In this post, I will share my proven strategy for rapidly growing my LinkedIn followers.
Over the years, I’ve participated in many trial and error, learnings, webinars, and Zoom calls. They all said similar things, but I found those things were way too salesy for me. So, I’ve found some happy ground when it comes to increasing my followers and connections on LinkedIn. Of course, none of this will work if you don’t know who your ideal lead is, their role, and where they are located. Equally, you need to be clear on who they are not.
Over 12 months, I grew my connections by over 282 followers, who are my lead persona and grew my lead persona connections by 228, an average of 19 lead connections per month. It might not sound a lot, but for a solopreneur working with a small team, how many leads can you realistically deal with at once anyway? (Refer below, quality-over-quantity!)
A little background
LinkedIn uses an algorithm to determine who gets to see your content and uses your contacts to do that. You confuse the algorithm if you connect with everyone to increase your numbers. It doesn’t know who to share your content with, so it doesn’t do anything with it. If you’re unsure about this, check out this post by SproutSocial. It’s not new news that this is what happens, but for you, it just might.
It’s a quality-over-quantity number
I did an exercise a couple of years ago. I went into my LinkedIn content and removed connections that did not fit my ideal lead persona. ‘You did what?’ I can hear cries of ‘noooooo’ from here. So, if you think this is a really stupid idea because you have thousands of connections, and the number makes you look important and well-connected, let me ask you this.
- How many of your connections do you communicate with personally through messaging on a regular basis, not by commenting or liking their posts?
- How many of them qualify as a lead?
- How many are just there to bolster your connection numbers?
While we all know the benefits of making great connections, what is the point if we don’t nurture them or make time for them? No one wants to hear from you when the only time they do is when you’re trying to sell something.
So before you send that next connection request, ask yourself:
- Does this person fit with my lead persona?
- Did I see common interests, experiences or mutual connections on their profile?
- How would I frame my introduction message so that it’s not cheesy or cookie-cutter
- Do I have time to nurture online relationships?
- How do I follow up if they don’t respond to my initial request to connect?
- Can I leverage my new connection to improve my current network?
Consistency is key
For those of you who know me, consistency is something I bang on about constantly. On a daily basis, I log into LinkedIn; generally, in the evening, after dinner, is my time to see what’s happening, and I follow a little routine:
- If I see someone who fits into my lead persona or I’ve been sent a connection request
- I visit their profile and review how active they are, what their content is like, who our mutual connections are, and whether they fit my lead persona before I offer, accept or decline their connection.
- I read some of their posts, and if they resonate with me or if I have something to contribute to their post, I will.
- I review other people’s comments on the post, and if I agree with them, I will like them, too.
- If someone is already a first connection and I’m not following them, I follow them back.
- Check-in on your connections now without asking them to buy, download, or give you anything.
Implementing this strategy takes time, but there are three things you can do now to get started building a meaningful community of leads on LinkedIn.
- Assign the task to a team member to do this for you.
- Do it yourself if you have time.
- If you don’t have a team and don’t have time to do it yourself but want to increase your leads and quality connections on Linkedin, then we’re only too happy to help you get sorted with our done-for-you package.
