How Big Should You Grow Your LinkedIn Network?
Bigger is not always better when it comes to your LinkedIn network. What's the magic number of connections you need to grow your business or leverage your impact?
Your LinkedIn network is a new and improved digital version of the Rolodex. Likely filled with business peers, colleagues, professionals, fans, clients, contractors, and perfect prospects.
Now, you can try to just add MORE to this list, but you'll dilute the value. BIGGER for the sake of MORE is not the game on LinkedIn, as opposed to traditional social media channels, like Instagram or Facebook.
So what is the game?
In this live, Mondays with Mindi, we talked about how to grow your LinkedIn network in a way that optimizes for value, not sheer numbers!
I shared my five favorite benchmarks for network size, how to know which number to shoot for, and some getting started tips for getting the right connections into your network fast -- without coming across as a spammer.
The Bigger is Better Myth
Bigger is not always better when it comes to your LinkedIn network.
Is there a magic number of connections you need to grow your business or leverage your impact?
Most of my fellow LinkedIn experts will advise you to grow your network AS BIG AS POSSIBLE if you want to be seen as a thought leader, especially.
Thing is… what good is a ginormous LinkedIn network if you’re not using it effectively? Here’s what I’ve seen happen to a number of my clients and students who’ve gotten a bit too zealous on their LinkedIn networking strategy...
You get connected to people who just want to sell you something
When you decide to start nurturing relationships on LinkedIn, you have no idea where to start - line 4,373 on that exported connections list? :)
Your network feels like a hodge podge of people from your past - no longer relevant to your current career or business objectives
Your engagement on LinkedIn posts is REALLY low because the people in your network don’t care about your topic
You discover that ALL THOSE connections are never going to buy from you - they’re not your perfect prospects or collaborators or business colleagues that you want
Let’s figure out how to get your LinkedIn network dialed in - when you get this just right - your potential superfans, industry peers, and perfect prospects will start gravitating to you and paying more attention to what you post on LinkedIn.
It’s the secret that nobody tells you when they give you their “top five tips to get more engagement on your LinkedIn posts” :)
The Magic Number of Strategic Connections
Have you heard of Dunbar’s Number?
It’s basically that number floating the inter-webs that basically gives a bunch of scientific reasons why there’s a limit to the number of people you can interact closely with socially.
Beyond that number (usually somewhere between 150-250), the strength of the connection or attention you can give to that relationship starts to dissipate.
Now, your LinkedIn network is not necessarily ALL filled with people who’d drop whatever they’re doing to hop on a Zoom call for coffee with you.
I feel that we can apply a similar principle to our LinkedIn networks, and I like to view my own LinkedIn network as a new and improved digital version of the Rolodex.
Mine is filled with business peers, colleagues, friends, professionals, fans, clients, contractors, and perfect prospects.
Now, I could try to just add MORE to this list, but I have limited time and want to focus ONLY on the people whom I can help most, those I enjoy following professionally for any number of reasons, and people who are aligned with where my business focus is now.
BIGGER for the sake of MORE is not the game on LinkedIn.
When on LinkedIn, stop trying to play the other social games of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!
So what IS the game?
How Strategic is Your LinkedIn Network?
Now imagine that you’re trying to find the perfect designer for your book cover or a developer to help you create the next big app!
Where would you look first?
If it’s not your LinkedIn network, that means it could probably use some work.
Many people hop onto a platform like Fiverr or Upwork to find complete strangers and cross their fingers the reviews live up to the customer experience they end up having.
When your LinkedIn network is jam-packed with GOOD PEOPLE doing GOOD BUSINESS, you never need to look elsewhere.
A great LinkedIn network has the right balance of people for your business.
Now, you don’t need to measure this balance at all times, it’s more of a mindset thing and how to approach inviting new people to your network or accepting connection invitations from others.
Moving forward whenever you’re wondering whom to add to your LinkedIn network - ask yourself if this person looks like they’d benefit from connecting with you and if you could benefit from connecting with them.
Sounds really simple, I know, but being mindful of this whether you’re sifting through dozens of inbound connections per day or starting to reach out to others to build your network -- the connection should be obviously mutually beneficial.
LinkedIn Network Growth Level Benchmarks
Here are my five favorite benchmarks for building a strategic network with you.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to work your way through all of them. Some of you will find a “sweet spot” for yourself that feels “just right.”
