Monday, January 2, 2017

Why Do You Want 20,000 Linked In Connections?



19,645.

That used to be the purchase price of a house.  It used to be someone’s annual salary.  It used to buy a luxury car.

But I’m not talking dollars.

That number reflects how many Linked In connections I possess as of December 22nd.  I fell short of my goal to surpass 20,000 but I recognize the number is somewhat impressive.  I like Linked In much more than Facebook but I under-use both.  Just what does it mean to have so many connections if you don’t fully exploit them?

Why are you on Linked In in the first place? Is it because you:


  • ·         Were told to be on it?
  • ·         Are looking for a job change?
  • ·         Hope to sell books from it?

The main advantage of LI is that you can network with like-minded professionals and get introduced to their connections.  It’s like having access to everyone’s resume and personal phone book. It’s also good for researching people and staying in touch with former colleagues, classmates, and clients.

But it’s also a branding tool.  You want to rack up a high number of connections to impress others.  Not to brag, but to position yourself as a connected person who can help others. At a minimum you want to soar past the 500+ designation so when people look you up they believe you are a somebody.

I use LI as a way to find authors and publishing professionals.  I like to post on LI 6-8 times per work day.  I also enjoy posting to about four dozen writings and publishing groups. My blog gets lots of hits as a result.

But I can’t say things changed dramatically for me by hitting No. 19,645 vs. when I hit 10,000 or even 5,000. I guess the quality of your connections, combined with the total, plus how you use these connections is what makes all of the difference in the world.

One thing I like to do is once a year I email all of my connections. Many like that I reach out and usually I offer a nice gift – my annual book marketing tool kit – which you can access at the bottom of this post.

I imagine one day I will need those connections in a big way. If I launch something huge I’d lean on them very strategically and methodically.  I would focus on about 60 contacts a day – for a year – and I’d make it through all 20,000.  I would directly ask them for specific help and ask them to reach out to their connections in general, especially some big ones.  I would be prepared to offer them help or something of perceived value.  You only get nothing for nothing.  It takes something to get something.

If each contact was worth just $5 to me, that would be $100,000.  Can they buy something or help sell something to others that nets me at least $5?  Make it 50 bucks and now you are talking about a million dollars.

Go get your social media numbers up and start thinking how you can cash-in.  Otherwise you’ll get up to 20,000 connections and still wonder how to monetize all of this influencer access.

All-New 2017 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit 


Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017 ©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.