Grow Your LinkedIn Network – Part 3

Grow Your LinkedIn Network – Part 3

Following on from parts one and two today we will be looking at 6 distinct ways that you can use to grow your LinkedIn network, including the following;

  1. Past school/college and workmates.
  2. Groups
  3. Post Likes
  4. Articles
  5. Growing to a minimum of 500 connections
  6. Commenting on other peoples post/article

The essential thing to remember is that LinkedIn is a professional network and you should treat it as such.  Your network and how you grow it has the power to bring you success in your future so treat it as a way to connect with genuine people who can help you become successful and you can do the same for them as well.

[00:00:01] Setting up for success, Grow Your LinkedIn network, part 3

[00:00:08] Hello ladies, Alvern here. Now that you have a profile that is decent looking. It gets really, really exciting from here because you can start inviting people to join your LinkedIn network or for some of you grow your network even more. So where do you find these people?

Past School/College Mates

[00:00:31] Now let’s look at a list here. So, for example, you have old school college workmates that you believe that add value to network or will be great go-to people for any sort of questions or queries that people might have in your LinkedIn network. You can contact them. Those groups that I asked you to join in part two, for those of you who haven’t yet listened to LinkedIn part one or two I would add links to the document here.

Groups

[00:01:05] So those groups, remember you can join up to 50 groups and some groups like big, super big you have like a hundred thousand people in one single group. That means you can have, if all of them joined you, which I doubt, so you will probably see about a hundred of those over a 12-month period you get them to join your LinkedIn network, those are people and multiply that by 50 groups or even 10 percent of the groups with a thousand people. So, you know it all adds up bit by bit. But you are going to have to work at it and make a commitment to do it. We have things like post likes, articles, you have the ability to comment on other people’s posts and articles. So, let’s go through those step by step.

[00:01:56] So with all school college or workmates that’s fairly easy for you. You look at all of the people you worked with in the past I know it is sometimes very difficult for me. I can’t remember all of the people that I worked with in all of my past companies I do remember here and there a few people live. If you go through for each company and go look at the current people working there you can probably remember one person contact them and ask them to remind you of the names of people that you worked with on the team. They may find it strange just explain to them that you’re trying to remember the first and last name or just the last name or whatever it is.

500 Connection Goal

[00:02:33] So groups like I mentioned to him before, get involved in at least two or three conversations contribute and ask them to connect with you. I guess the first thing you need to do when it comes to the groups it is something that you progressively work at or make it a habit for example. So, set a goal for yourself and say OK I want to achieve a minimum of 100 people from this group to connect to my LinkedIn network.

[00:03:05] Break it down like this, two to five connection requests per day. Or every two days or per week and you can go as fast or slow as you would like to go. But for me when I wanted to grow my LinkedIn network from less than 100 connections and I said I wanted to achieve 500 my first goal was 500. I said OK I want to achieve, make it a smart goal, make it very specific, 500 connections, make it achievable. So, I want to do that in six months in six months time. I want to achieve 500 new connections into my network.

[00:03:45] Make it measurable so you can measure day by day in order to get to 500 divide it up. In order to get to 500 and six months divide that amount over the six-month period. So you probably looking at between 75 and 80 connections a month and then break it down daily. Every day check and make sure you are doing whatever it is you need to do to achieve those goals. It may sound like hard work but if you make it a routine part of your we get to work or get in front of the computer every morning go in and contribute to a particular group and look back on past questions that you have or any questions that he asks and some of us answered to you add that as a connection, add that person as a connection.

[00:04:30] Keep doing that until you’ve reached your daily, weekly, monthly and then your six-month goal. And then once I got to 500, don’t forget to challenge yourself. So, I went from 500 to 1,500 OK I have done the 500 and I’m going to get the 1,500 in say 12 months. I broke it down then specifically by month then by day. And I did what I can to achieve the 1,500. Then I went and said OK I want to do 10,000.

