Not "feeling the love" that is supposed to come from
networking on sites like LinkedIn? You're not alone! It's
not easy to "get connected" successfully regardless of how
many people tell you LinkedIn is the holy grail of
professional networking.
Here's how to minimize residual damage to your
self-confidence and sense of worth when they're just not
that "LinkedIn" to you.
1. It's Not Who You Know, It's Who Knows You!
LinkedIn advises connecting only with those you know and
trust. Which is great if you know a lot of people. Not so
great if you're looking to meet new folks to expand your
network which is how most people are "sold" on the system
and why they are using it to begin with.
Who needs another time-consuming networking tool to stay
connected with people you already know? You have a
relationship with them and probably keep in touch regularly
via other ways and means.
Don't be surprised if you find people you know on LinkedIn,
issue an "invitation to connect", then don't hear back from
them. If you look closely, you may find they set up their
profile a long time ago, never did much of anything with
it, and aren't all that active in LinkedIn anyway (if at
all). Not much of a problem then.
What is a problem is when these same people respond to your
invitation with a "Doesn't know" tag. Get enough of these
and LinkedIn will ban you forever. Ouch!
2. It's Not Who You Know, It's Who WANTS to Know You!
LinkedIn has a defined social hierarchy. Don't act
surprised. Every society has a "pecking order"; this one
just happens to be online.
At the top of the hierarchy is the "open networkers". They
call themselves LIONS (for LinkedIn Open Networkers). They
typically have hundreds, if not thousands of connections
and advertise their openness to connecting with anyone.
This does not mean you don't have to check their profiles;
your "invitation to connect" can still be rejected. But it
does mean chances are good they'll accept thereby making it
possible for you to grow your network by connecting to
them. The downside is you're not likely to have a lot in
common with a LION (unless choosing them wisely) which
could make building ongoing relationships harder.
At the bottom of the hierarchy are the "closed networkers".
These folks accept invitations to connect based on
highly-defined known-only-to-themselves criteria.
Approaching them is very risky. Even when you know them,
worked with them, and possibly are even close personal
friends with them, they still might reject your invitation
to connect. If you're lucky, they'll just ignore you.
Multiple times. Your feelings might get hurt, but at least
you won't score any penalty points.
If you are thinking of adding them to your network, make no
assumptions. Test the waters offline before issuing an
invitation to connect to be on the safe side.
In the middle is everyone else. They may or may not know
you but, if you can get up the courage to send an
invitation to connect, there is a 50/50 chance they'll
accept if for no other reason than you look like someone
they really should know (or at least give the appearance of
knowing) or because they actually do know you and have
decided to give you that "virtual seal of social approval".
Others may accept because they have an agenda of their own
to pursue and you look like someone they can safely
approach with it sooner or later.
Then there are the people who send you an invitation to
connect with them. Now you get to decide who's in and who's
out. What's your standard "acceptance" criteria going to be?
3. Make a More Memorable First Move!
You can approach people you don't know on LinkedIn but if
you just send the boilerplate text provided for an
invitation to connect don't expect many acceptances. Send a
personal message; give them a reason to want to connect.
You'll be much more successful.
4. Tell a Better Story!
Just how "attractive" are you on screen? LinkedIn is not a
"meet market" for professional socializing. In fact, they
only recently started letting members post photos on the
site. But don't expect to see much "action" in the
networking game if you haven't put much effort into your
web presence.
Your professional profile tells a story about your
connection worthiness. You still have to "sell" yourself if
you want to make decent connections; your "rejection"
percentage will be high if you don't do a good job of it.
5. Go for Group Gold!
Does your profile read virtual wallflower? Check to see if
you meet the criteria of specific groups or associations.
Then make group connections and display your badge of
acceptance (group label) on your profile. Depending on the
label, your "connection" attractiveness could increase many
times over.
When using social networking tools like LinkedIn don't take
anything that happens or doesn't happen in cyber-space
personally. We all hunger for belonging, acceptance,
validation and love; it's just more productive to look for
these things in places other than online.
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Download more free career tips and advice at
http://www.smartstartcoach.com
Career advancement expert and mentor Linda M. Lopeke is a
leading authority on how to succeed in the 21st century
workplace and the creator of SMARTSTART Mentoring Programs:
Success-to-go for people working @ the speed of life!
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