Power Formula LinkedIn Blog

Your LinkedIn company page has several important purposes and none more important than to share, influence, educate, and attract your target audience—but none of that will be effective unless people make the choice to follow your company.

Note: I will be covering these strategies and so many more in my upcoming 90-minute virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business on August 29. Check out the details and register here.

Here are the best ways to get more company page followers.

1.  Install a LinkedIn Company "Follow" Button on your website and blog.

2.  Ask people to follow your company in your other channels of corporate communication (snail mail, email, newsletters, advertising, etc.). And it's kind of lame to simply say, "Please follow our company page on LinkedIn." Instead, share with them what's in it for them. For instance, explain what interesting information you're going to make available to followers, like special promotions, job postings, articles, video, checklists, events, etc.

3.  Get more employees from your company to join LinkedIn, and be sure they correctly list and attach to your company as their current employer. This has been done correctly when your company logo shows up on their profile, and it will then click through to your company page.

4.  Allow employees who may have a large number of individuals in your company's target audience to invite people to follow your company page using the new Invite Connections feature. More details on this very helpful feature here.

5.  Show your employees how to include a link to your company page in their email signature.

6.  Discuss with all employees the importance of liking, sharing, and/or commenting on status updates that come from your company page. Your company's updates will then go to each employee's network—of course, based on the LinkedIn feed algorithm. More views = more followers. (Note: Employees are automatically followers of their employer's company page.)

You can use the new employee notification feature. This is one of the best new features LinkedIn has come up with for improving the effectiveness of your company page posts.

7.  Mention and link your company page on your other social media platforms.

8.  Refer to your company page when interacting with people in your LinkedIn industry groups.

9.  Share good, helpful resources and information via company status updates on a consistent basis. If you do this well, over time you will acquire lots of followers. LinkedIn has shared great information on what people want to hear about in its Publisher Pocket Guide—How to Spark Meaningful Conversations on LinkedIn.

10. Attract new followers by offering unique content that is only available to your LinkedIn company page followers.

In three weeks, I picked up close to 300 followers for my company page when I shared my free ebook 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make. I gave my followers access to it before I released it to anyone else.

If you haven't gotten your copy of 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make (and how to fix them before they damage your company's reputation), click here to download your free copy.

If you want more solid LinkedIn corporate marketing strategies like these, be sure to sign up for my upcoming 90-minute virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business on August 29. Check out the details and register here.

 

One plus one equals two, right? Well, not in the LinkedIn world.

For the most part, LinkedIn members have been using the site to pursue their individual goals and objectives.

It’s now time for the company to gather up the troops and bring all these individuals together—with their connections and their voices—and put forth a consistent company message. There is immense exponential value when the employees and company work together.

Note: Don't miss your last chance this year to register for my virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business. 

Also, to help business leaders corral this potential value, I have written an eBook titled 10 LinkedIn Mistakes Companies Make—and How to Fix Them Before They Damage Your Company's Reputation.

In this 15-page eBook, I address common mistakes, provide solutions, and give tips for using LinkedIn to grow revenues, find new employees and suppliers, and maintain a consistent brand in the ever-changing online world.

Download your copy of my eBook here.

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How many of these mistakes are you and your company making?

1.  Unprofessional or poor-quality employee profile photos—or, worse yet, no photo at all

2.  Sharing incorrect or inconsistent information about the company

3.  Poor participation—all company employees are not on LinkedIn

4.  Failing to keyword optimize employee profiles and company page

5.  Sharing poor status updates—or failing to use this powerful tool

6.  Not using LinkedIn to search for customers, employees, suppliers, strategic partners, etc.

7.  Failing to monitor employees' profiles and activity as well as what's being said about the company through LinkedIn

8.  Not joining or participating in LinkedIn groups—particularly significant industry groups and customers' industry groups

9.  Underutilizing the features and tools available on the company page—or not even having a company page

10. Having a woefully inadequate corporate social media policy—or none at all

To learn how to address the mistakes you're making and formulate a specific strategy for your company, be sure to check out my August 29 virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

 

Over 58 million companies have LinkedIn company pages, and that's a great place to start, but you may not get the results you desire from your company page alone. The road to real corporate marketing success begins with company employees presenting a consistent branding message on their personal LinkedIn profiles.

But if you're company management, how can you help your employees share the responsibility for promoting your company's products or services?

It starts with creating LinkedIn best practices guidelines and sharing them with all employees. The guidelines should include profile standards as well as simple LinkedIn activities that will be helpful for the employees as well as the company.

