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After networking with several great people over the last several days, which have in essence been conversations that seem more like a veritable cross-breeding of ideas, I believe that more and more people are starting to see the potential value of meeting new people on LinkedIn. Now, just because you are open to doing this does not mean that you necessarily need to become a LinkedIn Open Networker, or LION.

There are many methods to the madness of connecting with new people.  One of these great people that I met recently, Tim Tyrell-Smith, wrote a great blog post about his way of virtually meeting and then connecting with new people on his “The Art of Connecting on LinkedIn” post.  By the way, his blog, Spin Strategy, is a must for anyone who is in transition and looking for wisdom.  You can find out more about his blog in my Resources section.

My method for connecting with new people is using the vehicle of the LION brand, in contrast to Tim’s approach.  You can find out more about my thought process concerning this in my recent blog post of why I am a LinkedIn Lion.

OK.  As I mention to almost everyone I meet, if you are on LinkedIn and not meeting new people, stay off it and delete your account.  If you just want to find old friends, find them, put their contact details in your personal address book, and you’re done!  No need to login anymore.

LinkedIn is a Social Networking site…it is there for you to be Social and Network!

If you feel a little bit intimidated by connecting with new people on LinkedIn, here are my three favorite ways to help you find that perfect person to connect with, regardless of your objective.

1. Join a Group and Participate. Come on, there are more than 300,000 LinkedIn Groups out there.  You put a keyword in the Search box for Groups and voila! you shall find a Group that interests you.  Join it.  You can join up to 50.  And after joining, check out the Discussions boards.  Yes, there is a lot of spam out there.  People selling their wares.  Job posts.  Skip over those and look for interesting discussions.  Participate.  And when you run across someone you respect or a “virtual” soulmate, ask them if they would be cool if you sent them an invite.  Can’t find an interesting discussion?  Start one!  Participate.  And if what you are discussing is on target for the Group mission but no one responds, try a different Group.  You are bound to find one that “fits” you.
2. Ask a Question.  Answer a Question. LinkedIn Answers is awesome.  Have you ever browsed around the different categories of questions they have there?  You can do this by selecting Answers from the top of your Home Page and checking them out.  I am sure there is a category that corresponds with your interests and/or objectives.  Something that you’re curious about that you couldn’t find in the Answers database?  Ask it!  You will be pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of people that will answer it, and there will be more virtual “soulmates” that you will find to connect with.  Better yet, Pay It Forward and Answer a Question.
3. Search for and Attend a Networking Event.  Have you checked out the LinkedIn Events database recently?  Do a search for actual networking events or “meetups” nearby you.  I live in L.A.  I did a search and found this great networking event, put on by the Rockstar Lewis Howes.  There are almost 200 people attending this event.  Plus, you can actually see the people (including myself) who have RSVPed for this event.  I am sure that there is bound to be someone out of 200 people that you would like to connect to.  Attend the event and physically meet them. If you mutually agree, connect with each other on LinkedIn.

There are many other ways to connect with people on LinkedIn, but hopefully this will get you out there connecting with and ideally meeting new people.

LinkedIn is the means, not the end.

Your objective with LinkedIn, like with any other Social Networking site, should be in connecting with and meeting new people.

LinkedIn Introductions are an integral part of the social networking platform.  After all, LinkedIn has given us the ability to search for someone and see how we are connected to them, and it is with this information that we can request an Introduction from our connection just as we request a referral from a friend in real life.  Unfortunately, very few people actually ask for an Introduction on LinkedIn in the same manner that they ask for a introduction in a real-life.  And this bothers me.

Because I am a LION, I receive more than my fair share of Introduction requests.  And I don’t mind, because Introductions are an integral part of helping connect people.  But, in real life, if you were going to ask someone for an Introduction to that special person, wouldn’t you go into some background as to how that person can help you and vice-versa?  And wouldn’t you ask for it in a nice manner with a “thank you!” to that friend who is going out of his or her way to make the introduction?  Of course you would.  I call this “The Personal Touch”, and you will hear a lot more about this term in my upcoming book (making progress and hope to release in August!).

