Create Your LinkedIn Connection Strategy and Find Your People

LinkedIn is packed with potential—and I’ve experienced it first-hand. I got serious about posting regularly in 2020, and for the past few years, most of my firm’s leads can be attributed to the community I’ve built on LinkedIn. 

Wild, right? 

It’s easy to overthink your LinkedIn strategy and get overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Take a deep breath, bring yourself back down to earth, and remember that LinkedIn is a social media platform. Period. It is a place to create authentic connections with other living, breathing human beings. 

If you were going out to a social event IRL, what would you be doing ahead of time to make a good impression? 

You’d probably be choosing your snazziest outfit to try and look your best. Then you’d ask your spouse/friend/dog for their input on your ensemble to see if there’s any room for improvement. 

Now, think about that in the context of LinkedIn: You need to make sure your profile is dressed to impress. Then, you can consider how to take it to the next level. 

Got your red power tie on straight? Shoelaces double-knotted? None of your lunch stuck in your teeth? Sounds like you’re ready to get out there and start making some connections! 

To help you get started, I’m going to answer a few specific questions about LinkedIn connections that came through the chat while I was co-hosting a live webinar with Samantha Russell about social media strategy.

What’s a good strategy for connecting on LinkedIn? Should I be intentional, or just add anyone?  

While it can be tempting to send connection requests to anyone, everyone, and their mothers, I encourage you to chill. out. (Very technical term, I know.)

You are not for everyone. Not everyone is for you. And that is awesome. 

Think about your real-life relationships—your network is filled with people you trust, admire, respect, and enjoy. Connect with those people on LinkedIn first and build your connections organically. I’m talking about:

• Current and former colleagues

• Fellow members of associations, communities, and groups

• Current and former clients

• Current prospects and investors

• Industry friends, partners, and vendors

• People you know that fit your target market

Then, you can start branching out a bit and get a little more strategic:

• Check who’s viewing your profile, and then take a look at their profile. Are they in your target market? Send a connection request. 

• Pay attention to post comments. Did someone comment on your post, and they’re not a 1st connection? Did you comment on your connection’s post, and someone else engaged with you in the comments? Again, see if they’re in your target market and send a connection request. 

• Go to the page of someone you admire, view the “Activity” section of their profile, and see who is commenting on their posts. Are they in your target market? You know what to do.

• In my webinar with Samantha Russell, she mentioned that every Friday, she makes a list of everyone she met or talked to that week, and then she sends them an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. 

IMPORTANT: When you send a connection request, be sure to include a personal message with that invitation. It doesn’t need to be anything complicated, but it should give some context as to why you’re interested in connecting.

The personal message serves two purposes: 

1. Trying to connect with a stranger with no context is weird (and the personal message makes it much more likely they’ll accept your invitation)

2. LinkedIn doesn’t like when too many of your invitations are ignored, left pending, or marked as spam by the recipients. They won’t yell at you or anything, but they will temporarily restrict your account for a while. 

LinkedIn is really big on quality connections, so you’re only allowed to have 30,000 1st connections (I should probably format that as “only,” because holy cow, that number is nothing to sneeze at.) 

Should I email my clients and ask them to connect with me on LinkedIn?

Should you send an email that straight up asks someone to connect with you on LinkedIn? No. 

Why would you email and ask them to connect when you can go on LinkedIn, look them up, and send them an invitation to connect? The email just makes things more complicated—and you’re putting it on them to find you and connect, which is kind of annoying. 

As an asterisk to my initial “no,” I do think it’s a good idea to put the link to your LinkedIn profile in your email signature. It’s a way of telling people you’re on LinkedIn and down to connect without being aggressive about it. 

Are competitors that ask me to connect trying to steal my clients?

Honestly? I doubt it. 

Here’s the thing—you may think you have a bazillion competitors, but that’s only true if you haven’t defined your niche in the investment biz. 

When you narrow down your niche properly, not only do you identify a place in the market that’s specific and allows you to serve your true fans, but you also identify what makes you different. And when you’re incredibly clear on your differentiators, you can even find ways to collaborate with your competitors. 

Seriously. 

Find ways to collab instead of compete to build trust, your relationships, and your business. If a “competitor” asks you to connect on LinkedIn, shift your mindset, flip the script, and message them to thank them for connecting. Start a convo—human to human. 

Create. Comment. Connect.

As you find your voice and your people on LinkedIn, keep the three Cs in mind:

1. Create. Start posting on LinkedIn. It’s the quickest way to get your name and ideas out there.

2. Comment. Leave thoughtful comments on other people’s posts. Following the 80/20 rule is a good rule of thumb when you’re starting out—for every post you make, comment on five others. 

3. Connect. Once you start creating your own content and engaging in the LinkedIn community by commenting on posts, start beefing up your connection efforts. People will be more likely to accept your invitations if they look at your profile and see you’re publishing interesting content and engaging with others. 

Your LinkedIn connection strategy doesn’t need to be complicated, but it should be intentional. Concentrate on quality—quality content, interactions, and connections—and that’s the type of business you will ultimately attract. 

Want to  learn more about LinkedIn, personal branding, & social capital?

Boy, have I got a video for you!