Put your LinkedIn network to work!

LinkedIn is a professional social network of over 630 million members, growing at a rate of 2 people per second! Crucially, LinkedIn is a place where you can manage your professional identity!

In my role as Senior Customer Success Manager at LinkedIn I meet thousands of our members every year. I'm often asked the following:

1. What's the optimum number of connections on LinkedIn?
2. Who should I connect with to advance my career?
3. How can I make my network work for me?
4. What do I say when I connect with someone?
5. Why is LinkedIn turning into Facebook with people posting rubbish?!

The good news is that all of the above is very easily answered. Ultimately, you create your own picture on LinkedIn. Use it a lot and connect with many people and you're exposed to a variety of individuals doing a variety of (interesting) things.

What happens however if you look at LinkedIn as a strategic tool rather than a social network - i.e. connect with like-minded people, individuals and peers within your marketplace and follow companies you aspire to work for - exposing you to crucial market intelligence you can use to your advantage? This is where looking at LinkedIn as a tool to enable you to be more productive and successful usurps the idea that LinkedIn is solely somewhere to land during lunch or to chat with (ex)colleagues.

So to address the above a little more directly:

1. What is the optimum number of connections? There is no optimum number of connections. Your network is curated by YOU! Curate a network that will add value to your career. Look at LinkedIn as somewhere to manage your professional identity. Instead of looking at it as 'who do I want to connect with?', perhaps consider 'who do I want to see me?'. Connect with those individuals. Be mindful that everyone you connect with will see your posts and vice versa.
2. Who should I connect with? Think 6-12-18-36 months ahead. What's your next move in the chess game of careers? If you can identify that, try and understand what skills gaps you have that you need to make that next move. Connect with people that have those skills and follow companies that operate in those markets. Information is power - expose yourself to valuable swathes of it! This is not in lieu of creating opportunities to gain experience in these areas. Also, look at the job descriptions of the roles you aspire to be in. How many of the skills / requirements can you tick off? For those you can't, there's your opportunity to develop.
3. How can I make my network work for me? Treat your network as a digital Bonsai tree! Grow it, nurture it, trim it and develop it. Your network is, to use another analogy, a biological culture! No network should be static if you want it to work for you. At different phases in your career you will have different needs. Your network can be leveraged to help you springboard into the next phase of your career. Connecting with peers - whether in your business or within competitors exposes you to chatter and discussion that may constitute market intelligence. So, as you move into new phases of your career consider the delta between what your network offers you now and what it needs to offer you. If you need more insight into 'XYZ' industry then connect with people and start following companies within that industry. If you need to gain 'XYZ' experience before you can progress, then network with people who have those skills. Once you develop a network that's aware of you and respects you, opportunities tend to be inbound.
4. What do I say when I connect with someone? Always, always, always add a note to your connection request if you've not met with someone personally. If you want to learn from someone, be transparent about that if you feel comfortable. If you want to understand more about someone's work, be open about that. If they don't want or can't offer you that, they'll say. Move onto the next person. I don't advocate ploughing your way through the LinkedIn network but being open and honest about your motives allows more room for social interaction and meetings. LinkedIn's #1 pillar is member's first and any of my clients will testify that I major on this very heavily. I want your experience on the platform to be as positive as the experience of the person you're about to connect with. Make that first impression count!
5. Why is LinkedIn turning into Facebook with people posting rubbish?! I have a very short answer to this and my clients will know I say it as I see it: what you see in your newsfeed is down to you! If you're seeing sh*t in your newsfeed then it's because you are connected to people who are producing sh*t! Remove those connections that add no value! Make your network work for you! (Cue the loads of people disconnecting with me!) The less people you have in your network talking sh*t the less your newsfeed will contain it and the more likely it will contain useful, value-add information. 630 million members are 630 million human beings and human beings have the potential to talk and write drivel - just read the news at times!

In summary, LinkedIn has incredible potential for every member who has a profile - I wholeheartedly believe that and can verify it now I've worked within the company for ~3 years. We exist as a platform to help every member of the global workforce be as productive and successful as they can be. This starts with developing a network that works for you. Get your secateurs out and trim your Bonsai!

Do you have any additional questions you'd like to ask?