LinkedIn is a different type of social media platform. The implied feeling that your boss is watching you, tied together with the fact that LinkedIn is a recruiting haven, keeps people from being too social on LinkedIn. That shouldn’t keep you from growing yourLinkedInn network because it is important.
What goes down behind the scenes is a completely different story. LinkedIn offers segments [groups] that are like pockets of the office where you can hide from your boss and actually talk about what YOU LIKE. With that being said, LinkedIn is a behind the scenes social network. People do not “like” statuses and comment very often due to the insecurity of being fired.
What people do DO on LinkedIn is send direct messages and connect with people from within their groups. Don’t get me wrong; people read the LinkedIn newsfeed; they just don’t participate in socializing very often.
You still need to keep a constant status update flow on LinkedIn and at least once a week log in and grow your network. Many times people have asked me “Ryan, how do I gain more influence on LinkedIn?” And my answer is simple.
The bottom: Become influential.
So, how do you become influential?
First, you need to start creating influence. The easiest and fastest way to do this is to start giving recommendations of people you have done business with in the past and are connected to. The video attached to this post covers exactly how to do just that.
Second, you need to invite your business email database to connect with you on LinkedIn. You can do this directly from LinkedIn, or you can copy your profile link, and write an email with the link pasted in it. Either way, you need to get the people you already know, to connect with you there.
Third, once those people connect with you, then you can start writing recommendations and talking publicly about your past experiences with them. When you do this, you’ve created the Law of Reciprocity in its purest form.
If you start becoming a person influencing recommendations, endorsing businesses and talking about experiences with others in the past, you will find those same people will start talking about you (in most cases).
My challenge today for you is this: Take 20 minutes a week and endorse, recommend and talk about your referral partners, vendors etc… These 20 minutes a week will yield you a good ROI on LinkedIn. You don’t have to be a tech genius; you just have to apply common sense and the fundamentals of a new delivery mechanism.
The Golden Rule To Growing Your Linkedin Network
Enjoy the video:
