Where is The Power of Your Network of Contacts on LinkedIn

How many contacts have you got in your LinkedIn network? It is quite a significant difference if your network is created by dozens or by thousands of contacts. Right after the quality of your LinkedIn profile, this is the next important factor, which influences, whether your presence on LinkedIn will be of any use or not.

There Are Three Levels of Contacts on LinkedIn in Total:

1. Contacts in your network – people, you are directly connected with, who asked you or you asked them and one or the other accepted the request to connect on LinkedIn. You can see No.1 by their name.
2. Contacts of contacts in your network – people, who are not directly connected with you, but they are connected with your contacts from the first level, with “the number ones”. You can see No.2 by their name.
3. And then there are contacts of contacts of your contacts… :), Contacts of your “No.2s”. You can see No.3 by their name.

Let’s do a little bit of maths here. Let’s say, theoretically, that you have 1,000 contacts in your network. Every one of your contacts (number ones) also has 1,000 contacts. And every one of their contacts (number twos) also has 1,000. How much is 1,000 to the third? 🙂

Yes, it is just a bleak theory, because there are many contacts that will be common to everybody, who is on LinkedIn. But for understanding the principle and mainly the potential, the power, which is hidden behind the size of your network on LinkedIn, it is, I think, a good example…

Because you can “reach” the contacts on the third level. Your profile and the content you publish can get to them. They can get interested in your brand and what you do. They can find out, how you can be useful to them and they to you and they may become your No. 1s.

Therefore, not just your contacts, but also contacts of your contacts are your potential customers… So the number definitely matters…

If you have only dozens of contacts in your network, not many other people have a chance to learn about you. Any of your activities’ reach is about zero and your presence here is bringing you nothing… But you are here to let as many people, your potential customers, know what you do, or not…?

How to achieve the network growing by itself and No. 2s becoming No. 3s? I will tell you in my next blog post about building the brand on LinkedIn. 

Today, We Are Going to Start From Scratch. From The Base of Your Network. 

Which contacts should be creating the base? 

1. People from your past you know – your colleagues, customers, employees. You have already earned their trust, they can connect you with other people, recommend, share your posts… Thanks to LinkedIn you can maintain or deepen your relationship.
2. People from now – people you have business meetings with, you discuss cooperation with, your current customers, clients. You can keep building and deepening the relationship with them on LinkedIn, even if it started offline, earn their trust. It will happen much faster than if you went to have a coffee with every one of them couple times a week…
3. People from your future – people you don’t know yet, but with you can be mutually beneficial with. Contacts from the second and third level that have become your Ones. They were interested in you and requested a connection from their own initiative or the other way around, you have asked them to connect. These are the people, whose trust you can gradually earn on LinkedIn and turn them into your customers…

All three groups of contacts are important for you, every one of them has its role. Your audience expands with their growth. More people can learn about you. Your brand becomes stronger. Interesting opportunities, commissions come along.

From my own (and my client’s) experience things start to skyrocket once you reach 1,000 contacts. This should be your first short term goal. And then keep going. A large network of contacts in connection with building your brand will soon start bearing fruit. It will be much easier for you to close a new deal, many customers will approach you by themselves.

But Watch The Quality!

Sending and accepting requests to everybody you come across is not a good way. Always act according to your goals and follow your LinkedIn strategy. Connect with people, who:

1. can become your customers;
2. can connect you with your potential customers;
3. you can learn something from;
4. you can cooperate with.

Quantity and quality of your LinkedIn network should go hand in hand. 

Jana Bártíková

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How to create a large and quality network of contacts on LinkedIn and turn them into your customers? I can teach you that in my Online Academy LinkedIn For Business>>>.