LinkedIn is a powerful tool for growing your network, but it can also be very overwhelming. How do you know who to connect with? How do you keep in touch with people? And what if someone from your network reaches out to you—how do you respond?
The good news is, there are a number of ways to manage your LinkedIn network, so that it's not just an overwhelming list of names and titles. Here are some tips for how to grow your LinkedIn network, manage it effectively, and use it to build relationships with people who can help advance your career.
Your LinkedIn network is a treasure trove
First things first: let's get some basics out of the way. What is a LinkedIn Network?
A LinkedIn Network is a group of people with whom you have some sort of connection. It could be that they're all from your college class or that they all work at the same company as you do. It doesn't matter if they are personal friends or professional contacts; as long as someone has "accepted" your request for connection, then that person is part of your network.
How do I add someone to my network?
You can add anyone who has accepted one of your connection requests by going into their profile and clicking on "add connection."
This will automatically add them as a contact in your personal account; however, depending on their settings, they may not see it in their own account immediately.
If that's the case, they may need to go into their own settings and accept those requests themselves before seeing them appear. It quickly becomes difficult to know who you have sent invites to. That’s why you might want to try our tool [Superlink] to manage your LinkedIn network more efficiently.
Nurturing your LinkedIn network
LinkedIn is the best place to grow your network and stay connected with other professionals in your industry. But this requires some involvement on your side.
Here are some tips for nurturing your LinkedIn network:
Look for people who share your interests and backgrounds
Be sure to add people who are relevant to your industry, but don't just add anyone! You want to make sure the people you add are going to be helpful for both of you in the long run. If you want to grow your network, look for people who share your interests, backgrounds, or professional goals. You'll be able to connect with them on a deeper level than if you were just connecting with random people who might not have much in common with you. If you're looking for someone who went to the same school as you or has similar interests, use LinkedIn's advanced search function—it's really powerful!
Don't forget about old contacts from school or previous jobs! They could be really valuable connections as well.
Send personalized messages when connecting with people
When you connect with someone new, send a personal message instead of just sending them an invitation without any context or explanation of why they'd want to connect with you in the first place. If they don't know why they should accept your request, there's no reason for them to say yes! Instead, explain why their work or experience interests you and why it would be beneficial for both parties if they accepted your connection request. We wrote a short guide to help you when you don’t know what to say to someone when reaching out on LinkedIn.
Stay in touch with your network
Now that you've got some new connections, it's time to keep in touch with them! To do this, check out their profile and see if there are any updates that might interest you. If so, comment on their post or ask them questions about their work experience—this will help build trust between the two of you and encourage future interactions as well.
Keep an eye on who views your profile, and follow up with them if they don't reach out to you first. At some point, it might become overwhelming to keep in touch with so many people, that’s where a tool like [Superlink] comes handy!
In this guide, we've covered everything from how to manage your network to how to keep in touch with people. We'll also give you some tips on how to use LinkedIn as a tool for business development and networking. If you ever want to go further, [Superlink] makes it really easy to nurture your LinkedIn network. It removes any friction and will save you hours following up with your network.