Activating LinkedIn
Posted: Wednesday 26 January, 2011
Pete Goold
My LinkedIn community seems to be reaching some sort of critical mass, where it's now ticking over with a regular stream of inbound invites to connect.
I make no secret of the fact that I spent a huge amount of effort over the last few years in proactively developing my LinkedIn profile and contact base. From ~150 contacts a couple of years ago to around 800 or so at present (which, whilst a small number for some social networks is, I believe, a not insignificant number for LinkedIn given the vast majority are based on first hand commercial relationships), this involved constantly thinking about how to incorporate LinkedIn into routine communication - such as seeking out a new contact's profile following an initial meeting and immediately sending an invite, even if in addition to an email.
As a strategy, that is now paying dividends as the network seems to be going down a similar route to Facebook, taking an ever larger role in actively promoting individuals to other potential contacts based on their existing network. Purely and simply, greater focus and activity begets greater returns - which of course makes sense - but it has taken a while and a good deal of conscious effort to work organically, without needing day to day proactive nurturing on my part.
I've recently opted to take a higher level of membership to investigate how to best activate this growing community - the problem remains that even though cold contact is allowed (in finite quantities) via InMails, it's ultimately still cold contact and thereby involves the same challenges as any other form of cold contact, irrespective of the channel. However, the more robust and credible a LinkedIn community, the greater the likelihood of success with this approach - certainly we have had a good deal of success on this front recently.
As with any business development channel though, only through trial, analysis and the willingness to swiftly change direction do you really develop the right approach. And if nothing else, there are endless possibilities to continue to redefine, tweak and learn - which for someone of my disposition offers both great pleasure and an infinite challenge.