So why is it that so many people, when requesting an Introduction on LinkedIn, lack this “Personal Touch”?  Is it because LinkedIn has made it too easy to do with their platform?  Why in social media would people act any differently than in real life?

For instance, what would you do if you receive an Introduction request from contact A to your contact B that just says, “Can you please introduce me to (B)?  Thanks!”  How do you go about describing contact A who is asking for the recommendation?  And how do you explain to contact B why contact A wants to be introduced to them?  And what does this say about you when forwarding this meaningless message to contact B?

I hope the above example illustrates the problem here.  And, with this in mind, I would like to suggest how you should actually be asking for an Introduction if you want to  1) provide some value to your contact making the introduction, 2) make it easier for your connection to make the Introduction, and 3) increase your potential success rate in actually receiving the introduction:

• When requesting an Introduction, always include a short paragraph of how you would like to be introduced.  In other words, write out your branding message so that the person you forward the Introduction request to has some way of describing you.  In fact, in this way, you can ensure that your brand is not diluted and is portrayed exactly the way you want it to be.  Without this paragraph, how will the person forwarding the Introduction be describing you?  You don’t know, do you?  This is especially important if you are requesting an Introduction from a 3rd degree connection, where the message gets even more diluted.
• Why are you requesting the Introduction?  Did you even bother to mention this in your Introduction request?  Please do so!  And the more details of why you would like to be introduced AND the potential value for the other person in being introduced to you that you provide will ensure a high success rate.  It also allows the person making the introduction on your behalf to look like they are adding value in helping build-up a mutually valuable relationship.  Remember, the person making the Introduction is also putting their reputation on the line.  Make sure it is a win-win-win request!
• Everyone is busy, so request in a nice way.  In real person you would, right?  Well, social media should be no different.  A lot of us networkers try to be Pay It Forward, so we are more than happy to be helpful to those requesting the Introduction.  But if you are requesting one, shouldn’t you be thankful and asking that person making the introduction that if there is anything you can do to help them out networking-wise to let them know?  Wouldn’t this be a common sense thing to say at the end of your Introduction request?  Then why isn’t anyone adding this sort of language to their Introduction request?

Social media has the potential to connect us, but it also has the potential to make us more impersonal through its platform.  Don’t fall into the trap.  Always add “The Personal Touch” in your communications on LinkedIn or any other social media platform.  Never forget that we are not merely a “connection” but a real person.  You will find that you will make a lot more meaningful relationships, and your network will work for you in a more successful way.  Otherwise, do you really think that that blank Introduction request will be a successful one?

As more businesses realize the potential for finding new business on LinkedIn, I am amazed as to how companies are starting to look at social media as if it gives them the right to cold call and send what I would consider spam to anyone and everyone in LinkedIn.  I wanted to go through some bad examples of what a lot of people are doing before giving you my advice, as it is important to understand some fundamentals regarding social media.

1. First of all, NO ONE LIKES BEING SOLD TO UNLESS THEY HAVE A PRESSING NEED AND YOU CONTACT THEM AT THE CORRECT TIME. And, needless to say, the person you contact must perceive value in what you are saying. Unless you are carefully analyzing a person’s profile, status updates and/or activities, and they indicate they have a pressing need, it is safe to say that no one wants to be contacted by someone if they don’t see value in what you have to say.
2. LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals.  It is not some playground for you to advertise something on.  Just as it may be easy for you to join a LinkedIn Group or connect with someone that you want to advertise to, you can be kicked out of these groups as well as blocked by these users.  In fact, starting today, unless I receive what I feel is a personalized and relevant message, I will start reporting these spammers by sending an email to abuse@linkedin.com I recommend that you do the same.
3. If we are in the same group or are connected and you want to sell something to me, make sure you send me a personalized and relevant message.  Yes, this will take time to create a database and personalize your messages, but what is the point of displaying my interests on my LinkedIn profile if you are ignoring it?  To quote Scott Allen, the author of The Virtual Handhsake, “I AM NOT A NUMBER.”
4. Social media is about being real and genuine.  Anyone who sends irrelevant, impersonal, and sometimes repetitive emails to members of LinkedIn Groups or connections is no better than anyone who has a fake LinkedIn profile.

