Social media is a constantly evolving free-for-all of ideas, conversations, products, and services. Make social media work for you by taking time to expand LinkedIn connections. It’s not hard, but it does require that you set aside time.
1. You know all the business cards you collect at trade shows, workshops, meet-ups and seminars? Or the emails and websites you’ve collected for possible contacts? Go through them as soon as you can and see who has a LinkedIn profile. Once you have people in your network, start a conversation or ask a question to get the relationship moving.
2. A great way to expand LinkedIn connections is to amplify! When you post quality content, you are more likely to get likes, shares, and comments from your followers, which their followers will see, too. Studies have found that amplification drives over a third of all impressions. See part 2 of this LinkedIn series for ideas on what to post.
3. Make amplification easy with social posting plugins, apps and tools. Allow followers to recommend your company’s products and content that are not on LinkedIn. People are much more likely to try out a new business if they know a trusted friend or coworkers recommends it.
4. If you’re planning to take a business trip or attend a conference, check to see if you have LinkedIn connections you can meet with. You might plan a lunch to bring connections in associated industries together. Or get in touch with a couple of connections and see if they would be interested in discussing the conference sessions together afterward.
5. Use Company Search. This is a fantastic way to find people with shared connections. You can refine your search by location, job opportunities, industry, and relationship. You might find some great contacts this way!
Schedule time each week to manage your LinkedIn profile. Keep it current and nurture your relationships, virtually and in person. There are so many ways to connect. Spend time experimenting to find what works for you.
Jen Miller has been writing since she was a child and spent her early career years soaking up all the information she could discover as a journalist of newspapers and magazines. Getting out the message and spreading truth has always been a high priority for Jen. Jen began writing website content for clients in 1996 and started blogging in 2008 for Today.com. That experience created a love for the blog and she has been an avid blogger ever since. Today she writes for her clients on a variety of topics as a ghostwriter/ghostblogger and connects their messages with personality through social media to deliver the most impact possible.
