How to Network and Build Relationship on LinkedIn

My strongest LinkedIn relationship and networks started off outside LinkedIn.

There is a lot of posts and comments on this topic here on LinkedIn. And it gets really puzzling and annoying when we can't just seem to figure a way to network and build valuable relationships with those we want to connect with.

After some years of experience using LinkedIn, I think I can finally?contribute to this conversation what I have learnt. Hopefully (if you are reading this right now), you find it useful.

?As I mentioned at the beginning, my strongest LinkedIn connections started off outside LinkedIn.

Let's be honest, it is difficult sending message to someone directly here on LinkedIn without an undercurrent of "a request" tingling it. Somehow, your harmless "hello" or "hi" foreshadows a future request you want to make.?

I know we send the "hello" so we hide that fact that it is indeed a request we want to make. But who are we deceiving? The person we are sending this message to already knows too!?

They can still see through it. It is lame.

And like it is said, "people want to network, they don't want to feel used".?

And that make them feel used no matter what.?

So hence the result of most direct messages we send: silence.

And there is the root cause (mental model) for why we can't make connections via LinkedIn successful: she/he needs me, that's why she/he is messaging.

But this is different off LinkedIn.

When you meet someone off LinkedIn, say via a slack community, a webinar ( I have met people via webinars mostly through a question I asked and they offered to answer them when the host didn't have time), or community, or a mentorship platform (that's where most of my recent network is coming from), the conversation kicks off based off a different orientation.?

There is a different mindset (mental model) attached.?

?And when you bring the conversation down to LinkedIn, you resume with the mindset from where the conversation kindled off from, so the conversation continues and you are able to bypass that mental model that is here on LinkedIn.

Also, posts could be a source of networking too. If someone replies your posts, and you think you will like to connect with them.

Thanking them for their response and asking if you could connect with them helps. That's another way to bypass that mental model.

This also just made me realize that real connections are built in social gatherings/parties—every time. It is not strange to hear people say they are attending a social event because they want to network.

Webinars, LinkedIn posts, and communities are just the digital form or online form of physical social gatherings.

And like in social gatherings, if you do get to connect with someone, you begin the conversation with something different. Which would then serve as a soft land when you do bring the conversation over to LinkedIn.

For instance, mentorship platform have been potent for me in connecting with developers. The one hours long conversation we have sets an orientation, which provides a soft land when I connect with them on LinkedIn.?

When I do message them, they mostly reply. Which is because we already had a conversation beforehand, so there was somewhere to begin a conversation without it seeming I want to use them.

Same goes for connection I made off Writethedocs slack community (like my mentor), and webinars. So start attending lots of digital parties and gatherings!