Growing Your LinkedIn Network

Posted on February 6, 2013 in LinkedIn, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing Services

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When joining LinkedIn what kind of network are you looking for? Some professionals prefer a smaller and more focused network. But what if you’re a recruiter? You don’t want a small network that will restrict you. Instead, a large and more diverse network is what you should be looking for. Some people say quality over quantity, as a recruiter you should be saying: quality and quantity.

Here’s some advice to help increase your network and improve search results.

1.      LinkedIn Open Networker groups – The number one thing you can do to increase your network? Join LinkedIn Open Networker groups. The top four are:

It’s not enough to just be part of the network, you also have to be active on the boards and make your presence felt.

2.      Email – Your email address should be anywhere you can possibly put it that possible contacts will see it, your headline, contact info, and throughout your profile. It’s the friendly wave to your internet neighbors to invite them to connect to you.

 3.      Contacts – You already have a list of contacts, even casual ones, before you even start on LinkedIn. Make sure to invite them to join you on LinkedIn by placing a link in your email signature or sending out invites to all your contacts who haven’t joined LinkedIn yet.

 4.      Groups – Did you know that LinkedIn has a LinkedIn Group Search Engine? You can use it to find the groups that best suit your needs and you can join up to 50!

Some of the benefits of joining a group include: sending messages to other group members for free, discussion boards, job boards, news boards and promotion boards. Any of these boards can be used as a great opportunity to network and link up with other people.

5.      Focus on your needs – Make your profile what you need it to be. Get the message out about what you want and what your goal on LinkedIn is. You may want to connect with people in certain professions or maybe you want to focus on specific industries.

You want to grow your network so make sure that’s clear by placing a message about open invitation on your page.

 6.      SEO – Search Engine Optimization, important for your business and important for your LinkedIn page. Think about the target market that you’re trying to reach and then place the necessary keywords on your page so that it comes up at the top of searches.

Test it to see where you place and then make adjustments. If other people’s profiles are above yours, check out their pages to see what keywords they’re using.

7.      Social Networking – Facebook and Twitter have become an important medium for helping people connect. Use them to help grow your network and make people aware of your presence on LinkedIn.

 8.      Search LinkedIn – There are open networkers all over LinkedIn who want to connect with you. Be bold and send out invitations and you’ll have a large network in no time.

These steps will help you increase your network on LinkedIn and will provide you with the contacts you want. It takes a lot of work to build up a great network but stick with it and you’ll gain valuable connections by increasing your LinkedIn presence and become a greater recruiter because of it.