THE 500+ DILEMMA vs 8 MAJOR WAYS TO USE LINKEDIN

If used correctly, Linkedin contacts can be a powerful relationship marketing asset to any professional.  With over 300 million members worldwide, Linkedin has become one of the highest ranking and most popular business networking tool for data management and people-searching.  From the CEO seeking joint-venture partners to managers looking to meet new vendors to  job-hunters trying to find their next boss, everyone looks to Linkedin as the gold standard when it comes to direct contact with just about anyone! So how are YOU using your Linkedin account?

OPTIMIZE YOUR ACCOUNT TO UPGRADE YOUR NETWORKING PERFORMANCE

Before you take on another stranger's invitation, clean up your list to keep only REAL PEOPLE who truly have something of value and significance to you.  If there are strangers in your list, they should have some significance toward your business or account's underlying theme and should fall under one of these categories:

-          LEADS & CLIENTS

-          MENTORS / EDUCATORS

-          COLLEAGUES

-          BUSINESS FRIENDS & ALLIES

-          NETWORK PROMOTERS

-          INDUSTRY LEADERS

-          REFERRALS 

 

WAYS TO CONNECT EFFECTIVELY
Once you conduct a fair evaluation of everyone in your list, performing a SPRING CLEANING of your connections can truly get you to see who's who in your account where connecting with them becomes easier! Here are some of the best ways to take full advantage of your Linkedin connections

1) JOIN GROUPS that your contacts are members of. Check out their profile and find the list of groups that they belong to.  Groups are sub-communities that are intimate and built under a concentration of a specific subject that you may find interesting to blog, comment or share.

2) MEET NEW CONNECTIONS FROM GROUPS: Being part of a special group or social network may greatly spark new connections based on true common ground.

3) SHARE PROFILES with your other friends: Introduce a contact to others. Everyone appreciates a good lead connection.  Let it be vendors, specialized practitioners, clients or just a good business colleague.

4) ENDORSE: Linkedin gives you the option to support one another and co-promote. By endorsing, you are prompting others to look at this person for their special skills. Endorsing also helps your visibility the same way- so to give is to get!

5) SEE WHO THEY KNOW- AND MEET: With the existing list that you have, networking is about getting to know this person- and their friends as well.  Linkedin exposes that list freely. From here, ask to be introduced.  This is the best way to branch out and explore "friends of friends"- a connection with true common ground.

6) RE-CONNECT: There's nothing wrong with a "long time no speak" or a status update.  You may find this to spark a new chapter in your relationship!

7) SET UP A PHONE CHAT: Break away from the cold digital link and use THE PHONE or MEET in person! Find one of many reasons, from partnering, exploring synergies, vendor connections etc.

8) SEE WHO RECENTLY VIEWED YOUR PROFILE: Linkedin is great at snooping on who's snooping you! They maybe interested in something you do- so reach out and connect with them.  By reaching out, this may ignite great dialogue that can lead to business!

For all the reasons for joining digital communities and social media connections, Linkedin has created the means to find colleagues old and new- and stay in touch in so many different ways!

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THE 500+ SYNDROME 
It seems fun and easy at first to randomly AGREE to accept unexpected invitations or to CONNECT with attractive strangers' profiles (think match.com), but once you hit a certain mark, you now have a jumbled list of people that you have absolutely nothing in common with- nor do you have a clue how to approach them.  What's worse, the clutter of names and profiles you have just created for yourself has now become a major task to review and disseminate each member one at a time.
   
Most of us reach this dilemma because we misunderstand the proactive friend-making elements behind Linkedin's connectors. When Linkedin sends people to you asking if you know them, it is not a trick question to get you to mingle with strangers; you really should say NO if you don't know them.  Instead,  we are guilty for "name-collecting" (otherwise known as data-hording) perhaps to rise above that 500+ mark that we see many people have.  

BUT WHO ARE THESE 500+ people?  Whether you know them or not, randomly agreeing to connect them to your contacts list makes for a cluster of "strangers collecting strangers" who may have little or no intent on actually connecting - but simply harvesting numbers.

THE DANGER OF 500+

A rising trend of cautious naysayers express growing suspicion and a loss in interest when approached by invitees with 500+.  Due to the influx of lead-hunters, spammers, solicitors,  data-minters and identity thieves that are now making the news, we grow leery of the 500+ for their questionable intentions.  Unlike Facebook that promotes high numbers to equate with popularity and social vitality, Linkedin's over-popularity can actually work against you! 

PROLOGUE: STOP LEAD HORDING

A large problem with having too many connections is on the administrative side.  "Hording names" brings data clutter and the eventual GRIDLOCK when you finally decide to use Linkedin for anything.

You may find that over time, your list grows without you knowing about it. Check your Linkedin Privacy & Settings and be careful which invites you allow in your network.  Be very selective whom you let in- because you also have a responsibility to your list of connections not to get penetrated, solicited or spammed (a common sport in Linkedin)

WARNING to those who connect with "pretty profilers"; LEAD GENERATION COMPANIES are now getting caught creating fake accounts using fake photos to friend everyone just to get access to your bio, your contacts and your private info (emails and cell phone #).  

 
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All the contents in this article are produced by: LENNARD M. GETTZ, MBA exclusively as part of the How2 Network for distribution by imworx.com, intermediaworx.com, docpromoter.com and modernpainrelief.com.  Lennard Gettz is the CEO and head marketing director of Intermedia Communications, a Long Island based multimedia and promotional agency.  All written works in this blog article and this blog site are published in various social media sites, websites and publications with the express permission by Mr. Gettz and all ranking partners of imworx.com. Staff thanks: Carmen Regallo-Dewitt, Grace Dellavalle, Sean Chan, Stanley Yip, Mark DelAnno, Vincent Barrios and Carmine Galluzzo. Special reference thanks to: Joe Crook of starcommunications.us, Karin M. Caro of bluchipmarketing.com,  Ken Book of totalimpactld.com, Dr. Veronica Greene of truimagedental.com, Bryan LaMarca of kltech.com, Dario Amicucci, Michael Milano and John Endres of greenpatch.com, Gregg Hayim and Justin Ghaw of maseratili.com, Louis Ferrer and Phil Zegarek of mineolamoto.com . Copyright, 2015. Image Unlimited Inc. All rights reserved.