Social media is today’s version of the first impression. Parents are registering domain names and securing social media accounts for their children before birth and five-year-olds can work mobile devices better than most adults. Like it or not, social media spawned the practice of judging each other by followers, likes, and shares.
Unlike Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, LinkedIn helps neutralize some of our conditioned perceptions by not counting connections past 500. Instead, they add a plus-sign to the end of your follower count and that 500+ acts as an equalizer. No, it’s not a magic number. A secret trap door doesn’t open and nothing special
Wondering why LinkedIn chose to deviate from the social norm? There are countless theories; everything from removing the popularity contest element and discouraging people from ‘collecting’ connections, to an attempt to reduce social spam. No matter the reason, it’s undeniably a factor we notice when looking at LinkedIn profiles and like it or not, we make judgments based on it.
At Channel Maven Consulting, we encourage Vendor and Partners to put forth the effort to reach 500+ as quickly as possible. There are plenty of good reasons to be more connected socially but first and foremost; it removes the ‘popularity’ conversation from the mind of most viewers. And, when your Partner’s potential buyers are looking at their profiles before they reach out, it’s important to remove any perception based roadblocks to demand generation.
Here are five ways to help your Channel Partners grow their LinkedIn connections:
The People You May Know tool acts as the principle component of engagement on LinkedIn and uses predictive methods to find other professionals you might know on the site. This feature is responsible for more than half the connections made on LinkedIn. Start here to use LinkedIn suggestions to help your Partners build connections base on their unique profiles.
Groups are a great place to connect with likeminded people. There are endless groups, across all industries and organizations, for Partners to join. Most provide professional insight and welcome participation and they’re a great place to make new connections.
Groups are also one of the best places to meet potential buyers. Find out where your ideal client hangs out on LinkedIn and join those groups. Don’t be shy. Connect with these ‘strangers.’ You never know which connections will lead to future business, partnerships, and/or friendships.
Connecting with influencers can help immensely if you want to be noticed on LinkedIn. Whenever there’s a chance to connect with an influencer, seize the opportunity. For example, you might meet them through a conference or networking event. But, don’t stop there, after you connect, look at who they’re connected with and connect with those people as well.
There’s a certain phobia that exists around LinkedIn when it comes to connecting with strangers, but guess what? There shouldn’t be. LinkedIn is as close to an online networking event as you are going to get. Make it work for you by reaching out to strangers. Doing so pays off in the same way it pays to introduce yourself at an in-person networking event.
Think of reaching the ‘500+’ as your LinkedIn goal. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s much more realistic than you and your channel Partners may realize and worth the effort!
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