Finding Connections on LinkedIn

If you're a member of any social network, you may bemoan the fact that you don't have many connections compared to, say, Guy Kawasaki. But, the number of connections aren't the point – the quality of connections you make on any social network – such as LinkedIn – are key. In this article, Linda provides a number of ways to find those LinkedIn connections and how to treat those connections once made.

Looking for Folks in All the Right Places...

In the previous article on LinkedIn, I mentioned that I would show you how to find contacts for your LinkedIn site. There are several ways to 'handle' social media contacts in various social media resources, but the LinkedIn methods are – in my opinion – the most scrupulous way to learn how to build contact lists and to learn how to treat those contacts.

With that said, you might use LinkedIn differently than I use LinkedIn, as I use this tool for professional resources only. With that said, please read on – you may learn that LinkedIn expects you to treat this social media tool as a business tool as well.

Slow Ride – Initial Contacts and Recommendations

LinkedIn offers various ways to meet other people within that site, and it's one social media tool where all you may need is your email address book to begin. But, unlike Twitter, Facebook or other social media tools, it is one resource where you'll want to know people who are on your contact list. Additionally, you may want to be properly introduced to those individuals you do not know. Allow me to explain...

While "unknowns" can help you gain employment, can help you to meet other people you've always wanted to meet, or can help to provide you with other resources that you need for a job or for a career change, at LinkedIn, you may discover that people are more guarded about their relationships to the people on their contact lists.

LinkedIn contact lists, for some individuals, represent a mirror image of a person's image, as they feel they are judged by the company they keep at LinkedIn. This is a wide-spread concept, so you may keep that in mind when you're about to download your entire address book into your LinkedIn contact pages.

If you are bent on selling your products or services, then feel free to ignore my advice. Then, you can feel free to be marked as a spammer at LinkedIn as well. One thing people will look for when you ask them to 'befriend' you through a contact page is your list of recommendations. If you don't have any recommendations, then your job of becoming connected with the "well-connected" might become slim.

Find Trusted Contacts First

If you're game to follow the 'rules' for connecting at LinkedIn, then the first thing you need to do is to find trusted colleagues to build your recommendations before you find any other contacts. These recommendations are the Holy Grail for LinkedIn, and they also help build your "trustworthiness" factor. So, go to your LinkedIn page, click on "Contacts" in the left menu and then click on the "Network Statistics" tab on the horizontal menu at top.

As you can see above, I have very few "trusted friends and colleagues," but I'm two degrees away from at least 3,600 other connections that I can add if I ask my friends for an introduction. But, before I do this, I'll want to go to "Add Connections," which is circled in red above.

When you click on the "Add Connections" link, you'll see the form shown above. Instead of simply importing your email list (which you can do at LinkedIn through their "Import Contacts" tab shown at the top horizontal menu above and through the "Check Webmail Contacts" button to the right), you can pick and choose among your contacts to add a small group of trusted and known friends first.

Pick people you know who would be happy to write a recommendation for you. Just remember that you may be asked (and it is highly recommended) to write a recommendation in return (Use the links in the previous article to learn more about writing recommendations).