Linked to Influence

by Stephanie Sammons

  If you are diligent about completing and optimizing your profile for that specific ideal client, it will become a magnet for your business. Your LinkedIn profile truly is the gateway to attracting your ideal clients, building a powerful referral network, driving quality website traffic, and growing your personal influence.

  Now, let’s move on to the next rule and talk about why and how to build a smarter LinkedIn network!

  Chapter 2—RULE #2—Build a Smarter Network

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  Your network is your net worth.

  - John Maxwell

  Have you ever wondered which LinkedIn invitations to accept or decline? Most LinkedIn members struggle with this.

  Your LinkedIn network is one of the most valuable professional assets you can build today. Your LinkedIn network can lead to relationships and opportunities you may have never thought possible. However, if your network consists of random connections, you will probably make things a lot tougher on yourself.

  When you focus on building a smarter network on LinkedIn, the professional relationships and business opportunities you attract will be much more meaningful and relevant.

  Just as I’ve suggested you use precision when building your LinkedIn profile, I want you to think the same way about your network. A smarter LinkedIn network makes LinkedIn smarter about you.

  Wouldn’t you prefer to have your profile viewed by the people you actually want to connect with or work with? Wouldn’t you prefer that LinkedIn show you relevant professionals you should be connecting with? Wouldn’t you like to show up in the results of searches conducted by your ideal clients and referral sources?

  Building a smarter network on LinkedIn creates a more linear path to business success. Simply put, a smarter network allows you to have an impact and build your personal influence with the right people.

  The Three Advantages of a Smarter LinkedIn Network

  When you focus on connecting with the right people on LinkedIn, you increase the probability of attracting the right opportunities to your business. Additionally, if you know whom you are connected with on LinkedIn, you will better understand what they value and know what to share.

  An intelligent network on LinkedIn can be a gold mine. A random network, no matter how big or small, will dilute your success.

  Here are the three main advantages of building a smart LinkedIn network:

  • Advantage #1: Once you connect with someone and accept them into your LinkedIn network, you have the opportunity to stay consistently visible and valuable to them. Out of network = out of sight = out of mind. In network = interest.

  • Advantage #2: When you make a new connection on LinkedIn, you gain the privilege of going one-to-one with that person through LinkedIn messaging. That means you can start private conversations with important people.

  • Advantage #3: Making smarter connections on LinkedIn will give you exposure to more relevant connections at the 2nd- and 3rd-degree network levels. The strategy automatically builds upon itself.

  Building a smarter network on LinkedIn will cut your workload in half when it comes to finding and attracting business opportunities. Your network will end up doing the work for you.

  The LinkedIn Network Effect

  One of the most powerful aspects of LinkedIn is the network effect. Your LinkedIn network stretches far beyond your 1st-degree connections. Even though your 1st-degree connections are going to see more of your LinkedIn activities, you have the potential to reach your 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections.

  If a 1st-degree connection engages with one of your status updates, for example, their connections (your 2nd-degree network) have the potential to see the update and conversation. Let’s take it a step further. If one of your 2nd-degree connections engages with your post, their connections have the potential to see the conversation (your 3rd-degree connections).

  It is literally possible for something you post on LinkedIn to gain visibility with your 3rd-degree network. This is the power of the LinkedIn network effect. Your reach can be expanded by three degrees! If you have one hundred connections and I have one hundred connections, between us we have ten thousand potential connections, not just two hundred.

  We don’t discover people randomly on social networks. Most often, we discover interesting new people to connect with through our existing network. Think about people you have been exposed to online who have influenced you. You can most likely trace that discovery back to someone within your existing network. This is due to the power of social sharing and the fact that we trust what the members of our networks endorse!

  I have found a life-changing business coach, website designer, lawyer, and bookkeeper all through my LinkedIn network. The same can happen for you as members of your network share or promote your work with their connections. This is why it is so important to create meaningful and relevant content on a consistent basis.

  The smarter and more relevant your LinkedIn network, the more powerful the LinkedIn network effect.

  Who You Know Still Matters

  According to Nielsen, 92 percent of people trust recommendations from friends and family.

  I touched on the power and ease of social network referrals in a previous chapter (Rule #1). If you want to earn referrals from your existing clients, customers, partners, and advocates of your business, get connected with these individuals on LinkedIn. Replicate your offline network, online.

  Start with the network you already have and build on that foundation with LinkedIn. By connecting with your important existing contacts, you will also be able to consistently reinforce those relationships in new ways.

