The Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn Networking: A Guide for Your Career Strategy
Networking on LinkedIn is a game. A difficult, complex and sometimes rewarding game.
Most of the time, you’ll feel like you’re losing. Some days, you’ll feel like you’re on top of the world. It’s a unique ride that not many other social media platforms can give you. Because with LinkedIn, the next message or connection request you send, could literally change your life.
Now that I’ve piqued your interest, how can you make life changing networking moves on LinkedIn? You’re about to find out.
What You’ll Learn from This Article:
· What to do when networking on LinkedIn
· What not to do when networking on LinkedIn
Before we get into the do’s and don’ts of LinkedIn Networking, check out a great resource for all you need to know about LinkedIn networking (The 11 Best LinkedIn Networking Strategies to Improve Your Career). This should help you avoid some of the mistakes you’ll be reading about here.
Ok, now let’s get into it.
The Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn Networking
#1: DON’T Connect on LinkedIn only to Sell Your Product or Service`
No one likes to be sold too. Especially when they aren’t ready for it.```
Let me give you an example. If I were to start off this blog asking you to sign up for career coaching sessions at Your Career Strategy (which you should do by the way…if you want), you’d be completely turned off and probably stop reading the article.
Most people hate sales, which is why telemarketers used to get hung up on so often that now they’ve become “Potential Spam” when they try and call you.
75% of people on LinkedIn either have a product or service they want to sell to you, so if you’re trying to sell something, you’re not the first person on the platform to be in this situation.
DON’T SEND A LINKEDIN CONNECTION REQUEST OR INMAIL TO SOMEONE ASKING IF THEY’D BE INTERESTED IN YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE.
Your chances of having someone actually say yes to you are so small you’d have a better chance at buying a lottery ticket.
I hope I’ve gotten my point across on this one. The next time you’re even thinking about doing this…. DON’T.
What You Should Do Instead:
-Provide value first: Post on LinkedIn to show people you are knowledge in whatever product or service you’re trying to sell. Don’t post asking people to buy something until you’ve built a bit of an audience.
-Comment on other people’s posts: Show you’re an expert in the field by sharing your knowledge with others and establishing a brand.
#2: DO Send a Connection Request with a Personalized Message Showing Interest in the Potential Connection
Here’s a secret, and it’s not just for LinkedIn in….
People love talking about themselves. Why does this matter when you’re sending a connection request?
It’s the basis for how you’re going to make connections. Here’s a sample of how you can word a LinkedIn connection request:
Hi (Insert Name of Person) – I noticed we are both alumni of college x (or we both know person xxx) and I am interested in learning more about what you do at Company XYZ. I would love to connect and speak further if you have time in your schedule in the next few weeks. Thanks!
This message does two things:
1. It makes the person feel like you’re not a complete stranger because you mention you went to their college, or you know someone they are connected to.
2. The message makes the person feel like you’re really interested in connecting with them and not just connecting with them because you want something or want to sell them something.
Use this message as your guide when connecting with people on LinkedIn and you will have a ton more success than if you connect and immediately ask them for something.
#3: DON’T Ghost People
If you’ve never been ghosted on LinkedIn, consider yourself lucky. If you’re like the rest of us though, you’ve dealt with someone who’s ghosted you.
Let’s be honest, it’s a terrible feeling. You put yourself out there only to hear crickets.
Then, a week later, you send a follow up. Then another, and another and another. By the fifth follow up, you’ve finally given up.
This is what it feels like to be ghosted. It’s understandable if you’re someone with a busy schedule and are rarely checking LinkedIn or your emails that you don’t want to take precious minutes of your day to be responding to complete strangers.
There is some awareness by the sender if they’re sending to an influencer or CEO that they most likely won’t get a response, but if you’re a regular person, it’s unacceptable.
For me, I’m a dad of two young children, and as long as it’s not clearly spam, I try to respond to whoever messages or emails me in a timely manner. If I can respond, so can you.
#4: DO Join and Participate in Groups
The key for this one is PARTICIPATING in the group. There are tons of groups on LinkedIn. It’s important to take advantage of this by joining as many relevant groups as you can.
Once you join a group though, don’t just expect group members to magically reach out to your or to suddenly be getting job offers because of the group. You’ll need to visit the group’s page on a regular basis and contribute to the conversations.
How can you do this?
1. Comment on member’s posts: Leave comments on posts, and not just “I completely agree” or “Great post.” Continue the conversation with your comments as it will show your knowledge of the subject and that you have thoughtful information to add.
2. Start a poll: This is a great way to get engagement from other group members. Show that you’ve been paying attention to the conversations by asking a relevant question.
3. Share interesting and relevant articles.
I joined a group over the summer and met a partner who is now a trusted mentor and someone I go to for guidance. This only happened because I put myself out there and was active in a group.
#5: DON’T Make Spelling Errors in Your Initial Outreach
I’m not trying to be the grammar police on this one, I promise.
Let me give you an example of why this is an important DON’T.
I received a LinkedIn InMail last week and it started like this:
“Hey Joy,”
The problem? My name Is Joe. You may be saying, it could have been an innocent typo and that might have been the only issue with the message. Well, no, for some reason, I decided to read the message and found spelling and grammar errors throughout the message.
There are three reasons why spelling errors exist in a message:
1. The person is careless and too lazy to re-read the message to check for errors.
2. It’s a spam message and they don’t care about spelling and grammar.
3. It’s a real, honest person and they just made a mistake and didn’t realize it.
If you do think it might be reason number 3, take a look at the sender’s profile and get a feel if they’re real or not. I’m going to bet you that more than likely, it’s probably a spam account or someone trying to sell you something.
Let’s say you fall into the category of either being lazy and careless or a real person who just made a mistake, you can use this section here to motivate yourself to not be careless and edit your messages before sending.
Trust me, it will take a few minutes to re-read your message to check for errors and could save you from being ghosted.
#7: DO Have a Professional Looking Picture and Headline
This one may sound obvious but it’s surprising how many people sip this part on LinkedIn.
Would you ever want to talk with someone who doesn’t have a face? Well maybe if you’re someone who’s into Sci-Fi, but for the rest of us, the answer is probably NO.
Have a picture that’s:
1. Professional looking: We all have smartphones with pretty solid cameras. If for some reason you don’t, find someone with one and use it to take your picture. You picture shouldn’t look like those fuzzy pictures of bigfoot that people allegedly take.
2. Only have you in the picture: This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. You should be the only one in your picture. You are the star of this page, not someone else.
For the LinkedIn headline, this doesn’t need to be anything too fancy, but it should be something that catches the reader’s eye.
Here’s an example of one that’s a little better than the average headline:
Creating high-performing content that drives traffic and builds loyal audiences.
Write something that will set you apart from the crowd, but also something that’s not too crazy that someone will not want to interact with you.
Okay, those are the major Do’s and Don’ts, but let me give you a few more before you leave:
A Few More Do’s and Don’ts
· DO: Stay Active on LinkedIn
· DON’T: Neglect Follow Up Messages
· DO: Message with Connections to Nurture Relationships
· DON’T: Constantly Ask for Things
If there were any you thought about that weren’t on this list, I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment at the end of this blog with ones you thought about.
Continuing On Your LinkedIn Networking Journey
Now that you know what to do and what not to do when networking on LinkedIn, it’s time to put these practices into action. You’ll need to give yourself some time and have some patience as you navigate the waters of LinkedIn.
If you feel like you need more help with LinkedIn and your career strategy, take a moment to book a FREE call with one of our Career Coaches at Your Career Strategy. They can be there to walk with you as you find your career path and dive into the deep end on LinkedIn.
Good luck and Happy Networking.