3 LinkedIn Doors - Part 1

If you missed my last newsletter, let me fill you in. This particular blog series is going to focus on relating the LinkedIn environment to the real world environment, with tips and strategies along the way. The goal is to demonstrate LinkedIn in real world scenarios to help you gain an understanding of what behavior looks like in the LinkedIn environment as if they were actually real world scenarios.

Starting at the beginning is a good place to start! As with the real professional world, your LinkedIn world should have a focus on building your network responsibly and purposefully. Too often, we make a distinction between these two networks (your LinkedIn network versus your IRL network), when really it would be most effective to use LinkedIn as an extension of your network IRL (In Real Life). We will get to the topic of networking soon enough, but today we will focus on what it means to build a network on LinkedIn (and off!).

There are a number of theories floating around out there regarding how to build a network on LinkedIn. None are necessarily wrong, but how you go about building your network should depend heavily on why you are on LinkedIn in the first place. Sound familiar? IRL, don't you build your network specifically based on your reason for networking?

"Your network is your net worth!"

Technology accelerates networking. Social media is a big part of that, especially when leveraging the largest professional platform in the world (LinkedIn obviously) as a 24/7 networking site.

"It's not what you know, rather who you know that matters."

There is quite a bit of truth to that quote. Having the right network can help you land that next job, or fill your pipeline, find that next speaking engagement, meet a future business partner, or open doors to opportunitites that you would not have otherwise had presented were it not for networking. That is true whether you use LinkedIn to help cultivate your network or not.

I will use my self as an example. I was late to the networking scene. I didn't start networking until 9 or 10 years ago. I didn't know a lot of people nor did I know how to network effectively... and it showed. I'm an "all-in" kinda gal so when it was suggested to me that I start networking, I joined everything - Chambers, Associations, special interest groups, groups for consulants, industry groups, groups for women, referral networking groups, and so on.

For 6 months I was notworking (that's right - notworking versus networking) at 14 events per week including 5 morning, 5 afternoon, and 4 evenings every single week. For 6 months I ran around collecting as many business cards as I could, handing out as many as people would take, "cold calling" in the networking room by focusing on quantity rather than quality. I had shoe boxes full of business cards stacked up everywhere.

I took this approach IRL and also on LinkedIn. Being new to social media, I listened to what everyone was saying and started accepting every connection request that came my way. It was truly a "quantity game" and not a quality game. I don't know why I thought it would work on LinkedIn, especially since it wasn't working IRL.

Can you guess where I ended up 6 months later? Nowhere. I had spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on networking and had very little to show for it. I had dozens of shoe boxes with business cards that may as well have been blank and thousands of connections on LinkedIn that had a currency equivalency that mirrired those blank business cards. I had no network IRL or on LinkedIn. My net worth was a big fat zero.

A handful of my professional contacts helped me understand that networking was about focusing out, not in. I was making it all about me. I changed my outlook and approach, then I changed the way I networked by leveraging the few contacts that I had met over these 6 months by integrating LinkedIn into my real life networking. I started networking much more intentionally and with total focus and purpose. I was now building my network the right way, both IRL and on LinkedIn, as an extension of each otehr.

Over the next 6 months, I met with over 500 of my direct decision makers, potential channel and referral partners, industry thought leaders and the like. What a difference in networking results! Over the next couple of years, networking changed my world. Because of the shift I made in my approach, both IRL and on LinkedIn, I was given opportunities that I had never even realized I wanted. Within a year I had become an Entrepreneur, International Keynote Speaker, Published Author, Contributing Blogger, Adjunct Professor, and valued member of many networks locally, regionally & nationally. Without realizing it, I had become a big fish in a little pond, then another little pond, then another... business was booming and with the network I was building, I never wanted for anything. What I continue to work those same processes today, and still see the same results. (Stay tuned for the next newsletter where I will share this strategy and others around networking IRL while leveraging LinkedIn to be more intentional!)

So - what does "3 Doors" have to do with this story?

When thinking about how to build your network on Linkedin, think about what networking room you would want to walk into IRL (In Real Life). Imagine you are asked to stand in front of 3 doors and choose which door to walk through. You only get to choose 1 door.

• Behind door #1 is a room full of random people that you likely do not really know, and likely do not know you.
• Behind door #2 is a room full of all of the people that know, love, and trust you and vice versa. You know every single person in that room and every single person knows you.
• Behind door #3 is a room that is more than half full of people you know, love, and trust already plus people you would like to know love and trust as the relationships develop. Potential clients, partners, hiring managers, and the like are all mingling with a network of people that love and respect you already.

Answers will vary here, but professionals that sell, market & network; and professionals in career transition would likely walk through door #3. I know I would!

There's an 80/20 for everything, isn't there? I call this particular method the 80/20 rule in building a network, both IRL and on LinkedIn. 80/20 means that you know 80% of your network and are working toward knowing the other 20%. Depending on where you stand from an "influence perspective", that ratio may be 70/30 or 60/40 but the idea is that you are working toward building those specific relationships and turning them into meaningful connections.

So, how do you go about build that network on LinkedIn? There are a number of ways.

First, start connecting with your trusted network. Bring them into the vitual environment and leverage that environment. Check out my video tips on sending custom connection requests on LinkedIn:

With that in mind you want to qualify the people reaching out to you with connection requests on LinkedIn. It's all about opening the dialogue. You have every right to build a purposeful, intentional network on LinkedIn and off LinkedIn. It's your decision whether you bring certain people into your ecosystem. That gives you the permission to ask people why they are interested in networking with you on LinkedIn. You can do that without actually accpeting the connection request with the "repy without accepting" functionality:

AND this prompts you to open the dialogue to potential opportunities down the road. Too often, we connect then forget. The goal is to cultivate these relationships on LinkedIn and that means that you need to talk to people!

Another great source of people that you should consider connecting with on LinkedIn are the people that populate on "Who's ViewedYour Profile". Most of these folks have landed on your profile for a reason. Think of this as a GPS system, where they have entered certain information in the search in order to find you, then landed on your door step.

If I showed up on your doorstep and knocked on your door, what would you do IRL? Would you stare at me then ignore me? Or would you greet me and ask how you can help me? If it's the former, don't watch the video below!

There is also the ability to upload .csv files of contacts and pull in your email databases, which is a fast way to do things, but you cannot send custom messaging with that process. However, these people likley already know you, which is why they are in your email database to begin with! This breaks my rule of always sending a note so I see this as a "break glass in case of emergency" situtation. If you need to get connected to the right network quickly, you might consider this option, then follow up with a note once they have accepted.

There is a limit of 100 connection requests per week, so get moving! Having the right network at your fingertips is a game changer for your content, and subsequently, your pipeline. You can have the best content in the world, but if you put it in front of the wrong audience, it will go nowhere. It's like the tree that falls in the woods with nobody around to hear it. But that, my friends, is a story for another time.

I'd love to hear how you are building your network on LinkedIn, or perhaps how you think you may change your approach (or not!) after reading this newsletter. Place your comments below and tag a friend that could use the help! Feel free to reach out with questions at any time - my contact info is all on my LinkedIn profile!