A LinkedIn training session is a quick and easy way to share the guidelines with your employees—and they will be more likely to follow the guidelines if they understand the strategy behind them and see the personal value in addition to the corporate value.

Of course, I've provided LinkedIn training for hundreds of companies and would be happy to assist you and your company as well. Click here to check out the details and register for my upcoming virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.
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What to include in your company's LinkedIn best practices guidelines

The first six items below are typically one-time profile updates that all employees can quickly and easily perform. The last item includes activities employees should be encouraged to engage in on an ongoing basis.

For additional LinkedIn company branding ideas, be sure to check out my upcoming virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

 

"I attended a LinkedIn workshop by Wayne, updated my LinkedIn profile using all his awesome tips and got 4 interviews with top Fortune 500 companies 5 days later." - Sandra Palacios-Serrato (July 9, 2021)

So, what specific tip did I share with Sandra to get these game-changing results?

Well, it's hard to know exactly because I shared so many actionable LinkedIn tips and strategies at that event, but I'm pretty sure the three tips outlined below just might be the ticket to your next set of impactful interviews.

By the way, I share these and many more tips, tricks, and strategies for job seekers of all ages during my virtual one-on-one LinkedIn consultations. Click here to check out the details and book your personal session with me.

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1. Enable the Open to Work feature on your LinkedIn profile

Lots of job seekers didn't even notice when this feature when it became available a couple of years ago. If you're one of those people, you better head to your settings ASAP and get this set up correctly. It won't take more than five minutes.

You can choose five specific job titles and locations you're interested in as well as the type of job (full-time, part-time, contract, etc.). And it's your decision whether you show this information on your profile or hide it. Learn how to do it here.
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2. Create LinkedIn Job Alerts for the right jobs and the right companies

You can now set specific job alerts for the companies you're interested in and notify those companies' recruiters that you're interested. This capability showed up without much fanfare last year, and it's a real game changer.

This may take you ten minutes, but when you're done you'll begin receiving notifications for the right jobs (not just the jobs LinkedIn thinks are right for you), and recruiters at your target companies may actually reach out to you directly. Here is a LinkedIn article that will take you through the steps.
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3. Add the right keywords in the right places on your LinkedIn profile

Simply put, LinkedIn is just one big database of people's profiles (resumes on steroids). When recruiters and HR professionals are performing specific searches for people like you, they use keywords to narrow their searches to the very best candidates. These keywords are typically things like job titles, skills, schools, industries, etc. The search results they get from LinkedIn are in an order that LinkedIn calls "relevancy to the searcher."

In order to get near the top of their searches, you have to be more relevant to them than the other people on the search results list. The easiest way to become more relevant is to add the right keywords (important words in job postings) to the right sections of your LinkedIn profile.

Based on my experience of working with thousands of job seekers over the years, placing those words in your Headline, Job Titles, and Skills & Endorsements sections will improve your position in the search results in just minutes.

There you have it—three simple LinkedIn steps that in just 30 minutes should improve your chances of being included on the shortlist of candidates who get an interview.
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SPECIAL OFFER

If you want me to see how "job search ready" your profile is as part of my full profile critique and also help you develop strategies to skyrocket your business and career, then take advantage of my special one-hour $197 LinkedIn consultation. This consultation will take place on the phone, and I'll share my desktop screen with you. I will email your marked-up profile to you prior to our session. Click here to learn more and book your session.

Here are a few comments from my recent clients:

"Great job offer received via LinkedIn only two days after consulting with Wayne!"

"I highly recommend Wayne's 1:1 Linked In coaching session. Per Wayne's guidance, I reached out to the SVP of Client Success for a company I saw a suitable role. I used language Wayne provided in our 1:1 session to initiate the contact...Since then I've had an initial interview and interacted with the SVP multiple times."

"He made the learning experience fun, interesting, and was a big help to me. It has increased my exposure almost two-fold in a couple weeks."

Don't miss your chance to get results like these. Book your session now by clicking here. Space is limited.

Whether it's a referral to an exciting new customer with big potential, a new supplier or vendor with a more effective solution, or a referral to your next great employer, referrals are not only highly effective, but it can be fun meeting your friends' friends.

However, it's not easy to ask the open-ended question, "Who in your network could help me find a job, customer, etc.?" So, rather than putting all the pressure on your connection to come up with the right people, why not use LinkedIn's Connections of feature to find the right people all by yourself.