So, in keeping with my thought process above, here is my advice for you to “sell” your service to your connections:

• Keep a database of who you contact and check it so that you do not send the same message twice. Very important to show that you are personalizing your approach.
• Make sure you utilize as much LinkedIn profile information as possible to personalize your message. At least, personalize your message for the location and/or industry that this person is in.
• Prove Your Value early in your message. What possible value does this person have in spending his or her precious time despite a busy day to read your message?
• Watch your frequency. I would argue that once-a-month is the most frequent timing you should have for your messages.  Anything more frequent than that and you will be noticed.  This could be good, but if your message is irrelevant, impersonal, and doesn’t have any value, that person will be more tempted to send your message to abuse@linkedin.com
• Think twice before adding someone to an email database. Services like Constant Contact allow subscribers to unsubscribe AND report spam, and I for one am not afraid to do so.  If you have the utmost confidence that the person has an interest in receiving your emails, fine, go for it.  If not, allow people to opt-in first.

A lot of businesses think that social media gives them a new avenue for advertising, and they are right.  But social media is “social” and you need to deal with people individually.  Yes, I have signed up for webinars or contacted some people after receiving their targeted messages on LinkedIn.  And, yes, some businesses and services provide tremendous value, so I am not opposed to being sold to as long as there is value in it.  But remember: just as good things can spread rapidly on social media, bad press can as well.  Spend the time to follow my advice.  Your success rate will increase exponentially.  And contact me if you would like more information on how I can help you and your business utilize social media in an intelligent way.

After I recently wrote about why I am a LinkedIn LION, I have gotten positive response from a lot of the readers of this blog that they are starting to “see the light” despite the negative wrap that LIONs have traditionally received.  At the same time, for those that want to slowly venture out and start to become a LinkedIn Open Networker, there is still a worry about keeping their private circle private.  Which leads to today’s question: is it right for a truly Open Networker to close up visibility of their connections to others?

Why many people keep their contacts private on LinkedIn was the subject of one of my very first posts in this blog last year.  And I commented on this as well in a more recent blog post concerning how you contact your new connection’s direct contacts.  I would like to add one more reason to my previous blog posts as to why you may want to hide your connections: prevent your contacts from being targeted by potential spammers, those with fake profiles that are increasingly becoming harder to detect.

What is important here is to note the distinction between an “Open Networker” and “Opening Up Your Connections”.  A LinkedIn Open Networker means 1) you are open to receiving invites from new people and 2) you will not respond with an IDK.  Whether you open up your connections or not is your prerogative and is unrelated to being an open networker.  It’s like saying, “Neal, since you are an open networker, will you recommend me even though you don’t know me?”  Of course I won’t!  So if you are in sales, recruiting, or want to try your best to protect the privacy of your trusted direct contacts, I see no problem in keeping your connections browsing closed.

I should note that LinkedIn is about social networking, so even if you close up your connections, they can obviously still be found if someone does an Advanced Search and that person that you are connected to appears in the search results.  In this scenario, you will show up as being the person that can make the introduction, and thus the end result will be the same in terms of your being able to make an introduction despite your connections being closed.  In other words:

Search for someone and if I am connected I will introduce you.

Don’t use my connections database as your virtual address book.

Seriously, if you connect with me and want to browse my connections, why not just give me a call or send me an email stating what types of people you are looking for that I am connected with?  I’d be more than happy to help if it is a valid request.  But more than likely, unless we went to school together or worked in the same company, I’ll tell you to do an Advanced Search and let me know who I am connected to that meets your search criteria.  It’s just much more time-efficient than going through several hundred screens of my contacts looking for a needle in a haystack.

I would like to point out that if you are NOT a LION and personally know all of your connections, then it may makesense to open up your connections because you don’t have to be afraid of spam.  But what happens if you are in sales and your good friend, who is also in sales, works at your competitor…will you still be opening up your contacts?  And that’s my point: it is the same issue and is your prerogative regardless of if you label yourself a LION or not.

To confirm your current Connections Browse status, please visit “Account & Settings” and go to “Connections Browse” which is on the right-hand side in the “Privacy Settings” section.