My Two Cents For Building Meaningful Connections

Of my 1,000+ LinkedIn Connections, I have met less than 300 face-to-face. However, I still feel that I am welcome to reach out to those other 700 or so with questions, comments or a simple note of congratulations or happy birthday. So why did I reach out to these 2nd and 3rd connections in the first place or why did they reach out to me? Because being engaged with only my inner circle cuts me off from other insightful minds, experiences and perspectives. We are all interconnected and if I want to grow professionally and intellectually, I need to tap in to these other sources of information and be open for them to do the same.

Now that I've expressed the why, what about the how? How do you attract your 1st and extended network to build a real connection? (In my opinion and not in any particular order)

#1 Post content that you are genuinely interested in and that can add value to others. Your connections can sense if you're posting (fluff) for the sake of getting a few artificial likes. On the flip side, they can also tell if your material is important and relevant to you through the passion that rises from your words. Make sure you're comments are tasteful, objective and enhance the message of the original content. This will create an alluring effect to your 1st connections and to a broader audience outside of those; enticing them to crave more of what's in your head.

What helped lead me to this conclusion? I asked some of my network and here's what they had to say:

"One of my connections liked one of your posts and I clicked your profile and see that you have good experience and wanted to connect." - JR Frey

"I like the way you think! I invited you to connect because earlier this week I ran across a post between you and Michaela Alexis that caught my eye. I looked into your profile and sharing history and was interested in several of your posts and shares. Great stuff!" - Michelle Brooks

"Your motto "Challenging the status quo one day at a time" caught my eye and I took a look at your profile." - John Vrahnos 

And sometimes it might just be who you're interacting with...

"I saw you chatting with Michaela Alexis. I love her." - Sarah Hartley

"I visited your profile after seeing your post mentioning a mutual connection Michaela Alexis and thought I'd reach out!" - Tanner Kruse

#2 If you invite someone to connect, interact with them. This can almost be a sub point of #1 - add value to others. The lion's share of us on LinkedIn are here to build meaningful connections. Connecting and then never liking, sharing, messaging or in any way engaging that person again is borderline rude. (I'm likely guilty so please feel free to call me out.) At minimum, the following are ideas to start you down the path:

• When inviting someone to connect, especially if you've never met them, at least customize the invite with a hint as to why you're reaching out (again, guilty of not always following this)
• Send a congratulatory message for a promotion or new position. To go one step further include the specific position or other tailored text. Go beyond the standard "Congratulations" LinkedIn already provides
• Send a happy birthday message. Receiving a birthday wishes from my extended network and acquaintances feels good. It also shows it was worth the person's time to hit the say happy birthday link (and this is an instance where nothing more than the auto-generated text will suffice, but feel free to add on that little bit extra)

Continuing to the next level of interaction, let's call it purposeful engagement with your network, reach out to them for advice or to ask questions. I've reached out to more seasoned Project Managers than myself (Ashleigh Waters comes to mind) and asked if they'd review a resume (candidate identifying info removed) of someone I'm to interview for a Senior Project Manager role. The vast majority of my content in #1 came from direct feedback I received from my network by asking them. Reach out, talk, message... communicate. It's what we are here for.

#3 DON'T MAKE THE FIRST INTERACTION A SALES PITCH. (No further explanation needed. Several posts have already been written about this.)

I know this article has almost lasted longer than the 2016 World Series, but hang with me. What about that seemingly random connection invite? Do you accept or decline? Well, instead of reading my perspective, here's the viewpoint from a self-made LinkedIn star, Michaela Alexis.

"When deciding whether to accept a connection request, I don't think of how they could possibly serve me, that's the wrong way to go about it, I think, both online AND offline. It's more important to ask "why does this person want to be a part of my community?". I think a short and sweet message is crucial. Having a friendly, approachable, non blurry profile photo is also important. Lastly, having connections in common certainly helps."

Thanks for reading! I hope my view of building meaningful connections resonated with you. I want to know your thoughts. Please share and I look forward to continuing the discussion.

*Others that provided input, but whose direct comments were not mentioned, but deserve a shout out: Tracey Fraser, Chloe Church, Dylan Dunnan