This feature is so simple to use, and I've received tons of rave reviews about it. So below you will find a step-by-step description of how to use this terrific LinkedIn strategy.

For more winning LinkedIn sales strategies, be sure to join me on Monday, June 27 for my two-hour virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. Check out the details and register here. FYI, you don't have to attend the workshop live as all registrants will receive a link to the recording to view later. 
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Check out your referral source's Rolodex in just minutes (People Search Filter—Connections of)

Overview: LinkedIn has lots of great ways to find the right people in its 850-million-person database, but the one that seems to have the biggest wow factor is using the Connections of feature to search for people who can refer you to people in your target audience. I find that most people don't know they can do this nor can they believe it's available on the free LinkedIn account.

Think of this LinkedIn feature as an easy-to-use electronic version of an old-school Rolodex but with all the available filters to find just the right people in mere seconds.

Note: If you were born after the Rolodex died, it is a paper-based business card filing system (see picture above).

Step-By-Step Instructions

1. Put your cursor in the big, white search box in the top toolbar and hit the return or enter key and then select People in the white toolbar that appears (far left). Then select All Filters (far right).

2. Next, go to the Connections of box and type in your connection's name. When his/her name appears in the drop-down menu, choose that entry, and then click the blue Apply button.

3. Now use any of the other available filters to narrow the search to people at the right company, location, school attended, title, etc.

Caveat: If your connection has chosen to hide their first-level network from their connections, you'll only be able to see people to whom both of you are connected.

What to do with the search results

Review the list LinkedIn provides for you. If you find people who look interesting to you, check out their profiles, and then ask your connection how best to approach the people (through a LinkedIn connection request, phone call, email, in-person meeting, etc.).

The four questions I would ask my connection about the people on the list are:
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• • Do you know them? (Not everyone knows the people in their network well enough to refer you)
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  • Do you think they would be interested in hearing about how I might be able to help them? (You're trying to find out if your connection knows them well enough to know their level of interest in what you do)
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  • Can I use your name and our relationship when I reach out to them? (This is getting their permission to name drop)
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  • What do you think is the best way to get ahold of them? (Send a customized LinkedIn connection request, email, phone call, etc.)

If you get "Yes" or "You bet" to the first three questions, then go ahead, reach out and try to start a new relationship by referring to your mutual connection. The reach-out could take place in the form of a LinkedIn connection request, but you could also use more traditional methods, like a phone call, email, or stopping by for a visit. 

If you're like most people, once they learn of this feature, they can't wait to get started and put it to use.

What are YOU waiting for? Get started NOW.

If you'd like me to show you other hard-to-find, "can't miss" LinkedIn sales features, be sure to register for my upcoming virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects.

 

LinkedIn is contacting more and more companies and trying to convince them to upgrade their sales teams to Sales Navigator accounts. In addition, LinkedIn is putting more limits on the better features of their free accounts. Thus, more and more business professionals are asking me, Is LinkedIn Sales Navigator really worth the $79.99/month?

I've been using Sales Navigator for about eight years. Since it's a fairly expensive upgrade, I've put together some facts, figures, and personal thoughts to help you figure out if it's right for you.

Note: These comments do not address all of the Sales Navigator features but merely the ones I feel might justify the significant monthly investment. As part of my upcoming virtual workshop on June 27 Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects, I will include a live demo of these and other Sales Navigator features. You can check out the details of this two-hour workshop and register here.
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What is Sales Navigator?

Sales Navigator is LinkedIn's stand-alone business development platform that works in conjunction with your regular LinkedIn account. LinkedIn says that Sales Navigator will help you "target the right buyers, understand key insights, and engage with personalized outreach."

Users don't have a separate profile or separate login. You access Sales Navigator by simply clicking the Sales Nav icon, which will appear at the far right of your top toolbar after you upgrade your account.

There are three levels of Sales Navigator (with increased features and capabilities), beginning at $79.99/month. A free, 30-day trial is typically available. Click here to check out the differences between the three options. I pay $79.99 per month, and my comments here relate to that version.
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You should consider upgrading to LinkedIn Sales Navigator if:

You're tired of LinkedIn limiting your people searches each month. If you're taking advantage of LinkedIn's expansive database and doing lots of searches, you've probably reached the commercial use limit. No one outside of LinkedIn seems to know how many searches you can do before reaching the monthly limit, but it sure seems to have been reduced over the past couple years. This is the number one complaint I get from people who are hanging onto the free account but should probably consider upgrading to Sales Navigator.

