Welcome back to the WinBusinessIn podcast and to episode 16.
In this week’s episode I began by recapping some of the subjects that we have covered so far in season one.
Episode five – profile pictures with John Cassidy
Episode six – effective LinkedIn profile headlines
Episode seven – An interview with a florist
Episode eight – personal branding with Jennifer Holloway
Episode 10 – premium accounts with Jo Saunders
Episode 11 – LinkedIn recommendations
Episode 12 – time management with Clare Evans
Episode 13 – LinkedIn activity (outdoors!)
Episode 14 – an introduction to social selling
Episode 15 – social selling with Tim Hughes
This week I concentrate on building your LinkedIn network
Is it about quality or quantity?
Network size is important, there is no getting away from that but in my opinion there is no need to adopt the LinkedIn LION philosophy of connecting with anyone and everyone.
LinkedIn LIONs are open networkers (LI = LinkedIn, O = open, N = networkers), this is an unofficial and disapproved (by LinkedIn) connection strategy invented in the early days of LinkedIn. If you see a profile with the term LION or “open network” or “all invites welcome” then this means that you can invite that person to connect safe in the knowledge that they will accept.
A LION’s aim is to grow the largest network they can.
On the other side of the debate stand LinkedIn themselves who strongly recommend only connecting with people that you already know and trust.
Mark Granovetter
My view is that an effective network sits between the two extremes of this argument. This belief is built upon a sociology theory called “the strength of weak ties” by Mark Granovetter
I was first made aware of the strength of weak ties from an excellent book by Malcolm Gladwell called The Tipping Point
I am convinced that those LinkedIn users that take the time to expand their social capital by connecting with relevant people that they do not know will achieve a higher level of success.
My four steps to building a successful network are as follows;
- People you know well.
- Prospects.
- Intermediaries & referrers.
- People that are likely to be connected to prospects.
By having a clear strategy and building a network with intention you will find your chances of success with LinkedIn are much improved.
This is the theory of building a network but the practical “how to” is a different matter that we will get onto in future episodes.
If you have any comments or questions about this subject please leave a voicemail (link on the right edge of this page) or drop me an email at info@winbusinessin.com
Thank you for your time and attention is always and I look forward to catching up with you again next week.
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