Who said you have to go to boring networking events to connect with other people in your industry? You can now do it from the comfort of your home through the power of LinkedIn.
This is now the fastest growing business networking platform with more than 500 million active users. That can mean a lot of contacts if you use it smartly and to your advantage.
Networking is the building block of having a presence and setting yourself up for success. Here are some of the best ways you can use LinkedIn to network smartly.
Set Your Profile Apart From Others
This is the first step to networking because not many professionals will interact with a profile that is not organized and optimized. This is why you must have a great profile.
Use the right keywords, choose a professional yet friendly image, and write your story through your summary. Your summary creates your headline and is the most important part because your headline is your first impression.
If creative writing isn’t your strong suit then use our free LinkedIn bio generator. It will create your summary for you and provide you one that will make people want to connect with you!
Start Making Connections
Sync your LinkedIn with either your email or address book and start building connections. Do you know what makes recruiters think you are well established? When you have at least more than five hundred connections.
Send connection requests and make sure you send a message with the request. Utilize it for an introduction and state your reason for connecting. This way you will not look like a random person trying to increase numbers on your profile.
Reach out to your connections once they are accepted and make sure you engage with them sometimes by liking or sharing their content. It is all about making meaningful connections. A silent one is of no use.
Join Groups
Join a variety of groups that are relevant to the industry you work in. This will help your visibility to extend even further. You will get to know more people and this will increase your network as you can utilize the group to make new connections.
However, you must stay active in the group. Take part in discussions that interest you and post your thoughts. This will tell people more about your personality and help you have meaningful discussions with other people.
After all, networking is all about communicating with people so you can find new opportunities in a way you never could before.
Final Words
Another thing to remember is to always write meaningful recommendations for other people. Other than that your LinkedIn summary is the most important component of your profile.
It will give people an insight into who you are and before they decide to connect with you their judgment will be based on your summary. Create the most optimized and compelling summary with our LinkedIn bio generator tool.
It is free and guarantees a compelling yet professional summary that will help you forge many connections. What are you waiting for then? Try it out now!