[00:05:09] And so I just kept on doing until I got to the level I got to. Now, unfortunately, people leave LinkedIn other people, unfortunately, are no longer alive. So, these things do happen. So just a part of life or maybe not. But just keep adding connections you know and engaging with those particular people. Offer to do something for them. For example, when you want to connect with them you know to ask them if there is anything you can do for them maybe introduce them to someone that they are looking to connect with, etc.

[00:05:50] If you think you need 10,000 like I did. Trust me. 10,00 is a large number of people you would not want to handle. How on earth do you connect, communicate, build a relationship with 10,000 people every year? That’s just impossible. I wasn’t thinking of it that way many years ago when I joined in LinkedIn I just, you know, everybody was looking for connections. But now in hindsight, I can only advise you don’t go for something so big go for something that is a bit more manageable.

[00:06:22] Fifteen hundred, 2,000, max five thousand because you can actually, it’s all about engagement you want to engage these people, every year day to day. And unfortunately for me. Well I don’t think it’s unfortunate and it’s probably fortunate because I can still you know manage it in a way I possibly can where I get new connections every single day, new connection request. And what I do then is a message them before I bring him into my network to make sure it’s actually people because it could be fakes. It could be anything like that. Anyway, before we veer off topic let’s get back on track.

Post Likes

[00:07:00] So post updates, one of the reasons why people joined LinkedIn is to get engagement on their company article, you know marketing. Other people joined because of looking for new job. But post updates are really important. What is it that you share an update.

[00:07:18] Share an article that you read at the thought was interesting for your LinkedIn network, share a picture, anything like that. And I would advise you to do share one to two updates every day with your network. Don’t share any old thing share something that your network would find very valuable to them. Otherwise, they would not want to be part of your network. So think before you share and make sure you’re adding value as much as you possibly can to your connections.

[00:08:01] Do it for about six months so that it actually becomes a habit of something you do. You go in the morning open LinkedIn, you or you saw something somewhere and experienced in the morning or somebody who underwent an IPO some company. There is something interesting happening to you or your LinkedIn network, this is why you should be very careful of which groups you join. So, you will know what the people in your network are interested in.

Articles

[00:08:30] Articles! So, before I actually go to articles. The reason why you do the updates which is very important to grow your network is once someone who is not part of your first level connections likes your posts you reach out to them and write them and say thank you for liking my post. Would you like to join my network? That’s one way of growing your network.

[00:08:56] Articles.

[00:08:59] You are probably going to be cringing and thinking she’s not going to ask me to write an article. I am actually asking you to write an article and I know it’s difficult, trust me I’ve been there. I particularly enjoy writing now I just don’t have the time. I actually hated writing initially, to be honest, it’s not something I enjoyed initially but now I do because I have so many ideas bubbling up in my head I just want to write it down before I forget about it. Because as humans, unfortunately, we forget about things that happen in the past. And if you don’t write it down you just forget about it.

[00:09:37] So to have a book or journal handy you probably heard this many times from people who are inspiring that they have a book and a pen beside their bedside. In the middle of the night when they get an idea they’ll get up and write down that idea. So, do the same have a book and a pen handy everywhere or with the advent of smartphones these days I stick it into my notes on my mobile phone which is another good place to put it. So just to give you a list of ideas of things that you can write about. I have about 10 or 15 here which I think you would find very useful.

[00:10:15] You can write about a holiday experience for example. I travel a lot because I love to travel and I find it very fascinating when I travel when I discover interesting things or interesting places or interesting cultures, interesting the language and languages, interesting people, interesting habits, interesting custom.

[00:10:41] So you’ve gone on a stay for example for one week or two-week trip document, you get into the hotel or the bed and breakfast or the self-catering accommodation or the Airbnb location, document you know you can actually do a narration of your experience from the airport or even before you take off from your home city and just document everything.

