LinkedIn Q & A [Part 2 of 7]: Increasing The Number Of Connections

Question: “What’s a good number of contacts to have on LinkedIn? How do I increase the number quickly?”

Answer:

1. Stop focusing on the numbers

Whilst having a half empty LinkedIn profile and just 3 connections is pretty pointless, if you are overly concerned about how many connections you have – then you simply don’t 'get it.'

LinkedIn is a platform/tool to manage relationships and your network. And like any network, it’s about the quality not the quantity.

So instead of looking at ‘how many’ people you're connected to, your focus should instead be on ‘who’ you’re connected to and the quality of those relationships.

2. Focus on WHO you’re connected

The real value of LinkedIn is the ability to source contacts (and be sourced by others such as recruiters, hiring companies, potential clients) using the 6 degree of separation principle. And so the real value of your network is not in how many people you’re connected to – but who the people you are connected are – and in turn the quality of their networks.

Lets imagine you had 30 LinkedIn connections and you’re friend had 130 connections whilst you both searched for a new job within the banking sector. So that’s more than 4 times the size of your network.

But if your 30 contacts included 10 well known financial services recruiters (with strong LinkedIn networks) and 20 key industry contacts (again with strong LinkedIn connections), your 30 connections could well yield more of the right kind of opportunities and connections than your friend who has 130 contacts in all sorts of other industries.

3. Focus on the QUALITY of your relationships

But having these 30 connections is no good if you haven’t the relationships with those individuals. So instead of focusing purely on the numbers or ‘who you know’, focus on cultivating and strengthening those relationships.

How do you do that? Go back and read yesterday’s post about being generous.

4. Ensure you’re connected to all of your warm contacts on LinkedIn

This sounds really obvious. But I regularly come across people who I know fairly well but am not connected to on LinkedIn. So rather than going in search of ‘new contacts’ – ensure your connected to people you already know.

Friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues, suppliers, clients, strategic partners, fellow members of professional associations, old university contacts etc

Am I completely off the mark with these answers? Feel free to share your thoughts, comments and suggestions in the box below.

This is part of a 7 part series of LinkedIn questions – look out for tomorrow’s question: “How well do I need to know someone before inviting them to connect with me?”

By Sital Ruparelia, @SitalRuparelia

Comments

[Ernie Perez]

This was very iinformative especially the part about quality of connections not quantity of connections.

[Sital]

thanks Ernie!

[Tamara]

Great post! Thanks for all of the information about the best practices of using LinkedIn. I think LinkedIn along with other social networking sites can be a great way to help you find a job. http://bit.ly/bUP5lq

[Sital]

thanks tamara

[Imran M. Ismail]

Excellent point quality is more important than quantity, additionally if we add WHY into this equation, as point 3, then we clearly know what we want and what we offer. WHY will help us to navigate with purpose on LinkedIn.

[unni krishnan]

Thank you very much for the information