Again, don’t feel that you need to go beyond your own sweet spot UNLESS you have a strategic business objective in place.
1. The Newbie - Get your first 100 connections
If you’re just getting started, that’s okay! These first 100 should be relatively easy to get by asking people you already know. I recommend looking in your business email account for fellow professionals whom you already know that you could get connected with.
Another idea is to join some industry groups on Facebook or LinkedIn and start interacting with the group members. Then, you can reach out to fellow members to ask them to connect on LinkedIn. Whatever you do… DON’T SPAM to get these connections.
Go broad, but make sure they deserve a spot in your network.
Once you get those first 100, the others will come a bit more easily - especially if you have a decent looking LinkedIn profile.
2. The Magic 500 - Get your first 500 connections
This is where you’re going to start branching out and might be connecting with people whom you don’t know very well yet.
If you want to build a really healthy balance of types of people in your LinkedIn network, start thinking about the professionals you’d like to collaborate with, who might be an ally to your business or make for a great contractor?
I wouldn’t recommend going after any prospects yet until you’re above 500.
Focus on growing your network with like-minded people and professionals in your industry and outside your industry when it makes sense, using a well-written connection invitation.
3. LinkedIn for Business - 1,000 - 3,000 connections
I like this is the sweet spot for many people who want to have a decent-sized network and the ability to use LinkedIn most effectively.
Many of you don’t need to go beyond this network number IF these are chosen strategically and aligned with your business.
Your LinkedIn engagement rate will likely be higher than some others in the other categories because these connections should be very much aligned with your business objectives and what you’re sharing on LinkedIn.
If you keep your network of connections on the smaller end, you’ll pretty much know just about everyone in your network by their name and areas of expertise.
You’re also in the right range to start reaching out to your perfect prospects at this level and get into some one-to-one conversations.
4. Thought Leader - 3,000 - 10,000 connections
This is my range at the moment. Once you get above 3,000 people in your network, you’re likely feeling pretty confident on LinkedIn and how to use the platform to reach the people who matter to your career or business.
If you took a thoughtful approach to build to this level, you will have multiple “someones” in every single category for your business - colleagues, friends, peers, prospects, clients.
The problem happens when you get to this number artificially or prematurely by “spamming” a bunch of people just to get your numbers up.
You’ll likely NOT get the engagement you were hoping for, and it may be tougher to identify perfect prospects in your network.
That’s okay. You can still recover, even if most of these people are not ideal for you.
You don’t need to start removing connections unless you really want to go to all that trouble.
In a perfect world - if you have a great network, this level can sustain most small to medium-sized B2B businesses with a solid pipeline of prospects and supportive collaborators.
5. Influencer - 10,000+ connections
Congrats! You’ve reached the Influencer level. Many influencers are far above this range - some in the tens of thousands (or more) - but I think this 10K number is ideal if you’re striving to be considered influential or the buzzy-word “thought leader” in your niche.
Getting above 10,000 LinkedIn connections likely means you have a LOT of people in your network whom you don’t plan to keep in close contact with over time. This is totally okay, if being influential is the objective.
Many authors I’ve worked with like to get above 10K before they launch because this gives them more credibility and the potential to engage with their audience… hopefully turn them into readers.
At this level, you may also have a LARGE number of perfect prospects whom you’re already connected with on LinkedIn, allowing you the opportunity to reach out to them one-to-one to build that business relationship… as long as you haven’t wasted that message on a spammy one.
So there you have it, all five benchmarks for LinkedIn network size and where you might want to “grow into” as you focus more on LinkedIn for Business.
Now, go look at your LinkedIn network now and give it some thought. Are you happy with your current network? Is there a need to grow it any bigger? Should you swap out some of the connections for those who are better aligned?
If you’re struggling to figure out what to do next, that’s okay. Post your question below or send me a quick email to discuss!
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Before you start actively growing your LinkedIn network, make sure to optimize your LinkedIn profile to increase your chances of getting that connection invitation accepted.
I just released a free three-part mini-training How to Reboot Your LinkedIn Profile to Grow Your Online Business to help!
It’s jam-packed with templates and examples and a step-by-step approach to optimizing your headline, the two most important parts of your About section to get more inbound connections and build your list, along with what to do with your Experience sections!
Click HERE to get instant access!
