How to Increase Your LinkedIn Connections

Having a profile on LinkedIn is essential for any business professional in today’s modern world. With over 3 million members in Australia, LinkedIn can improve your employment prospects, enhance your career and ultimately prove vital as you climb the corporate ladder.

Of course, the more relevant connections you have on LinkedIn, the more chance you have of obtaining success.

But if you’ve exhausted all of your current contacts and your wider work community, how can you still increase your LinkedIn connections?

Join Groups – Joining and participating in LinkedIn groups is an excellent way to not only increase your connections and grow your network, but to also promote your profile. Search for groups that are relevant to your industry, and once you’ve gotten to know the members there, invite them to join your network.

Twitter, Facebook & Other Social Media Sites – Are you connected to people on other social media sites like Twitter, Facebook or Google+? If so, why not connect with them on LinkedIn as well? The beauty of this is that you have already established a relationship with these people and so they become your “1st” contact on LinkedIn. This can open up many possibilities for you to connect with 2nd and 3rd contacts as well.

Check Your Resume – If you have details of your resume and work history on LinkedIn (or elsewhere), browse through it and connect with people from your past. This might be co-workers from a role you had 10 years ago, or even old classmates and university colleagues. You never know where these people might be now or what opportunities they could open up for you. More often than not, they’ll be happy to rekindle their relationships with you and connected on LinkedIn, too.

Leverage Your Current Connections – If you’ve already connected with your current colleagues and friends on LinkedIn, it may be time to branch out and start making contacts with people you don’t necessarily know directly. Ask your contacts to introduce you to new people or browse through your contacts’ networks to see if there’s anyone you may have missed. Alternatively, there may also be 2nd or 3rd contacts you might want to approach.

Maximise Your Profile – Of course, one of the best ways to get found on LinkedIn is to maximise your profile. Ensure that your skills and goals and resume are up-to-date, and use relevant keywords in your descriptions as well. If you obtain a new skill or qualification, add it in. You can also include any memberships or external groups that you belong to. Remember to update your ‘contact preferences’ as well, to let others know that you’re open to career opportunities, new ventures, job enquiries, business deals and expertise requests.

Update Your Status – Keeping your status up-to-date is a great way to keep your profile visible and seen, especially on your connections’ “feed” pages. Sharing links, commenting on other posts and using ‘LinkedIn Answers’ will help keep you active in the LinkedIn world, and will enhance your current relationships and potentially gain you some new ones.

Do you require assistance writing or polishing up your LinkedIn profile and/or your professional resume? Just contact Resumes Australia today!

Regards,