedIn by where they live, where they work, what they do, what they are skilled at, and how you are connected with them (1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-degree or group members).
It doesn’t matter how many people you knew when you went to school. Sharing a common school or university is a very powerful way to get your foot in the door with new connections.
3) Cross Connect on Other Social Networks
If you are on LinkedIn, you are likely also on Facebook and Twitter. You may engage with people on these networks that you have not connected with officially on LinkedIn. This can also work the other way around. Export your LinkedIn connections and find those who are also on Twitter and Facebook! (Note: you will need to first export your LinkedIn connections into an e-mail service like Gmail before you can import into Twitter or Facebook.)
4) People You May Know
The “People You May Know” feature is where LinkedIn suggests people for you to connect with. In some cases, these suggestions don’t make sense, but as LinkedIn becomes smarter about you and your network, they will become more relevant.
5) Rekindle Dormant Ties
Dormant ties are those where you may have had a relationship or acquaintance at some point in time but you are not connected on LinkedIn. Dormant ties can include people you have known from prior jobs, places you have lived, and schools you have attended, to name a few. Adam Grant, author of the New York Times bestselling Give and Take, suggests that dormant ties can lead to strong ties because you have a history and shared experience. This makes it quicker and more comfortable to reconnect.
The Value of Your 2nd-Degree Connections
If you are doing your diligence to build a smart 1st-degree network on LinkedIn, your 2nd-degree connections are going to be that much more relevant. These are the people who are connected with your 1st-degree connections.
You are only one degree away from your 2nd-degree connections on LinkedIn, and you can actually see who these individuals are!
The best way to identify your 2nd-degree connections is by using LinkedIn’s advanced search tool. Select the 2nd-degree filter for your search and narrow the search by geographical location, industry, job title, or any other parameter available to you.
You can also directly search the connections of your 1st-degree network, as long as they have made their connections public. Identify and search the connections of your best clients and professional partners. Who are the people in their networks that you want to know?
Search the network of a 1st-degree connection directly from his or her profile. Use the small search box above their list of connections and narrow your search by adding a location, industry, or specific keyword into the box.
Groups are another place to surface relevant 2nd-degree connections. Visit the groups you belong to and search the list of mutual group members. Again, narrow your searches with various parameters and/or keywords to make them more relevant.
When attempting to connect with a 2nd-degree connection, I recommend first sending a message to your mutual 1st-degree connection. Explain who you would like to connect with and give your reason. Ask for permission to use their name in the process.
Taking the initiative to make an introduction rather than asking your contact to do this work for you is much more effective. Be careful about using LinkedIn’s introduction tool. The tool is a bit confusing to most LinkedIn members who are not familiar with it. More important, your contact will have to do the work of making the introduction.
When you initiate the introduction process and take control of it, your 1st-degree connection will not be required to do all the work for you! Keep in mind that not everyone knows each of his or her 1st-degree connections personally. You might ask “How well do you know [insert name]?” in your message to begin with.
When possible, send a personalized invitation to your 2nd-degree connections. You may need to send an InMail message first to establish rapport prior to sending an invitation to connect.
Pay Attention to Shared Connections
LinkedIn will show you the connections you have in common with your 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections, as well as mutual group members.
This feature alone is one of the most powerful benefits of building your online netw
ork on LinkedIn. You have this unique ability to peek into your extended network.
When you can see the connections you have in common with thousands of LinkedIn members, you can determine who might be a good fit for your smart network.
LinkedIn shows your shared connections with other members in multiple places such as member profiles, the alumni area, the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile,” and the “People You May Know” sections. Just look for the icon of overlapping circles and hover over it to see the list of connections you share with another LinkedIn member.
There is a direct correlation between the number of shared connections you have with someone on LinkedIn and the likelihood they will accept your invitation to connect.
When I come across someone I would like to connect with on LinkedIn and see that we have numerous shared connections, I will mention this in my personalized invitation or InMail in order to establish rapport.
Typically, I send a message or invitation that says:
“Hello [Insert Name], I came across your profile recently and it looks like we know a lot of the same people! I thought it would make sense for us to also connect here on LinkedIn.”
Review the common connections you share with your 1st-degree network. Are there ways you can bring groups of these professionals together for a lunch or dinner meeting? This is one of many ideas for leveraging the connections you have in common with others in your network.
Note that LinkedIn members can adjust their privacy settings to hide who their connections are. You can do the same, but I don’t recommend this. Instead, you might select the option to only allow your connections to see whom you are connected to. That way, if you are worried about your competitors seeing your connections, you can just not connect with your competitors!
When you better understand how you are connected to others on LinkedIn, you can use that data to your advantage in building a smarter and more in-depth network.
Connecting with People You Don’t Know
By now you know how important it is to build your network with the people you do know, such as your existing contacts. However, LinkedIn is a very powerful tool for connecting with important people you don’t know (or don’t know well).
When you connect with people you don’t know but should know, you can open all kinds of doors to new opportunities. My business would not be where it is today if I had decided to only connect with the people I know well.
