3 Easy Ways To Add Connections On LinkedIn

I’ve mentioned here before how powerful LinkedIn can be. It makes your world smaller when people you connect with put you in touch with a person you’re ultimately trying to contact.

But your network is only as good as the number (and quality) of those you connect with. You can do it the slow way, but truly getting to know someone first, then asking if they’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn (become your first degree). Nothing wrong with that, but it yields little results for the amount of effort you put into it.

Here are some ways that I have used to increase my number of first degree connections a lot faster.

1. Join groups
You’re more likely to connect with people who share the same interests as you do. There are tons of like-minded people out there waiting for you to join their group. Most people on LinkedIn configure their profiles to allow you to contact them and reference the association you have with the group you both belong to. So once you join a group, browse through the member list and determine who you would like to connect with. If need be, ask one of your first degree connections to help introduce you.

Groups worth joining: TopLinked, OpenNetworkers, LION500.

2. Post to discussions
Each group has discussions capabilities — like a forum. Be sure to check the rules of the group first, but chances are good that they’ll allow you to post to that forum asking for people to invite you. Conversely, look for people in that group who have already posted they’d be interested in connecting with other members.

3. Import your contacts
LinkedIn enables you to import your address book from Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and a couple of others. Easy-to-follow instructions are included in the process. Once you’ve uploaded your list of contacts, you can then choose to invite any or all of them to connect. It’s all up to you.

I mentioned earlier that TopLinked is a group worth joining. They offer members (free of charge) a list of member email addresses specifically for the purposes of sending invitations to. If you want to be included on that list (thus saving you a lot of time), there’s a small and reasonable fee to pay. You can see your number of connections rocket into the 100s in just a couple of days using this method.

As always, use discretion when you choose to connect with people on LinkedIn. Not everybody is open to connecting with just anyone. Here are some tips you can follow when inviting people to connect with you:

• Be courteous and professional
• Personalize the invitation instead of using the templates LinkedIn gives you. This includes pointing out something you see as having in common with the person you’re sending the invitation to. (e.g., a past employer, something you both have on your profile, association with a group on LinkedIn, etc.)
• Check and double check your spelling and grammar.
• Always close the message with thanking them for their time.

I have written written a free report that includes many other tips for using LinkedIn. It’s a quick download.

Photo source: shlomaster