How to Massively Grow Your LinkedIn Connections

How would you like to massively grow your LinkedIn connections?

Would you be willing to spend 10 minutes a day?

According to a 2013 Wall Street Journal survey, over 40% of businesses see LinkedIn as their best bet on growing business.

It’s no surprise 81% of Inc 500 companies use LinkedIn for social media, in comparison to 74% on Facebook and 64% on Twitter, according to a study done by the University of Massachusetts’ Darmouth’s Center for Marketing Research.

LinkedIn Metrics

LinkedIn just passed 300 million users
Now has 2.1 million groups
Has over 3 million business pages
LinkedIn members did over 5.7 billion searches last year
All Fortune 500 executives
The King of B2B marketing by more than 2 times Facebook
Web traffic grew 35% in 2013
LinkedIn has more than 5,000 full-time employees with offices in 27 cities around the world.

LinkedIn is the professional Social Media platform of choice. Boasting more college graduates, higher earnings per user, longer average time on site than Facebook users, more average page visits per site than Facebook, and lower user bounce rate than Facebook.

That’s why 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates.

PUBLISHER

LinkedIn is opening up their publishing platform to it’s members, giving them a powerful new way to build their professional brand. When a member publishes a post on LinkedIn, their original content becomes part of their professional profile, is shared with their trusted network and has the ability to reach the largest group of professionals ever assembled. Think of publisher like a blog…such as WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr.

Apply for publisher if you don’t already have it.

http://specialedition.linkedin.com/publishing/

Once you have been approved, LinkedIn will send you an email alert with a link to your publishing tool.

Takeaway: Become a thought leader and expert in your field through publishing your content.

GOOGLE LOVES LINKEDIN

Take a second and Google your name. What was one of the first results? If you have a LinkedIn profile, we’re willing to bet that it was one of the top results. For some reason, Google just loves LinkedIn, which is beneficial for managing search results. In other words, if you applied for a job or met someone at a networking event and they searched for you online, your LinkedIn profile would appear. That’s a major bonus if you’re attempting to expand your network.

Once again, make sure you have a professional photo, catchy headline, contact information, a vanity URL, a compelling summary, and samples of your work. These will all ensure that your profile has a professional appearance, and enable people to find you easily.

LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS

Sometimes the simplest tactics are forgotten that can make a big difference over time. With the majority of users having less than 500 connections these tips will provide the guidelines to take it beyond the 1,000 barrier.

Here are some tips:

Have a strategy in utilizing LinkedIn.
Participate daily. Updates, connections, reaching out, congratulating someone, interacting in a Group.
Set a goal to publish a least one post per week in the new PUBLISHER Platform.
Create Slideshare Presentations to be shared and embedded on your profile.
Have a professional photograph, dressed appropriately, and nothing sticking out of the top of your head.
Identify your target audience, and influencers. Reach out and ask questions.
Endorse those whose skills and experience you know. Expect nothing in return.
Reach out and participate, engage, and contribute.
Identify daily whom you want to connect with and utilize a professional worded invite.
Consider the use of Video’s.
Tie your Twitter account to LinkedIn.