Building Your Business, One Link at a Time

By Tracy Phipps, Owner

South Charlotte, NC

Well, you've created your LinkedIn profile - now what?  How do you build your network?  First of all, once you have entered information about prior jobs, LinkedIn makes it very easy to connect to your colleagues.  In the Contacts area, under Connections, you can choose to Add Connections via multiple tools.  You can ask LinkedIn to search your Outlook contacts or other mail clients for any people that might be listed in LinkedIn.  You can also browse your prior employers or educational institutions for people that you might know.  Remember to personalize your invitation to connect - make it valuable for them.

You should review your connections on a regular basis.  LinkedIn tools allow you to view new connections since the last time you checked.  Another way to build your network is to view your connections' connections.  This is the power of social networking.  Sometimes it might be hard to find someone you are looking for (their name is common, the company was so big and they don't come up easily, or they have hidden their profile).  When you review the connections of your connections, you can find colleagues that you might otherwise not have found.

Who is looking for you?  When you log in to LinkedIn, on the lower right side, you can see how many times you have appeared in a search and how many times your profile has been viewed.  Apart from the pure vanity of it, it is important to know who's looking for you.  I don't suggest you contact everyone who has checked your profile (especially if your last name is something like Smith - it could easily have been an accident).  But it can be a powerful tool to see the types of people exploring your profile.  You can use this information to adjust your profile and/or marketing.  Keep in mind that a user's profile, including your own, can be public, semi or completely private.  You may not be able to see the name of the person but knowing what industries are seeking you can be critical as well.

Joining groups is another way to increase your network and your visibility.  LinkedIn has thousands of groups - former employer alumni groups, school alumni, sports teams, industries, etc.  A search for "entrepreneur" groups yielded 395 to choose from!  Join groups and read the postings.  Connect to people in your group by answering questions.  Remember, people want to do business with someone they know.

Cybertary is happy to help you build your business network.   We can help you navigate the social network waters - just connect to us and we'll show you how!