12 Ways to Increase Your LinkedIn Connections Database – Part 1

Posted by Ben Kniffen in Uncategorized

One of the ways you can measure your progress in growing your business on LinkedIn is by how many connections you have.

While this is clearly not the sole indicator of your profile’s net worth, it’s certainly a good place to start.

The more connections you have, the larger your marketing database within LinkedIn. If you are serious about a LinkedIn marketing campaign, then consider your connections a “database.”

And the larger your database, the greater your results will be.

If you only have 100-200 connections on LinkedIn then you are really not utilizing the full potential of the network. In fact you are seriously limiting your ability to develop new business on LinkedIn if you are not actively trying to grow your list of connections.

In the late 90's, author Harvey Mackay wrote a book called “Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty” that has since been a staple in teaching the importance of networking. What Harvey is saying is this: Put your network in place BEFORE you need it.

Your database of connections has to be in place BEFORE you need them. It takes time to build relationships and establish expertise before you can tap into these connections.

Learning how to increase your LinkedIn connections takes a long time and a fair amount of effort. Some have been working on growing their list for years in order to achieve a respectable number…say above 3,000.  Really there is no magic number as to how many connections you should have on LinkedIn.

The more  connections you have the more powerful your prospecting, networking, and business development efforts will become. It’s as simple as that.

In this three part series I am going to show you 12 ways to increase your LinkedIn connection database. Some are obvious, others are obscure, all are effective. Let’s start with the easy ones first.

1. Invite your personal contacts

Naturally when you are building a database of connections this is where you are going to start. If you have been on LinkedIn for a while then this is old news to you, but if you are just getting started then these will most likely be your first connections.

LinkedIn makes it all too easy to add connections whose addresses are saved in your email server’s database. As long as you have an email address with a major client (Gmail, Yahoo, MSN etc. etc.) LinkedIn can connect with your account, send out requests to your contacts, and ask them to connect with you on Linkedin.

When you click on “add connections” in your upper right hand corner of your profile you will be taken to the connections page. From there you simply put in your email address, allow LinkedIn to connect with your email client, then approve the messages to be sent out.

LinkedIn does all the heavy lifting in this process.

It’s important to note that LinkedIn generates a stock message for this kind of request and it cannot be personalized.

2. Toplinked.com/LIONs

If too many people deny knowing you when you request to add them as a connection, LinkedIn will put the kibosh on your efforts.

Once that happens they'll require that you have the email address of anyone you wish to send a request to. Because of this, a network of users referred to as LION's (LinkedIn Open Networkers) has grown in popularity.

These are people who make it known that they will accept your connection request no matter who you are, where you are, or what your business is. They realize the benefit in having as large of a connection database as possible.

So where can you go to gain access to a large database of these professionals? Toplinked.com

At Toplinked (affiliate link) you can download csv files that list the email addresses of hundreds upon hundreds of LION's. You can then import those lists into the “add connections” section of your account by clicking on “Import your desktop email contacts.”

This is a great tactic to use since most LIONs have an extremely large database of connections. Connecting with them means you are increasing of your network of second degree connections very significantly.

Not to mention this is a very quick way to acquire 500 connections, a major milestone in LinkedIn as you’ll pick up the “500+” label on your profile.

With a premium TopLinked account, you can get your name added to the database and will receive tons of connection requests, every day.

3. Post content to groups / open groups / sub groups

LinkedIn gives you the ability to join not only 50 groups but also 50 subgroups as well. You can use these groups to interact with other LinkedIn members by posting content into the discussion areas within the group.

When people see you posting useful content in groups on a regular basis they start seeing the value you bring to the community on LinkedIn. Many times group members will appreciate your efforts and send you a request to connect.

The best part is that you don't even have to give up any of your connection requests (LinkedIn limits you to 3000 requests) to add to your database in this manner.

There are also hundreds of open groups that you can post in as well without having to be a member of the group.

4. Message group members your promotions and relevant content

If you want to send someone a message you have to be a 1^st degree connection with them…that is unless you share a group. You can message anyone you share a group with, from within the group directory (not from their profile page).

If you have relevant content to promote, something as simple as an article you think someone might enjoy reading, you can message them directly and share it with them.

It might be good to mention what group you share or ask how business is going, etc. The point is to start getting involved in conversations with people and group messaging is a great way to do this.

Once you start a conversation you increase the chance of receiving a connection request from the group member that you messaged.

Not only will you have a good chance at increasing your connections but you're promoting your brand/service/company as well. You certainly do not want to spam people, but if you genuinely believe that there is the possibility for a mutually beneficial relationship, then it's a tactic that can work wonderfully.

Get Started!

If you have a small network on LinkedIn, get started with the four tactics mentioned above to increase your LinkedIn connections.

Next time we'll take a look at four more connection building tactics that can expand your network even further.

~~

If you'd like even more resources on how to successfully grow your business using LinkedIn, please subscribe to our mailing list below. We will soon be releasing THE definitive guide to building your business within LinkedIn. No stone will be left unturned, I know you're going to love it. Sign up here and we'll let you know as soon as it's available.