[00:11:10] I know recently I was travelling on the Airbus a380 I think it is. Sorry, I can’t remember the name right now but it’s one of those that have two levels on the plane. That can accommodate a very large amount of passengers. I probably should have researched this before I gave this example. But I was blown away because it was such an amazing and comfortable flight. So far I think I’ve travelled three different times on that aircraft and they are amazing because there’s so much space and you don’t feel as cramped as you do in the 737s I probably shouldn’t be talking this kind of technical jargon on this particular podcast. But.

[00:11:56] If you’re into planes like me you probably appreciate what I’m talking about here. This extra space should be in a window seat space. Extra bits and pieces and you can sit comfortably right through the flight. It’s sort of almost negates the need for you to fly business or first class because it’s so luxurious those particular aircraft. I would look it up and put it in my notes I think it’s the Airbus A380. But don’t quote me on it but look in the notes the actual podcast notes the actual correct one.

[00:12:32] You can write about all sorts of interesting stuff. It could be a City holiday or beach holiday, mountaineering or hiking trips. You know it’s all my stuff. You can write about, it could be that you bought this particular backpack for example for the trip and you find it was fascinating or you can write a real review of this particular backpack.

[00:12:55] I for one travel the train from Thailand to Malaysia and it was a horrible experience for me. I don’t know what else to say about that but I can write about. It’s an issue I probably should haven’t done yet but again the problem for me is time not having enough time.

[00:13:15] For you ladies on the podcast. I encourage you to write about your experiences. Another one a particular customer service experience that you went through some company, you bought a product and you had a really amazing experience write about it. I mean, the article doesn’t need to be super long it could be 500-600 words. You have a great manager in the past who was amazing write about that you know. compliment them.

[00:13:47] Write about why your company is a great place to work. You can write about a voluntary experience that you had where you felt fulfilled you can write about a particular pet peeve. For example one of the things I wrote about you may find this funny but I will include a link and that article is about bananas. I know it sounds real, you know far out there but people related to it. I for one I do not like bananas too ripe because they’re too sweet and they actually make me gag.

[00:14:21] I like bananas when I bring them home from the supermarket they need to be you know not squashed, if the banana is squashed that’s it, that’s the end of me, it’s going in the bin. You can think that I love to waste but it’s just something about a banana not being squashed or squeezed in any way, that is attractive that I would want to eat. I don’t whether I feel upset at eating it I don’t move my whole will have to go. Why hasn’t anyone invented a gadget that will allow you to bring bananas home safely and in perfect from the supermarket. Everything else can for except probably bread you can squeeze bread and it gets out of shape. But everything else you buy in the supermarket for example is perfect when you come home but things like bananas, eggs and bread needs extra special care where if there is any little squeezing or anything like that actually makes it other sheep an attractive to eat.

[00:15:18] You can also review a restaurant you attended a really good restaurant the service was good wasn’t slow. The food was good. The starter, main course, the dessert, the atmosphere, you know the chefs, the value for money. You can write about that. You can review a show, you attended a show recently a concert you know what experience was like was buying a ticket online, at the booth when you got there and entered in, the seating was it comfortable, the ambience was it good, the sound was great, the actual performance. You know where the people who were there. You’re right about stuff that you experienced.

[00:16:02] You can review and experience it in a museum for example you write about how the experience was there. If it’s something you went to an art museum if it was worth going you could recommend it to others. You know people love that kind of stuff. Something to happen to you while you’re going into work. For example someone lost their ticket and you paid for someone else. And it’s good to pay it forward. You can write about so much stuff.

[00:16:32] A beautiful piece of art for example you went to the art museum you say this particular artists and other pieces of art that a particular artist did you know talk about it. A dish that you made some sort of dish that you were trying to and you’ve been trying that three or four times and it turned out bad, you have pictures about the dish don’t forget to include photos and videos of everything that you talked about.

