How to Network on LinkedIn Like a Pro

Tips for successful networking on LinkedIn

As with any business-related social media presence, using LinkedIn comprehensively is crucial. It’s not enough to create a profile and wait for suitable contacts to find you. Here’s how to make the most of your LinkedIn presence.

1. Make your LinkedIn profile stand out.

A good first impression is critical when networking in person; the same holds true for online networking. Before you start networking on LinkedIn, complete and optimize your profile. Be sure to address the following:

• Add a LinkedIn profile photo. Don’t underestimate your profile photo’s importance. LinkedIn profiles with professional-looking headshots get more views and interactions. If you don’t have access to a professional photographer, use a smartphone to take your photo using a professional background and wearing suitable attire. The ideal size for a LinkedIn profile photo is 400 x 400 pixels.
• Include a headline in your LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile is like your resume, so you want it to look as professional as possible. This includes adding an effective headline that lets others know exactly what you do and your areas of specialization. Along with your profile photo, your headline is the first thing others see when landing on your page. Make it attention-grabbing so it connects to your target audience.
• Complete your LinkedIn profile summary. Your LinkedIn summary highlights your personal brand — what you do well and how you can benefit potential clients or employers. Although summaries can be up to 2,000 characters, keep this section brief and easy to skim. Use keywords to help professionals and recruiters in your industry find you. For example, if you use the keyword “content marketer” in your summary and another user on LinkedIn searches that term, you’re more likely to appear in their search results. They’re more likely to connect with or consider you for their content marketing needs.
• Add your experience to your LinkedIn profile. Although it’s tempting to regurgitate your resume in this section, LinkedIn lets you be more creative. Only include experience relevant to your business or projected career path. Add a few bulleted sentences for each experience, highlighting your achievements with action words.
• Add recommendations and endorsements to your LinkedIn profile. You can showcase recommendations on your profile. Recommendations are like professional job references. Ask colleagues, bosses, clients or other individuals you’ve had good professional relationships with to write recommendations highlighting your proficiencies. Glowing recommendations add to your credibility and authority. The more endorsements you have, the more credible you look to people viewing your profile.

2. Connect with people and personalize connection requests on LinkedIn.

After completing your impressive LinkedIn profile, it’s time to connect with other users. Having over 500 LinkedIn connections helps you appear established in your industry. However, don’t add connections mindlessly. Connect with people in your industry you could see yourself working with in the future or who could provide you with valuable insights about your business or career.

Always include a personalized note when sending a connection request — avoid using a generic LinkedIn invitation. A quick message introducing yourself or explaining why you wish to connect will help you establish a relationship with your new connection. This way, you won’t come across like you’re on a random adding spree to bump up your numbers.

3. Interact with your connections on LinkedIn.

Once your requests are accepted, you must start building relationships. As with social media marketing, it’s essential to comment on your connections’ posts, like and share their content and periodically send them messages to see how they’re doing. When a connection comments on or shares your post, writes you a recommendation or makes an introduction, send them a message thanking them. Try to respond to all messages you receive through the platform. Networking is about creating relationships. If you’re a silent LinkedIn connection, your relationships will never grow.

4. Post engaging content on LinkedIn.

Posting content on LinkedIn is part of your digital marketing strategy. Establishing your industry position and professional knowledge is key, so posting interesting and educational content is essential. Sharing a great article you’ve read recently is a good start. However, to make valuable connections and represent yourself as a talented thought leader in your industry, craft your own engaging articles on LinkedIn.

Publishing an article on LinkedIn lets you share your expertise with your connections and help more users find you on the platform. Use hashtags in your post when publishing your article to attract the type of people you want to engage with to grow your professional network. Networking is a breeze on LinkedIn when you establish your voice, and the comment section of your articles is a great place to start a conversation.

Consider the type of content you share carefully. Posts that entertain, inspire, teach or tell a story tend to get the most user interaction. Consider using a mix of content to reach your target audience.

5. Join LinkedIn groups to enhance networking.

Join LinkedIn groups related to your industry to get noticed and make meaningful connections. If you join several active groups, thousands of people in your industry could potentially see your profile and connect with you.

You must interact with any LinkedIn groups you join for this strategy to be effective. Participate in discussions, answer questions that showcase your expertise and share relevant content. Groups are about community — not all about you. Focus on being a valuable group member instead of selling yourself. You want other members to notice you without being annoyed by you.

6. Use LinkedIn to reinforce offline commonalities and vice versa.

While some people on LinkedIn will accept nearly any connection request (these are designated as LIONS, which stands for LinkedIn Open Networker), others are more wary. If someone is in your extended network — second- or third-level connections — you can see at least part of their profile. Use this information to assess whether you have anything in common. For example, maybe you attended the same school, worked for the same company or are members of the same LinkedIn group. Mention any commonalities in your connection request. If you have nothing in common, you can comment positively on one of their recent posts.

Similarly, if you meet someone at a trade show and want to reinforce the relationship by connecting on LinkedIn, mention that you met and reference the name of the trade show and when it was held. 

7. Invite LinkedIn connections to connect further.

While it’s great to include links to your original LinkedIn thought leadership articles, ultimately, you want contacts to visit your website, whether they’re a potential client, partner, vendor or another connection type. Consider sending contacts a link to your blog to get to know you and your company better. If a client relationship has progressed down the sales funnel, send them to a product page or your website’s About page. If you have an email newsletter, invite contacts to subscribe by sending them a link to its sign-up page.

