LinkedIn: How to Grow Your Network With the Captive Audience You Could Be Missing

When it comes to LinkedIn, the age-old cliché is right – You never know who you’ll meet.

LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool for so many reasons. But what’s one of its best features? The fact that you can see exactly who’s been checking you out with one click of a button.

It’s great flattery when people are viewing your profile and piques all of our interest, but the problem is – this is a huge opportunity to expand your network – but unfortunately, most people don’t do a single thing with the information. And you’re missing out.

So how can you start making some new connections and grow your network? It’s just an easy start to a conversation. When someone has viewed your profile, and you’ve checked them out and find there could be some mutual benefits to connecting and growing each other’s networks, your only goal is to have your connection request approved.

You won’t have or want to do this with every person who views your profile (that’ll get exhausting), but when you find someone who you genuinely believe you could help each other out, reach out.

This is an easy message to send and your next best step is to do a little detective work yourself to find out more about the person so you can reach out with a personal message when you request a connection.

Start things off with a simple introduction, try to include something that you might have in common and ask how they came to view your profile. This part is important and often overlooked, but you want to know exactly what brought them there, and it’s perfectly fine to ask. Here’s an example:

Hey Jamie,

My name is Louise, and I’m a Sydney-based freelance writer. I’m always looking to expand my network of contacts (especially with fellow UNSW alumni!). I noticed you visited my profile on LinkedIn, what brought you by? Did I do something? 

I’d love to connect with you here. Looking forward to keeping in touch and finding ways to help each other out.

Best,

Louise

And it’s that simple. This message does more than strike up a generic conversation; it asks the person to explain exactly what they were interested in. Knowing this provides you with a clear foundation and direction for the relationship or potential next interaction. Which is where it all begins.