  Your existing contacts can play a significant role in growing your personal influence on LinkedIn. They will be some of your biggest advocates. They will engage with you. They will promote your content. They will lead you to people who are just like them, and they will refer your clients.

  Build a “Right-Sized” LinkedIn Network

  More connections on LinkedIn will not equal greater success. At one point in my LinkedIn journey, I believed just the opposite of this and ended up learning the hard way. Because of that false belief, I still have to prune my network constantly to clean it up and improve the quality.

  Rob Cross is a University of Virginia professor for the McIntire School of Commerce.1 Through his research, Cross has studied networks of high performers across a wide range of organizations and found that having a large network was not a reason for success. Cross concluded, “There is a negative statistically significant likelihood of being a top performer and knowing a lot of people.”

  The quantity of LinkedIn connections you have is only as valuable as the relevancy and depth of each of those connections. When you grow your network with relevant connections and go deeper with the important few, you attract more of the same.

  As a reference point, most LinkedIn users have between 500–999 connections and less than 20 percent of users have more than one thousand connections.2 LinkedIn stops showing how many connections you have beyond five hundred. I do think it is important to get to the five hundred mark (as long as you are making quality connections). That number does carry some social proof with your LinkedIn presence.

  The Power of an Open Network

  Ron Burt, a leading network scientist from the University of Chicago, studies how our networks affect our careers and businesses. His groundbreaking research revealed that people who have an open network are significantly more successful than those who have a closed network, and being in an open network is an extremely strong predictor of business or career success.3

  According to Burt’s network science work, we don’t just have one giant network. Instead, we develop network clusters. A network cluster represents a group of connections who share something in common, such as location, industry, school, values, beliefs, interests, and other psychographic qualities.

  An open network consists of multiple network clusters. The ability to cross connect between network clusters is what l
eads to greater networking success. When we build and participate in an open network, we gain exposure to new ideas, people, and economic opportunities.

  Having a single network cluster would represent a closed network. Within a closed network, we tend to fall into groupthink. Closed networks reaffirm what we already believe. The same ideas are constantly regurgitated.

  Burt’s research concluded that being a part of an open network is an extremely strong predictor of career (or business) success. High performers tend to have open networks.

  When you think about growing a strategic LinkedIn network, think about connecting with people across the multiple network clusters you belong to. These clusters also represent your unique market opportunities, which I will cover in more detail later in this chapter.

  Some examples of closed networks include millennials and baby boomers, or Democrats and Republicans. Imagine cross connecting people and ideas between these network clusters. It would probably be challenging. Burt’s research showed significant promise for people who have the ability to “broker” ideas and relationships between their network clusters.

  I personally have two prominent industry network clusters, financial services and digital business and marketing. The conversations, ideas, and experiences differ within each of these clusters. However, I’m able to take a concept from one network and make it applicable to the other. For example, I can teach financial advisors the digital marketing strategies that I know would work well for them because I understand their business model.

  When you start viewing your LinkedIn network as an open network with multiple clusters, it will open up new opportunities for cross connecting people and ideas. Being an open networker can also help you grow your influence within each of the network clusters you belong to. Being an open networker is a competitive advantage.

  Understanding and Leveraging LinkedIn’s Social Graph

  LinkedIn has redefined the six degrees of separation through its professional social graph, and it just keeps getting better.

  Because of all of the member data LinkedIn has collected from its almost four hundred million members, they are able to map out who we are connected to and how we are connected.

  For example, LinkedIn knows our common connections with others, our common educational and work experience, common locations, members we are similar to, members we share skills and expertise with, members we share interests with, members we share groups with, and more.

  This “people intelligence” is incredibly valuable, and as a LinkedIn member, you get access to much of this data! (Premium LinkedIn members get more access.)

  When you view profiles of your 1st-degree connections, 2nd-degree connections, and mutual group members, you can see the following information (profiles of 3rd-degree connections you don’t share any groups with are only visible with certain premium-level accounts):

  • How you are connected (connections in common)

  • Common groups, education, location, skills, and expertise

  • People also viewed (other profiles that were viewed)

  • People similar to the person you are viewing

  LinkedIn is leaving you a trail of breadcrumbs to help you discover relevant people to connect with. Pay attention to these clues!

  When you can see the shared connections and professional points of overlap with the members in your extended LinkedIn network, you can leverage this information to expand your 1st-degree network more intelligently.

  LinkedIn is constantly helping you build a smarter network. Your job is to pay attention to the data and do your research!