Take relationships a step further by inviting contacts to meet you in person. For example, if you plan to attend a public event, like exhibiting at a trade show or giving a speech at an industry association, send individual invitations on LinkedIn to relevant contacts. If a contact is seriously considering purchasing from you, offer them a tour of your facility or do a product demonstration.

Mistakes to avoid when networking on LinkedIn

Stay mindful of the following common LinkedIn mistakes to avoid alienating potential contacts.

• Sending an invitation to connect with no note: Although you can invite someone to connect with you on LinkedIn without including a message, this strategy will drastically reduce the number of people who accept your request. People want to know why they should connect with you; when you don’t give them a reason, they’ll usually ignore your invitation.
• Sending an invitation to connect with a very general note: Sending a generic connection message is almost as bad as sending no message at all. A generic message appears lazy and doesn’t provide any compelling reason for the recipient to agree to connect with you.
• Inviting people to connect with whom you have nothing in common: Even if someone accepts your request, a lack of common ground makes the connection less valuable and could be perceived as spam.
• Using a hard sell immediately: Even if someone you connect with is a possible sales lead, it’s essential to take the relationship slowly and build trust. Don Martelli, CEO and founder of The PR Bunker, emphasized the importance of forming genuine connections on Linked In. “It seems like 90 percent of the people using LinkedIn these days are begging for jobs or slamming a sales pitch down your throat,” Martelli noted. “All human elements of networking have been replaced by shameless plugs, blind pitches and zero effort to build relationships. It’s time to take LinkedIn back and make it human again.”
• Neglecting to respond to a comment on your post: Engaging your audience on social media is crucial, and this is especially important on LinkedIn. When someone comments on your post, be sure to respond with the answer to their question, a comment or a simple thank you. Otherwise, you risk insulting them and fail to capitalize on the engagement. 
• Lurking instead of connecting with potential contacts: If an interesting potential contact posts compelling content, don’t just lurk. Take the opportunity to engage by commenting on and sharing their posts. You’ll gain their attention, spread interesting information, and make them more likely to join your network. “Simply being present isn’t enough,” cautioned Jason Mudd, managing partner and CEO at Axia Public Relations. “Failing to interact with others’ posts or responding to comments and messages makes your profile less impactful.”
• Being boring: While LinkedIn is a professional social platform, boring posts and comments will get ignored. Don’t state the obvious or post generic-sounding feedback. Instead, cultivate a warm tone, sprinkle in a little humor when appropriate, and don’t be afraid to post non-business content that speaks to your values.
• Adding a connection without following up: When someone accepts your invitation, you have a brief window to capture their attention. If you don’t follow up promptly, you risk being forgotten and relegated to the back burner of their network. “After connecting, send a friendly follow-up message to start a conversation and establish rapport,” Mudd advised.
• Keeping interactions solely online: While building relationships on LinkedIn is valuable, the ultimate goal is to transition the connection beyond the platform. Encourage your contact to take the next step, such as subscribing to your email list, visiting your website, scheduling a call or meeting in person. The objective is to guide them toward your business goal, whether that’s becoming a customer, investing in your company, or forming a strategic partnership.

The benefits of networking on LinkedIn

Should you use LinkedIn for networking? Absolutely! Here’s why.

1. Everyone is on LinkedIn.

Nearly every American professional, regardless of job title, has a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn lets you directly connect with critical business contacts you may never have met otherwise.

2. LinkedIn is an invaluable source of information.

Everyone’s LinkedIn profile is like a resume, making the platform an excellent source of information about potential customers, partners, investors and other stakeholders. You can get clues about each person’s background, abilities, experience, skills, motivations and beliefs by browsing their profile, content, recommendations, endorsements, interactions with other posts and contact networks. 

Before connecting with someone, use LinkedIn’s search tools (especially if you have the Sales Navigator) to discover people who meet your criteria. For example, you can search by location, industry, title or company size to find prospects that match your customer personas.

3. The more you connect on LinkedIn, the more you can connect.

After establishing an initial LinkedIn network (first-level contacts), you gain visibility into your contacts’ contacts (second-level contacts). You can see third-level contacts and can send invitation requests to them. The more people you have as first-level contacts, the larger your pool of second- and third-level contacts is, and the more you can expand your network.

If you want to connect with someone beyond your available extended network, you have two options:

• Join a LinkedIn group your prospect is also a member of so you can send them a connection invitation.
• Ask a first-level contact to send an introduction request.

4. LinkedIn lets you showcase your expertise.

A robust profile showing relevant experience, accomplishments, recommendations and endorsements demonstrates your experience and expertise to potential contacts. To showcase your expertise further, include third-party content that boosts your credibility, such as the following: 

• Industry events where you’ve spoken
• Television, radio or podcast interviews 
• Case studies you’ve created
• White papers you’ve presented 

Additionally, demonstrate your knowledge by writing articles, posting links to smart and helpful information and interacting with others via insightful comments and observations in LinkedIn groups or other people’s posts. All of this makes you look experienced, professional and highly qualified. 

5. LinkedIn has credibility.

LinkedIn is known as the professional social platform. Users are there primarily to further their business goals, not for entertainment or social interaction. Just as a company without a website seems suspect, a businessperson without a LinkedIn profile gives the impression of not being serious or professional.

6. LinkedIn is free and available 24/7.

Unlike most business contact databases, LinkedIn is free to use — although you’ll need to pay to use the Sales Navigator or place ads. 

Additionally, LinkedIn is always available. This is particularly important if you’re doing business internationally or in other time zones. Use the platform during your workday and wait for connections to respond.

LinkedIn networking is an excellent way to make positive connections in your industry, locally and globally. You never know what opportunities could arise when you build meaningful relationships with experts, recruiters and potential clients online.