Before you invite someone to connect on LinkedIn
1. Get a photo; it's difficult to connect with an invisible person.
2. Add some content to your profile. One line about your current job just isn't enough.
3. If you haven't met, say why you want to connect and unless it's meaningful, don't try and connect. Nb none of these reasons count:
- We're in the same group so I thought it would be good to connect (this is not a reason and I'm suspicious you might just want my contact list!)
- We know some of the same people (and why does this mean we should connect?)
WARNING
If you don't say why and the person that you're trying to connect with doesn't know you, they may select the 'I don't know Fred Bloggs' and if they click this button, along with 3 others, LinkedIn assumes (and they might be right) that you're building a network without knowing the people, so it will start to
- Ask you for your password more often
- Ask for the email address of the next and the next and the next person with who you wish to connect....
TIP
Always give the person a 'get out clause' in case they don't want to connect or in case it's against their company policy. This can be as simple as 'if you don't want to connect at this time, or you're too busy that's ok too'
If the person does connect, send a message immediately. Say "it's good to be connected because...."
4. Tag the person. Create a tag in your contacts so if you need to contact all your suppliers, network friends, people with a specific link, so can do so in one go.
Labels: linkedin, LINKEDIN TIPS
