How to Build Your Network on LinkedIn

Would you feel comfortable standing in a room full of people and explaining what services you offer? Would you confidently and calmly articulate that to everybody without feeling nervous?

Not many people could do that straightaway, it takes a lot of practice to be able to show off your skills and shout about them in person. You can do all of this on LinkedIn...just behind a screen!

Tell Your Story 📚

Think of LinkedIn like a business journal. One that you're able to look back on and reflect on your progress. Whatever the platform, treat it like a diary!

How are you going to engage your audience? Storytelling works a treat.

- Tell people how and why you launched your business - what is your mission?

- Share a story about how you've helped a client in the past.

- Display a testimonial from a client and let them do the storytelling for you.

- Tell your audience a story about when you were where they are right now. 

People will resonate with you on a deeper level and you will be more memorable to them.

Engagement 💬

So many people are hung up on vanity metrics - how many likes have I got? How many people have commented on my post? Try to set yourself ZERO expectations and treat engagement as an exercise you're doing for yourself. 

You never know who is watching you... clients may not be active engagers on your content but may be active buyers! 

- Engage on other people's posts to get yourself seen.

- Ask an engagement question on the end of your post to encourage conversation in the comments.

- Send friendly voice notes in the DMs when you connect with new people who you see as ideal clients.

- Organise some virtual coffee chats to network with your audience and build a relationship with them.

It's all very well having good content but it's not going to be visible if you don't engage. 

Don't be scared ! 💀

Be yourself online and try not to overthink the process. LinkedIn is a social networking site for the business community, so use it for just that - networking!

The more you show up, the more visible you are.

There are so many people that say LinkedIn doesn't work for them. If you are one of these people, ask yourself these questions;

- How often do you 'like' posts?

- How often do you comment on posts?

- Have you engaged in the DMs recently?

If you are posting content and running away without engaging, LinkedIn isn't going to work for you. You must put the effort in to enable the magic to happen!

Final Thoughts...

Each platform has a different role to play in our businesses. I only focused on one platform at the beginning. LinkedIn was like the 'grown up' platform for me! It's come on leaps and bounds and is such a friendly community, whereas 5 years ago, I don't feel it was! Maybe I have just built my own tribe and curated my own audience successfully? Maybe it was me?

On this platform, we have the power to attract who we want to work with and respectfully repel the ones we don't want to work with. If people don't like the content they are seeing...they can change it!

Professional networking is so important and something we don't talk about enough.

Don't compare yourself to other people. Follow your own journey!

If you'd like to learn more about building your network and growing your online business, click below and take a listen to Episode 23 of my Podcast. 🎧