There are currently 50 million LinkedIn account holders. How do you determine which of those 50 million you should connect with?

I recommend that you use LinkedIn to maintain current business & networking relationships and build new ones.  Great people to connect with are:

• customers
• suppliers
• co-workers
• referral partners
• people you meet at chamber mixers and networking events
• anyone that has inquired about your product/service or that you’ve done a proposal for
• people you may want to collaborate with
• influential people in your industry
• people that have taken the time to comment on your blog or other online content
• people who have asked you for advice
• etc…

I would not connect with people just so you can market to them.  Only connect with people if you have a sincere interest in building or maintaining a relationship, collaborating, staying in touch or following them via their status updates, etc…

When you send someone an invitation to connect on LinkedIn, do not send the LinkedIn default message shown below:



Default LinkedIn Invitation



Instead send them a personalized message that states at least one of the following:  why you want to connect, who your mutual connections are, which groups you both belong to, how you heard about them, what intrigued you about their profile, what common interests you have, etc…  (See example.)



Personalized LinkedIn Invitation



Reaching out to someone with a personalized invitation shows that you value them or something about them and it is the first step in building a business relationship.  I personally don’t accept invitations from people I don’t know unless they are personalized.

If you strive for quality in your LinkedIn invitations and connections rather than quantity, you will build stronger relationships and have greater success networking on Linkedin.

Please share your LinkedIn networking tips in the comments below…

Kimberly Yow
MarketingThatsEasy.com

Once you have your social networking profiles set-up and populated with quality content, you should encourage your offline connections, prospects and customers to connect with you online.  Here are a few ideas on how to do this:

1. Add links to your most important social networking profiles in your email signature so they are part of all outgoing emails.
2. Add the URL of your Facebook Fan Page or Twitter account to your printed advertising materials such as brochures, fliers, possibly your business card and any other printed materials where it seems appropriate.
3. Consider vehicle lettering or magnetic signs that advertise the primary social networking site you want to drive traffic to.
4. If you produce e-books or pdf reports, place social networking links in the footer of your documents.
5. Place important social media links in your printed or email newsletter.

Take a look at the diagram below by Samir Balwani which shows how your offline advertising can give your target market a 3rd choice…that of joining your online network or community:



Increase Online Connections to Increase Conversions


By getting your offline contacts to become part of your online network, you are creating additional opportunities for interaction and engagement.  This in turn should increase your conversion rate and keep your customers coming back to you again and again.

Have you used the above methods or others to encourage offline contacts to join your online network? Let me know in the comments below…

Kimberly Yow
Marketing That’s Easy!