You can avoid the commercial use limit by upgrading to Premium Business ($59.99/mo), but I'm not convinced this upgrade is valuable enough to justify the investment. You cannot avoid the commercial use limit by upgrading to Premium Career ($29.99/mo). Here is a chart to compare these two plans against Sales Navigator plans.

You want more helpful filters when searching for people. As part of Sales Navigator's Lead Builder function, there are currently 34 very specific filters available—and they're adding new ones all the time. This is one of the main reasons you might want to upgrade.

In my opinion, the best filters to help you find just the right people are Company headcount, Geography-Postal code, Years in current position, Years in current company, Posted content keywords, Changed jobs in last 90 days, Posted content in last 30 days.

Searching for people with the free account, where you need to use Boolean search rules, can be quite challenging, but it's very easy with Sales Navigator.

You'd like to save your advanced filtered people searches. Once you've done a good job of figuring out the right filters for a people search, it's usually helpful to save those search criteria for future searches. This saving function is no longer available on free or Premium LinkedIn as it was in the past. With Sales Navigator, you can save fifty searches, and LinkedIn notifies you weekly when new people meet your preselected search criteria.

This is, hands down, one of the most useful Sales Navigator features. It's like having a virtual assistant who's looking for the right people for you 24/7.

You want to send messages (InMails) to people who aren't first-degree connections. Sometimes you just don't want to connect with someone in order to send him/her a message. A Sales Navigator subscription includes an allotment of InMails. I get fifty InMails per month, and they carry forward if I don't use them all before month-end.

You'd like to track only certain people (leads) or companies (accounts) and avoid extraneous information. On your Sales Navigator home page, there is a feed that looks similar to the feed on your regular LinkedIn account but with one big exception—the only information in that feed relates to people (leads) or companies (accounts) you've designated.

In other words, there's no advertising and a lot fewer posts that really don't interest you because you handpicked the people or companies, and you get everything they share because there's no feed algorithm where LinkedIn decides what you want to see.

Also, you can designate people or companies that aren't part of your network. In other words, they don't have to agree to connect with you, but you can still monitor their activity. Then, if you use some of the information you've learned about them, you might be able to convince them to engage with you.

So, as you can see, the answer to the question of whether Sales Navigator is worth the $79.99 or more per month is yes, no or maybe. For me, it's definitely worth it, because I do a lot of searches for prospecting purposes. This synopsis should help you decide if it's right for you.

To learn more about the pros and cons of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, along with other quick and easy strategies to improve your sales pipeline, join me on Monday, June 27, for my two-hour webinar Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. 

 

Connecting with people has always been easier when you know that they attended the same school you did. Those mutual warm, fuzzy feelings can open a lot of doors. Personally, I've done a lot of business with fellow Marquette and UW-Whitewater grads whom I've found on LinkedIn.

The school(s) people attended are prominently displayed on their LinkedIn profiles, which means you can easily search for classmates. But then you can use the numerous filters on your school's Alumni page to laser focus your search for the perfect prospects.

Once you find those prospects, you'll want to reach out to them with a LinkedIn message (if you're already connected to them) or send a personalized invitation to join your network (if they're not already first-level connections). FYI, this is not only effective for sales prospects but also for people you may want to hire.

If you approach them in a friendly manner, mention that you're a fellow alumnus, and then nurture the relationship, there's a good likelihood that it could lead to your next client, job, employee, or other important business relationship.

Want more actionable strategies like this for finding new employees? Then join me for my upcoming 90-minute virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Recruit Top Talent Without a Premium Account on May 23. Check out the details and register at https://linkedinrecruitingmay2022.eventbrite.com. And all registrants get a link to the recording, so you don't have to attend live to get the benefit of this workshop.
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Step-By-Step Instructions for Using LinkedIn Alumni Page

1. In the large search box on your top toolbar, type the name of the school you're interested in. When it shows up in the drop-down list, choose that entry—or you can just click the name of a school on anyone’s profile.

2. Once you're on the university's page, click the Alumni tab. This will take you to that school's Alumni page.

3. You can now filter the entire list by entering words in the Search alumni by title, keyword or company box, entering years in the Start year and End year boxes, or selecting or entering information into one or more of the six columnar filters which include:
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• • Where they live
  • Where they work
  • What they do
  • What they studied
  • What they are skilled at
  • How you are connected

If you’ve been looking for a way to sort people by age range, this is your ticket. If you sell products or services to a targeted age group, use the Start year or End year filters on the top right to find alumni who are probably in that age range. Granted, it isn’t exactly an age search because not everyone gets an undergrad degree at age 22, but it should still provide some valuable information.

