5 highly efficient ways to elevate your influence on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is THE most popular professional networking tool at the moment, with nearly 740 million users. But only half of the users are active monthly on the platform, and only 1% of them create content. This gives you the perfect opportunity to increase your influence on the platform and reach thousands of people on the platform.
In this article, I will give you some tips about how to be a black belt level master in networking on LinkedIn as well as how to make people want to queue in front of your profile and connect with you.
1. Grab any opportunity to start a conversation
The majority of LinkedIn users use the platform passively, browsing on the feed looking at posts and profiles (but only a fraction of them actually engage), and waiting for someone to contact them and offer them the opportunity of their life.
It does not work like that.
You need to be proactive on the platform so that people notice you. You need to show your value. Did someone like or comment under your posts? Checked out your profile? Followed you? Start a conversation with them! When someone checks my profile, I often connect back to them asking them what was that captured their attention.
This led me to collaborate on a book on Clubhouse with an amazing behavioral scientist, and numerous other new and quality relationships. Just because somebody does not connect with you when they check out your profile, does not mean that they are not interested in you.
🥋 BLACK BELT LEVEL TOOL: E link PRO
At this point, you can say, “Szilvi, I understand the importance to reach out to people, but there are not a lot of people who check out my profile”. Well, in this case, I suggest you try E-link Pro. Imagine if you can tell about yourself or your business to hundreds of people every day with minimal effort. Among which there can be potential hiring managers, clients, or business partners. It will automatically attract targeted prospects to your LinkedIn profile increasing your visibility and your impact on the platform.
E-link will visit as many as 800 targeted profiles daily for you and you can send 50 connection requests daily. Apart from profile views, it suggests potential new connections by looking at how many shared connections you have. It also shows additional information such as who viewed your file, followed you, had a job anniversary, birthday, or got a new job so you can reach out to them more easily.
🤩 Even with the free version, you get 100 daily profile views and 10 connection requests.
How to get it?
👉 Add it to chrome here.
2. Adjust your messages
Now you can say, “Okay Szilvi, I understood the importance of reaching out, but what should I say, and how?”
If they checked out your profile first, you can use the amazing template of Joshua B Lee, CEO of StandOut Authority, who was kind enough to allow his reach-out template for greater usage:
Hi XY,
Noticed you stopped by to check out my profile and just wanted to say “thank you.” Honestly, we don’t take time out to appreciate these things enough.
It would be great to connect and find out what pushed you to look me up.
I assume it was my recent post but maybe not
Your name
Another line that you can use for people who sent a connection request:
Hi XY,
Thank you for checking out my profile and for the connection request! I am happy to connect and I LOVE your about section!
I am looking forward to engaging with your posts! By the way, what pushed you to look me up?
Have a nice day,
Your name
A new connection will worth anything only if you reach out and start a conversation. It is not only important to get to know better the person you just connected with, but also the LinkedIn algorithm will more likely show your content to them
🥋 BLACK BELT LEVEL TOOL: CRYSTAL KNOWS
If you want to further adjust your message to the person you reach out to, then Crsytal knows is the perfect tool for you.
It is a powerful data analysis tool that analysis people’s LinkedIn profile and gives you tips how to reach out to them. It uses various personality analysis methods such as DISC, Enneagram, and 16 personality types to decide what personality I the person you want to reach out to.
How to use it?
First register and create your profile. You might want to take the personality test first, so the system can create a profile about your personality. Once you registered, your profile will be connected to your LinkedIn account and a small View Personality icon will appear on the right side of the screen.
Click on the icon to get a profile analysis. Usually, Crystal takes a couple of seconds to analyze the person’s page and creating a profile page.
When the analysis is ready, a panel will appear on the right side with the person’s complete personality analysis. Crytal not only analyses the profile but also gives advice on suggested behavior when we talk to a specific personality type. The suggestions vary based on the goal of the conversation: negotiation, sales pitch, thank you, follow up etc…
You can also compare profiles to see differences and similarities, get advice on how to compose an e-mail, set up a meeting, or how to reach out to the person.
I specifically like the comparison part, it allows you to place a specific person’s personality traits compared to you so you can adjust accordingly your actions.
The free version allows you to analyze 9 profiles. Go out and experiment, and see if it something that helps in your domain.
3. FOLLOW FIRST
A lot of people make the mistake to add people to their network and then NEVER engaging with their content or reach out to them. Then, they are surprised, that no one is liking their content.
Building a network means you invest time and effort to build up meaningful relationships.
A strong network means you have a group of people who will vouch for you, want to work with you, and support you when needed.
For this, you need to give first. Before you would add people you don’t know, follow them first instead of connecting. This immediately sends them the message that you want their content, not their network. Often they immediately connect back, giving you the opportunity to reach out to them. This warms up the relationship from cold to mild, as they were the ones who wanted to connect with you.
Comment, engage advocate their business, reference their content, and with time, you can build a more trusted relationship with them. And when the trust is built up, then they will advocate your content and willing to help you.
4. ASK people to present you to their connections
One of the networking methods that I use is asking my connections to present me to their connections. This way, you can increase your network and influence relatively easily and efficiently, as certain level of trust is already there.
🥋 BLACK BELT TIPS
💡 Use Linkedin Alumni tool to find people who went to the same school as you and connect with them. Reach out to people who work or worked at the same company as you, have the same hairdresser, car mechanic, live in the same town etc. A common denominator always helps to break the ice and increases trust towards the other person.
🤲 Help and be helped. Think about who in your network is currently searching for a job, co-founders or a team member, and present them to someone in your network.
5. Use other networking tools to drive traffic to your LinkedIn
🤝 Use other tools such as Lunchclub or Clubhouse to connect and talk to people.
Lunchclub is an amazing app where you can have 1:1 curated video meetings to substitute real-life networking events. It uses artificial intelligence to match you with people similar to your interests.
If you are not on Clubhouse yet, get on it ASAP (I know it is iPhone only, and I am sure one of your friends has a used iPhone in their drawer that you can use until it comes to Android as well).
Because its user base is still relatively small (around 10 million) compared to the massive amount of users on Linkedin, it gives you more space to find your niche and stand out from the crowd. It is still in its early phase of development, and it is very easy to talk to industry leaders and influencers, all you need is to hang out in the same rooms/clubs as them and ask interesting questions to grab their attention.
The important thing about networking is practice. Do it every day and it will feel as natural as riding a bicycle. As the quote says:
“The world is a giant playground”
I added: “you just need to find all your friends there” 😊 🌍
MORE MORE MORE
👉 If you would like to read about the behavioral science behind the app, read Dr. Ali Fenwick’s excellent article about the app.
👉 If you wondered how to take your Clubhouse experience to the next level, check out my article where I show you 9+1 ways to stand out from the crowd.
👉 Follow me on Linkedin, Twitter, or Clubhouse, or check out my website.
☕ If you find my articles useful, feel free to leave a tip😊
About the author
Szilvia is an innovation and technology enthusiast. She writes about innovative tools that empower companies and individuals to stand out, boost productivity and bring the best out of their business.
She is currently focusing on researching the best professional networking applications, as well as advocating the importance of networking in our personal and professional life.