  LinkedIn “New Connection” Etiquette

  My number one rule of thumb for making new connections on LinkedIn is to send personalized invitations whenever possible. Unfortunately, this is getting tougher to do. Even when you have the best of intentions, you may end up sending a generic invitation.

  Sending personalized invitations to the people you want to connect with gives you a few major advantages. Your personalized invitations will stand out, build rapport, and achieve higher acceptance rates.

  If you want to connect with someone on LinkedIn but do not meet LinkedIn’s requirements to send a personalized invitation (colleague, classmate, have done business together, friend), you will need to have an e-mail address for the person you wish to connect with. I’ll talk more about how to connect with people you don’t know later in this chapter.

  Be aware that there are numerous instances where you can click a “connect” button on LinkedIn and unintentionally bypass the personalized invitation screen. This will result in sending a generic invitation. When you don’t meet any of LinkedIn’s requirements for sending personalized invitations, either you won’t be able to send an invitation at all or you will send a generic invitation when you click that “connect” button.

  The one positive of a generic invitation, if there is one, is that the recipient will still be able to see your picture and your LinkedIn headline summary. If your headline summary is highly relevant, they will likely view your profile. If your profile is impressive, they will likely accept your generic invitation.

  If you do send a generic invitation and it is accepted, quickly send a follow-up thank-you message and explain why you sent the invitation. Also, explain that you were not able to customize the invitation. This usually works very well!

  Another strategy is to consider sending an introductory InMail message first if you are unable to send a personalized invitation to someone you wish to connect with. InMails are paid messages that can be sent to anyone on LinkedIn. They are accessible through premium LinkedIn accounts. I’ll talk more about how to utilize InMails later in the chapter.

  Premium account members on LinkedIn can choose to indicate that they have an “open profile.” If you have the open profile feature enabled, anyone can send you a message and view your profile, even if they are not part of your 1st-degree network. You would have the same access to anyone on LinkedIn with an open profile whether you have a premium or free LinkedIn account.

  Having an open profile will give you more visibility on LinkedIn. Just be aware that you eventually may start receiving messages from people you don’t know, some of which will be solicitations.

  Send Personalized Thank-Yous to New Connections

  The best time to build rapport with someone is right after you have connected with them on LinkedIn. Sending a personalized thank-you message is the perfect way to do this. It’s also a great way for a new connection to learn more about you.

  To save time, you can create a thank-you script to copy and paste into your messages. You can customize around your scripted message, which I do recommend.

  In your message, thank the person for connecting with you. Consider asking questions that build rapport such as, “What type of clients do you work with?” This is a great way to determine who you can introduce them to from your network.

  Create an e-mail signature for your thank-you message that includes a link to your website. I’ve seen excellent response rates with these thank-you messages!

  Thank-you messages are an effective way to stand out and become more memorable to the new connections you make on LinkedIn.

  Import Your Existing Contacts into LinkedIn (and Make LinkedIn Smarter About You)

  I have a Nest thermostat in my home. When it was first installed, it worked like any other thermostat because it didn’t understand my preferences and behaviors. There was nothing smart about it.

  After the first few weeks, my Nest thermostat became brilliant! It knew when to turn the heat or air on and off at my preferred times and temperatures.

  LinkedIn works in this way when it comes to collecting data about us. The more data you provide to LinkedIn about who you are, who your contacts are, and what you care about, the more relevant and meaningful your experience is going to be.

  A great way to jump-start your smart network building is to import your existing contacts into LinkedIn (don’t worry, you can export
your data at any time). The easiest way to do this is to connect your e-mail account with LinkedIn.

  When you do this, LinkedIn will go through your contact list and show you whether or not you are connected with each contact on LinkedIn. You will make LinkedIn smarter about your existing network. This was something I talked about earlier in this chapter. Your existing contacts matter.

  LinkedIn will also sync your contacts on an ongoing basis after the initial import as long as you connect your primary e-mail provider. This comes in handy for new contacts you collect outside of LinkedIn.

  (Keep in mind that LinkedIn will also have access to your e-mail communications and your calendar if you choose these options.)

  Once you sync your existing contacts with LinkedIn, you will be able to go through them one-by-one and send personalized invitations to anyone you are not already connected to.

  Although this can be time consuming if you have a sizable e-mail list, it is very worthwhile. I suggest going through a few contacts each day until you get through the list.

  Warning! Make sure not to send a generic invitation to all of these contacts at one time. Skip this option if it is offered by LinkedIn. It does not work well, especially if any of your contacts are unfamiliar with LinkedIn.