4. Once you have selected your filters on the Alumni page by clicking the bars under your desired selections, LinkedIn displays a mini-profile for everyone who meets your filtering criteria.

Without leaving the page, you can send a message to any first-degree connections or use a personalized message to invite anyone on the list to join your network.

It's as simple as that. You're then on your way to what could be a profitable relationship with a fellow alumnus.

To learn more quick and easy LinkedIn strategies to improve your sales pipeline, recruit employees or improve your corporate LinkedIn marketing strategy, check out my three upcoming virtual LinkedIn workshops. The next class, Using LinkedIn to Recruit Top Talent Without a Premium Account, is May 23.

 

Over 58 million companies have LinkedIn company pages, and that's a great place to start, but you may not get the results you desire from your company page alone. The road to real corporate marketing success begins with company employees presenting a consistent branding message on their personal LinkedIn profiles.

But if you are company management, how can you help your employees share the responsibility for promoting your company's products or services?

It starts with creating LinkedIn best practices guidelines and sharing them with all employees. The guidelines should include profile standards as well as simple LinkedIn activities that will be helpful for the employees as well as the company.

A LinkedIn training session is a quick and easy way to share the guidelines with your employees—and they will be more likely to follow the guidelines if they understand the strategy behind them and see the personal value in addition to the corporate value.

Of course, I've provided LinkedIn training for hundreds of companies and would be happy to assist you and your company as well. Click here to check out the details and register for my upcoming virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.
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What to include in your company's LinkedIn best practices guidelines

The first six items below are typically one-time profile updates that all employees can quickly and easily perform. The last item includes activities employees should be encouraged to engage in on an ongoing basis.

For additional LinkedIn company branding ideas, be sure to check out my upcoming virtual workshop Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Page & Effectively Market Your Business.

 

Should you let your first-level connections see all of your other first-level connections? Should you let them search into the entire list?

This question can lead to a lively debate. Typical answers include: That’s not fair! Networking is about sharing and Of course, I hide them—that’s my client list! or You want to have your cake and eat it too if you hide them.

But how many people are actually hiding their connections from their network? On my most recent LinkedIn user survey, I asked this question:

“Do you let your first-level connections see your entire first-level network?”

63% answered “Yes,” 13% said “No,” and 24% replied, “Not sure.”

If you're not sure, follow these steps to identify your current setting:

Under the Me icon on the right side of your top toolbar, choose Settings & Privacy from the drop-down menu, then Visibility in the left-hand column, and then select Connections. Allow your connections to see your connections list will either be set to yes or no.

This is one of the most critical strategy decisions you have to make on LinkedIn. However, the fact that 24% of the respondents are unsure suggests many people are not even making a conscious decision about it. But keep in mind that if everyone hides his/her connections, the power of LinkedIn to find new customers and get referrals is severely diminished.

To learn all of my secrets for capitalizing on LinkedIn's lead generation/business growth potential, join me on Monday, March 28, from noon-2:00 PM CDT, for my two-hour webinar Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects. 

LinkedIn is a networking site, which undoubtedly is why the default setting allows your first-level connections to view your network. I personally want to help my network in any way possible, and I look to my connections to assist me as well. As a result, I have chosen the default setting.

There are certainly legitimate arguments that support the decision to hide your connections. This list of Frequently Asked Questions should help you make the best decision for your situation.

Q: Why are people hiding their connections from their network? It doesn’t seem fair.

A: Most of the time they are doing it because some of their direct connections (first level) are names they want to keep confidential (typically clients). As far as whether it's fair or not, I used to feel it was unfair. However, I then realized some people would not be on LinkedIn if they weren't able to hide their connections. That being said, I'm glad the control exists, because the more people on LinkedIn, the better for all of us.

Q: If my search uncovers a second-level connection but our common first-level connection has hidden his/her connections, will I be able to tell who our common first-level connection is?

A: The great news is the answer is yes. That is why people who choose to hide their connections are still important people to have in your network.

Q: What types of people are choosing to hide their first-level connections on LinkedIn?

A: These are typically people who provide professional services, such as accountants, attorneys, insurance and financial brokers, architects. I also see some CEOs and company presidents making this choice.

Q: Can second- or third-degree connections or fellow group members ever see my first-level connections?

