Discover the power of LinkedIn connections. I think when many people first discover LinkedIn they are often amazed at how people can have 500+ connections let alone 5,000+ or even 50,000+ I mean how many people can we really know? Most active sales professionals may have 300 to 500 real business contacts but 5,000 or 50,000?
Well, that is simply impossible!
Do you know that Facebook will automatically close down your account if you have more than 5,000 friends! Facebook knows that nobody can have 5,000 real friends so what are LinkedIn connections really for?
LinkedIn is different things to different people.
A senior VP with a major corporation has a position that carries its own passport that opens door everywhere. For this person LinkedIn is a digital Rolodex and nothing more – in fact it is advantageous to keep a lower profile on LinkedIn to avoid having your time wasted by people who want access to the company that employs you.
When the same VP leaves the major corporation to set-up a consulting business he may find that his relative invisibility is now a huge negative. Now, he still needs a Rolodex but he also needs an audience.
The value of a LinkedIn audience?
When you post an update on your LinkedIn activity feed is potentially viewed by millions of people. The more connections, the larger that audience. And the good news is that access is FREE! If you write a compelling update with a link to your website, depending on your audience size that could be worth thousands in a similar Pay-per click advertisement.
The more LinkedIn connections you have the larger your audience and these can become potential Twitter followers, blog readers, Facebook fan page ‘likes’, attendees at your speaking engagements or readers of your book. In other words your LinkedIn connections can become influencers in drive business. This audience there and you don’t need to spam them with unwanted emails simply write compelling updates.
Would you like to be headhunted?
Even if you never plan self-employment or to launch your own business developing a higher profile is important. For many professionals looking for a new job is a dangerous world for some – if your present employer find out you’re looking then you might be considered a liability and not a team player and find yourself not promotable. The answer is to get headhunted. Keep your CV off the job boards and have the job offers discreetly come to you!
Recruiters are always trolling LinkedIn and the higher your profile and the more active you are the more visible you are – this is a good thing! Again this is about audience not connections.
How to get an audience of 5,000 on LinkedIn? It is easier than your think? Book The Sales Experts to train your sales team and I will tell you how to build a significant LinkedIn audience in days not months!
Remember LinkedIn is about The Six Degrees Of Separation not the Old Boys Network.