[00:17:00] You talk about a dish. How you gained success. You can give pointers to people of the easy way they can go about making that dish without having to go through the pain that you went through. A time saving piece of software you came upon this particular software that you are currently using for example in my case I use software to edit videos or to edit audio files software for all sorts of things I use it for and you probably useful for all sorts of things. Say for example you were very impressed about a particular piece of software. Don’t forget to give a review of that particular software.

[00:17:44] A Camera. So, for example you own a camera and it is amazing. It’s so easy to use. It takes great shots and it captures everything on holiday and when you went holiday, write about it. A bicycle that you own. For example, before in the past you had this particular bicycle but you bought this one and it’s amazing. A road bike or maybe a mountain bike. Give a review of it. Have pictures make it engaging, video etc.

[00:18:13] I can go on forever and ever and ever about this but I will not. Not to bore you or anything like that. But if you are like me and you probably wish you had more time to write than welcome to the club but just please. I can. I can’t advise anyone just write. Even if you have to write even at this particular moment time. I have several articles in draft mode which in my linked in account that I haven’t.

[00:18:45] Had the time to publish yet so just as soon as you get the idea. You save it in your notes start writing about it and he might have it half done and then some other day you might get inspired to complete it. Or you can complete it straight away sometimes it takes me 10 minutes to write the whole article because it all come together in my head and I just write it.

Other People’s Articles

[00:19:07] So the next one would be other people’s update or article so other people would be like you and they would be writing posting updates or sharing articles or sharing you know something up to them today. Don’t be afraid to comment on it. Oh, and before I go on, a little example about an article I wrote. It was an article about ‘why women wear sexy shoes’. I think I cannot remember how many likes and comments I got from it but there were a number of people who liked and commented on it just remember it’s a great way for you to connect with them.

[00:19:49] Add them to your LinkedIn network basically, make sure you contribute to the community as much as you possibly can. Like other people’s updates comment on other people’s articles. Encourage others in the community share videos, videos of where to be good people engage with videos. That’s another great way to you know benefiting from connections.

[00:20:13] LinkedIn live video will be coming soon. So be ready. It’s very similar to Facebook live I will be covering Facebook in another podcast. But it is very similar to Facebook live where you can actually do a live coverage of something that you’re doing currently. When you get access to LinkedIn live video don’t shy away from it but instead, embrace it and you can use it for the following in the following ways.

[00:20:45] You have like video podcasting, so podcasting but with video. Coverage of a particular event that’s happening at work or at your company. Coverage of a particular charitable event, for example, you’re doing charity work and you want to cover it right there and then and you guys will just be doing something successful. A client testimonial or a client recommendation. You can do a coverage for that. Some experience that you had somewhere. Share a thought for example. So, you know it’s something that came to mind and it inspired you. Something that you saw online. You know do a sort of a 90-second thing. Today I, read this that some particular book for example and I advise you to do it because it did this to me. Etc. etc.

[00:21:39] And give. You can use it to give five tips, five tips on how you can actually keep exercising to achieve what you need to achieve. But to be a long-term goal of you know dropping a dress size or how you managed to curb your hunger pangs or you know something like that.

[00:22:03] And yes so take advantage of those. You know one thing is to listen to what I have to say but actually implementing it is another. Please, please. I can emphasize this enough. Let’s as ladies break that glass ceiling and really you know to achieve what we have to achieve by first obviously having a really good LinkedIn profile that shows the best of who we are. And then reaching out and contributing to your LinkedIn network that has been tipped because as a business network yes, we have Facebook wants to look similar in any way and shape because a business is you know different. What propels you in life is the connections you make, the joint ventures that you have the companies that you work for so I can emphasize enough how important it is to beef up your LinkedIn profile.

[00:22:52] And that’s all ladies That’s all for today. I really enjoyed sharing these ideas with you. It was a lot longer than the other two. But you’re worth it and please take action. Bye for now. Enjoy the day and enjoy the rest of the week.

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