When Frank asked me to write a part 2 to his recent blog “How to increase your connections on LinkedIn” with a follow up article on how to connect to people you don’t know…I admittedly balked. Technically, LinkedIn does not allow you to connect to people you don’t know. This policy is enforced by the (infamous to us “super users”) “I Don’t Know” button (insert ominous music here).

Why do I mention this? I do so because, I cannot endorse or even recommend that you add people to your LinkedIn network that you are not connected to. If I were doing so, then I would be ultimately telling you to break the rules of LinkedIn, and in so doing, I open myself up to potential complaints, and all sorts of liability (in the event that your profile gets eliminated).  That being said…

CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW

How did I connect with people that I don’t know? My strategy is really twofold.

Strategy 1 – Sending Invitations to people outside my close circle of friends/colleagues/contacts

Arguably, I know almost everyone in my 1st level of contacts…ok, it’s all relative. As a recruiter, I talk to a lot of people.

- The end of all conversations with candidates, clients or prospects always end with “are you on LinkedIn? Let’s connect”.
- My email signature always has a link to my LinkedIn profile, with an invitation to send me an invitation.
- If I find a profile of someone that I am interested in connecting with, I use their profile as an opportunity to get to know them. Whether via inmail, email, or telephone, I go out of my way to find the candidate and contact them directly. I introduce myself ask to get to know them a bit better, and BAM! connect. Very rarely do I get a “No”, this way. You would be surprised how flattered recipients of such emails and phone calls can get. (heck, i know that if you went out of your way to contact me directly via email or inmail, I would accept a request to connect on LinkedIn, without question!).

Ok, the next few tactics are a bit ”grey”

- I look for profiles with people’s email addresses listed. Personally, I search for people with their email addresses listed in their profiles. By breaking the rules and posting their email addresses in their profile (this is a big no no) these users are telling me that they are “open networkers”. They are open to accepting invitations from others. While I technically don’t know these people, I do send out invitations to them to connect, because I too am an open networker, I accept all invitations, and assume that they do too…I mean why ELSE would their email addresses be listed, in direct violation of the user agreement). And so, I send out invitations to them.
- LIONs = LinkedIn Open Networker. If I find this acronym in someone’s profile, their email address is not far away…I look for it, and use it to send out an invitation for them to connect.
- TOPLINKED – same as LIONs. If I see this title in a profile, I look for the email and send them an invite.
- LinkedIn Groups: you can join 50 at a time. I have joined the max. The larger the group, the larger the number of contacts, the bigger your network. Join many, and change them frequently.

Strategy 2 – Raising my personal profile, and inviting people to send ME an invitation.

LinkedIn allows you to send 3,000 invitations. If you’re nice, and beg frequently, they will sometimes ration you a few, every few months after that…but they’re scarce, and so, I depend on this “Pull” strategy more often now than I ever had.

- I became a LION. This takes more than just writing “LION” in your profile, it means joining the “LION” LinkedIn group, moderated by John Evan, and the www.themetanetwork.com run by Christian Mayaud.
- I joined Toplinked.com (a list of open networkers that distributes the contact information of all the open networkers on LinkedIn, and members of toplinked).
- I respond to as many recruitment related “LinkedIn” questions as I can.

- I tweet and blog regularly, always inviting everyone to join my network.

The most important rule to remember is that networking takes work. It’s not about adding people and forgetting about it. It’s about making a concerted effort to keep growing it, and staying active. Is it better than having a small tightly knit network of personal and professional connections like Frank does? No, it’s just different.

What about you? What are you doing to build your network?