After the connections, what next?

This week was probably one of the most blown up weeks of my LinkedIn lifetime. I've always been keen to know why the popular connection request posts received so much patronage. Many influencers, some with over 100,000 followers still engaged with these posts despite their large followings. So I decided to give it a try.

9000+ views and a trending post

To say that it worked would be a gross overstatement. Truly, the results (in my eyes) were overwhelming! I had never in my life on LinkedIn ever seen any of my posts (I admit I was partially to blame due to my inconsistency in posting content) explode like the way they did this week. My two posts reached over 5000 views with over 200 comments! And I literally felt like a happy baby when LinkedIn told me my post was trending. I always thought this was a realm only the LinkedIn 'gods' lived in. And yep, it was a good feeling, though also exhausting (I am still replying comments and accepting connection requests from the first post).

But one particular comment from a connection, Steve Elliot, caught my attention. He wrote: "If you only do the LinkedIn 5-Step, you don't know how to dance." I asked him to explain and he said, 'you have to provide value and good content'. This is nothing new, but it is golden.

You see, it is good to have a large network of connections, but it is better to have a large AND engaged network of connections. What is the essence of having 2 million 'followers' if you are irrelevant to them? In fact, can you really call them followers in that case?

It is better to have 6 connections who know you, engage with you and patronize your services than have 6000 connections who want to have nothing to do with you.

Don't get me wrong. By all means, grow your network. Having a large network will definitely present you with more opportunities. I am a big proponent of that and will continue to be - I've got 6k connections now and am aiming to have 10k followers before the end of the year. But it's useless if I remain another statistic to their connection list. It is better to have 6 connections who know you, engage with you and patronize your services than have 6000 connections who want to have nothing to do with you.

But there's more to establishing the connection. The hard work really begins after they hit 'Accept' to your request. LinkedIn stresses the importance of building quality connections. They are not so much interested in the numbers as they are interested in the value those numbers bring to you and I. That's why you usually get the prompt to add a little introductory note before connecting with some. It's also why they will place a limit on the number of requests you can send each day.

People are on LinkedIn for more than just knowing you. They are there on a mission. In fact, it is the reason they accept your requests in the first place. They want to know what you bring to the table. They are there to feed on relevant content. Some are there beginning their professional careers. Others are in a career transition. Others are looking for help in their businesses. And each of these needs answers. Provide them.

PLAY BY THE RULES, AND WIN

You need to play by the rules of the game if you want to make LinkedIn work for you. You do this by taking the time to private chat with your connections to build meaningful relationships. It is the secret to having any chance of your prospects patronizing your services, or an employer taking a chance on you at all.

CONCLUSION

Post content on your feed that you know will bless others when they see it. When you do that, you are solving their problem, or at least helping them to solve it. Post things that can inspire. Post things that will educate and inform your readers. When you do, they will keep wanting more. What do you think will happen next? Yep, you guessed right! The connections will start flowing in. Now people will take you seriously. They notice the things you say. You just won their trust. Now you can sell yourself without struggle.

So next time you log in to LinkedIn and you're about to send that request, remember that you are on a mission to solve a problem. Be a solution-bringer and the rest will naturally take care of itself.

Let me know what your thoughts are about sending connection requests. Is it merely a glorified spamming technique, or is it actually helpful in creating opportunities? Leave a comment below and let's exchange thoughts.

If you are open to building a meaningful connection or need help on how to, you can also send a connection request to me at Jesse Benjamin Quagraine. Follow my hashtag #JayQ for more relevant content on LinkedIn, personal development, entrepreneurship, and digital marketing.