Make the connection meaningful: LinkedIn tips for network building

As most people are now aware, LinkedIn is the main social media platform for you to build trusted professional relationships. 

But with LinkedIn limiting the amount of connection requests you can send, hitting the connect button without adding a personal message could be a big mistake. 

I mean, you wouldn’t meet someone new and go in for a hug before you said hello, right? 

Just hitting ‘connect’ with no intro message or conversation starter is a missed opportunity to build a connected and potentially lucrative business relationship.

And the same is true in reverse — blindly accepting connection requests simply because they ask, without taking the minute to send the invitee a personalised message of thanks as a follow up, is a missed opportunity to build connections and start that business relationship on the right foot.

Growing your network requires time and strategy

A good question to ask yourself before you start a connection request is:

“How are you going to define who you invite into your professional network?”

The first step is mapping out a process for sending requests for new connections and sticking to your own connection criteria. 

It’s best to completely customise each connection request based on what prompted you to want to connect with...