A: No. If you want to share your first-level network with them, you will need to invite them to become first-level connections.

Q: Can I pick and choose the people in my network that I will allow to see my connections?

A: No. It’s all or nothing. At this time the setting applies to all first-level connections.

Q: If I choose to display my first-level connections, do you think I should connect with competitors?

A: My quick answer is are you nuts? Would you hand over your database of your most precious business connections (including clients) to your competitors? My not-so-quick answer is sometimes relationships are more complex than that. Perhaps your competitor is also one of your suppliers. So you have to weigh all the pros and cons.

Also, if you think you're better at using LinkedIn than your competitors (i.e., you understand how to use features like the Connections of filter), it may turn out to be quite a competitive advantage to connect with competitors. You can look at their network, but they may not realize they can look at your network.

Q: If you hide your connections, are you able to look through other people's connections? 

A: Yes, you can look through the connections of people in your first-level network (as long as they haven't also chosen to hide their connections). However, since you've chosen to hide your network, you won't be able to help your friends find people in your network who might be able to help them unless you change your setting for a period of time so they can search through your network.

Armed with this information, you should now be ready to make a strategic decision about whether or not to hide your connections.

If you found this article helpful, consider registering for my virtual workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects on March 28. And it's not just for people who directly sell products or services. Everyone is selling something—yourself, your company or organization, etc.

All registrants receive a link to the recording of the workshop, so you don't have to attend live to get all the great information. Here is the link to register https://linkedinsalesspring2022.eventbrite.com.

 

What percentage of your LinkedIn connections are in your target audience?

That's a question I've been asking the people with whom I've had one-on-one consultations over the past few years. Here are the answers I get from the majority of the people:
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• I don't know
• Never thought about that
• Maybe 10 to 15 percent

That tells me most people aren't being very strategic in adding connections to their LinkedIn networks and maybe need a little tuneup on how to strategically grow their networks.

Building a strong network is one of the main strategies I'll be addressing in great detail at my upcoming virtual workshop "Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects" on March 28. Here is a link to check out the details and register: https://linkedinsalesspring2022.eventbrite.com
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Who should be in your network?

Let's start with this idea. Connections are the gas in your LinkedIn tank, and every time you connect with someone on LinkedIn, it affects the quality of your network—just like the quality of the gas you purchase affects how your car runs. In other words, not all connections are created equal.

Most people add connections haphazardly, but to be highly successful on LinkedIn it's important to develop a strategy for growing a dynamic network that will help you reach your most ambitious goals.

Everyone's situation is unique, but here are some general suggestions that will help you understand what types of people you should connect with to strengthen your network and help you grow your business, find a job, enhance your brand, or assist your favorite nonprofit.
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Who can help you generate sales leads, market your company's products and services, and grow your business?
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• Individuals who are the direct decision-makers for the purchase of your products and services
• People who are indirectly involved in the decision to purchase your products and services (strategic influencers or people from the company who weigh in on the decision)
• High-ranking officers at the companies that purchase your products and services, even if they're not the direct decision-makers
• Individuals who hang around with the people listed in the first two bullets (probably deliver similar services to the same purchasers)
• People who are recognized industry experts
• Leaders of your industry associations and/or people who manage industry events
• Individuals who are well networked in your region or industry
• Experts who provide educational content for the industry
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Who can help you find a new job or advance your career?
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• People who work in your industry and region
• People who work for companies you are interested in
• Recruiters who specialize in your industry
• Consultants and experts in your industry
• Human resources professionals who work at your target companies
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Who can help you enhance your personal brand?
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• People who have had similar career paths to yours
• Leaders in your industry associations
• Individuals who have large networks (LinkedIn or otherwise) concentrated in your region or industry
• People who work for some of the well-respected companies in your region and industry
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Who can help your favorite nonprofit thrive?
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• People who volunteer for or sit on boards of similar nonprofits
• Individuals who work at large corporations, foundations, etc. and tend to support nonprofits like yours
• People who are involved in groups that have large volunteer pools (e.g., religious organizations, schools, clubs, etc.)
• People who work for media outlets

If you strategically improve the quality of your LinkedIn network by connecting with the above-referenced people, you'll be better positioned to grow your business, find a job, enhance your brand, or assist your favorite nonprofit.

A final reminder, if you'd like more winning LinkedIn sales strategies, be sure to register soon for my workshop Using LinkedIn to Generate a Steady Stream of Sales Prospects on March 28 by clicking here.