How to invite someone to join you on LinkedIn
Most people I know who are not owners of businesses or in some sort of sales, consulting or marketing role, join LinkedIn reluctantly; or because they’ve been invited to connect. I remember about five years ago I started to receive invites and would think: “OK, one day, remind me why I need to again.” Then I joined, and had the world’s worst profile for about a year or so. I’d just hit accept if anyone invited me and leave it at that. Judging by the profiles I’ve seen lately, I’m thinking that makes me pretty similar to most people when they start on LinkedIn.
One of the things that stopped me from making more out of LinkedIn early on, was having to reach out to people, whom I had never met, and invite them to join me as a connection. The “I’d like to add you to my network on LinkedIn” invite, seemed a little cold particularly if I wanted to take the relationship one step further.
Tom Skotidas is Head of Marketing and Business Development at First Rate . He’s also a good connector. He has to be. It’s part of what he does for a living. Tom is now starting to blog on using social media for B2B lead generation. He’s also running a course on B2B marketing using social media at the Australian Direct Marketing Association.
Here are Tom’s top tips on connecting on LinkedIn.
I’ve just pinched these from his new website – but I’m sure he won’t mind.
First up Tom suggests finding human connection points. So: Tweets, blog articles or other online mentions – whatever you have in common. Say, for example:
- People you know in common (available on their LinkedIn profile)
- LinkedIn groups you share
- Their blog posts or published articles (i.e. the ones you have read and enjoyed so much, as to form an opinion)
- Schools you both attended
If you are not into building up your numbers just for numbers sake, finding the connection point, goes for hooking up on most social media forums. I’ll give you an example:
On Twitter I don’t tweet too much personal stuff. But I had a strange weekend a few months ago, and tweeted that I’d faced a sticky situation involving a dog, a forklift and a honey factory in Forbes. Two people commented on that when they followed me. I followed them back immediately.
As for your actual LinkedIn invite, Tom suggests: “Be relevant. Make sure to address your invitee by their first name, and to clearly reference your connection points. Throughout your invitation, be genuine and respectful. Tell them how you found them, and why you want to connect. And make sure to pump up your credentials as well, via a strong LinkedIn profile.”
Speaking of which, Tom, I may need to gift you a bullet point. 
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