The prerequisite for connecting with LinkedIn members you don’t know is to make sure they fit your unique market opportunities criteria (discussed earlier in the chapter).
When sending an invite to someone you don’t know (or don’t know well), I highly recommend sending a personalized invitation. If you don’t meet LinkedIn’s rules for sending a personalized invitation, try to locate the person’s e-mail address. Check their LinkedIn profile or look elsewhere online. If you have an e-mail address for the person, you can send a personalized invitation using the “other” option that LinkedIn provides.
If you are unable to locate an e-mail address, I recommend sending an InMail message. Set the stage with this message for sending a follow-up invitation to connect. InMails are messages you can send to anyone on LinkedIn, whether you are connected or not. They are only available with premium LinkedIn accounts. I’ll cover these in more depth later in the book.
The one downside to sending an InMail is that you have to choose from a menu of predefined reasons that describe why you are sending the message. These predefined reasons don’t always fit. However, you can make up for this with a compelling subject line that grabs attention.
For all InMails you send that are responded to, LinkedIn will credit you back the InMail. With an InMail, you have significant space to send a lengthy message. I suggest keeping your message short and to the point. Make sure to mention in your InMail message that you are going to also send an invitation to connect.
I have found this process to work very well for connecting with people I don’t know on LinkedIn. Within my InMail messages, I almost always reference a common professional point or connection in order to build some rapport.
View Profiles of the People You Wish to Connect With
Did you realize that “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” is one of the most popular features on LinkedIn? LinkedIn members love the ability to see who is looking at them!
A little-known tactic for attracting new, strategic connections on LinkedIn is to go out and view the profiles of the people you are interested in connecting with. Make sure your profile settings are configured to show your identity when viewing the profiles of other members.
When you view someone’s profile, they can see your profile image and headline summary, as well as the connections you have in common.
When you view profiles of the people you would like to connect with, many of them will view you back. A percentage of those individuals will then send you an invitation to connect or even a message leading with, “I saw that you viewed my profile…”
Viewing profiles of those professionals you want to connect with creates a subtle, warm connection with them. It is human nature to want to “view back” the profiles of people who are looking at you.
Check out those who have viewed your profile on a daily basis if you can. View their profiles, and if it makes sense to connect or send a message, do so!
You may also find some of your 1st-degree connections are viewing your profile as well. This can be a result of increasing your LinkedIn activity level. When you see current connections who have viewed your profile, this is a good time to touch base and check in with a personalized message.
Recently, a handful of software tools have come out claiming to automate your profile viewing activity on LinkedIn. Be very careful if you use any of these tools as they could potentially cause your LinkedIn account to be flagged or shut down!
Use LinkedIn Groups to Make Relevant Connections
While many LinkedIn groups are full of self-serving promotional posts, why not use them instead to build your network? There are millions of LinkedIn members who belong to groups, yet they are no longer active in these groups for a variety of reasons.
As I mentioned previously, you can search through the membership of a group that you belong to from the main group page. Simply click on the “Members” tab to access the search box.
Mine your LinkedIn group memberships and utilize groups for relevant professionals you can connect with who fit into your smart network-building strategy.
One special benefit you get by joining relevant LinkedIn groups is the ability to send private, personalized messages to mutual group members. Note that you are limited to fifteen total messages per month to mutual group members, so use them wisely.
To run advanced LinkedIn searches across ALL of the groups that you belong to at one time, you will need a premium account.
Don’t overlook LinkedIn groups as an opportunity for finding relevant connections to build your smart network.
Find Potential Connections with LinkedIn’s Advanced Search
With LinkedIn’s recent revamping of its search engine for speed and relevance, there is no better way to find the right professionals to connect with.
One of the primary ways that LinkedIn is making its internal search engine better is by showing you results based on your existing network connections.
If you are building a smart network as I’m teaching you to do in this chapter, your LinkedIn search results should be highly relevant. You also have the opportunity to show up in any LinkedIn member’s searches that are relevant to you and your network.
Premium accounts get more search filters and the ability to save searches. With a saved search, each time a LinkedIn member meets your search criteria, they will be added to your search results list. There are a good number of search filters you get access to as a free LinkedIn member as well.
Let me share an example with you to demonstrate the power of LinkedIn’s advanced search. I was interested
in putting together a small group mastermind dinner with ten to fifteen female entrepreneurs in my city. I conducted an advanced search with filters for a specific national women’s LinkedIn group I belong to, my local zip code, 1st- and 2nd-degree connections only, and the keywords “CEO” or “Owner” or “President.”
My search returned thirty-three results. From those results, I identified the twenty women I felt would be the best fit for my event and sent each of them a personalized message. I sent my 2nd-degree connections in this group InMail messages followed by invitations to connect.
There are limitless combinations you can utilize for finding exactly the people you want to connect with on LinkedIn through the advanced search tool. I do recommend becoming more familiar with Boolean search operators in order to get the most accurate results possible.