Networking on LinkedIn My Way

I enjoy using LinkedIn. Even using the free platform, I have benefited greatly from it. I have engaged with a new referral partner who lives in Canada. I have gotten coaching clients that are located in Oklahoma, Chicago, California, and New York. I have also developed a relationship with someone from an organization that has hired me (and paid me!) five different times to speak at five different events.

While in the eyes of some I may not be doing LinkedIn “right,” the way I am doing it is certainly working for me.

First, I see LinkedIn as one big, global networking event. There are millions of people at this event, but I can’t get to know them all, so I have created my own offshoot event. That is my personal account. I don’t yet know all the connections in my account, and that is okay with me. We are connected, and that is the first step.

In real life, I have put on networking events offline where I did not meet each person individually. Most of the people at the event did know who I was and that I was the event organizer. However, I built awareness.

During my in-person networking events, I do not stand at the entrance deciding who can and who can’t enter. All are welcome. Once someone behaves inappropriately (which has happened on occasion), they are no longer welcome; I make sure not to invite them to future events. I use LinkedIn much the same way.

You don’t have to include an introduction note when you first connect with me on LinkedIn. It is nice if you do, but it’s not a requirement for me. Now that being said, if after we have connected you immediately send me a multi-paragraph sales pitch, you are toast. Gone. Disconnected!

Also, if your LinkedIn profile has no picture, is mostly in a foreign language, or has almost zero content when you make the connection request, I will dismiss it. I accept most people, but not everybody. This is where I am a bit different when it comes to online networking vs offline networking. There are too many villains out there trolling social media these days. We do have to be careful! (Although, I probably wouldn’t allow someone wearing a faceless mask to come into one of my live events either. That would just be too creepy.)

Here’s why I am open to most connections: I don’t know who you know. When I post an article, a quote, or a picture on LinkedIn, someone I have never met on the other side of the country may see it and share it with their boss, who happens to hire speakers for the company. (This has happened for me before.) Someone may see an online promotion for my coaching program and hire me. (That has happened multiple times.)

Folks I have never met, never engaged with, never even said hello to, have sent me a connection request based on seeing something I had posted in a GROUP. I accepted the request, and they began to follow me. That is how you build a following.

Imagine if Tony Robbins tried to say who could and who couldn’t follow him. That would be CRAZY!!!

If you want to build a following, you must be open to connections with people you don’t know. Yes, some will be annoying. Some may even be obnoxious. Those will be rare. The majority will actually be silent. And the ones that do engage will be your audience. Some of your audience will move in and out on their own, self-eliminating, and that is okay.

Do LinkedIn the way you feel it works for you. Don’t worry if it’s the “right” or “wrong” way. Do it your way. My way is that I use the platform as an information sharing tool to reach the largest number of people possible. Some eventually become personal connections that I will have online conversations with for years. Most do not. But they know who I am, and they know where to find me.

My number of LinkedIn connections is nowhere near the number of people I want to be connected to. And that’s fine. I am happily awaiting their connection requests.