We all know that we shouldn’t talk to strangers, and on many Social Media platforms, you wouldn’t accept a friend request from someone you didn’t know. But what about LinkedIn? LinkedIn is all about creating business and finding new jobs. But, should you accept every Linkedin connection request?
I’m going to answer this question very early on, and say yes. Yes, you should connect with people you don’t know on LinkedIn.
So thank you for reading, I really hope you enjoyed this one.
Before you go though, I would like to, if you will allow me. To give a few reasons as to why you should say yes and connect. Who knows, it may even be that you will send out more connections to people you don’t know.
So read on, and increase business for yourself, yep you read that correctly. By saying yes to a connection you can boost your company.
New content
The more active people you have on your feed, the more you will see. That goes for both business posts and generic posts. Generic posts are great for drawing in a crowd and probably getting even more connections. However, if you are posting 3 or 4 generic posts a week it can be difficult to keep coming up with fresh ideas. There are only so many Cat videos you can share.
If you are seeing more posts though, then you are open to more inspiration. You could see a picture of an exhibit somewhere, and it could mean something completely different to you than the person who you saw post it. The power of art is a different subject for a different time though. for now let’s just focus on LinkedIn connection requests.
Seeing new content is a great way for coming up with new content.
A different view
Not only might you find new ideas for content, but you could also find new ideas for your business. If you are connected to people in similar industries to yours then you could gain a whole new perspective for your business.
Whether that be how to run your business, how to expand your business, or even gain insight on how to improve your own leadership qualities. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals can surprisingly change the way you see the world.
Build support and support alike
The vast majority of people on Linkedin are on there for the same reason you are. To help buildup their business and increase their client base. It is the largest platform for business networking in the world, and with over 760 million users since 2021 you would be hardpressed to find an industry not there.
So, if everyone is on there for the same reason, it makes finding support and supporting others very easy. If you were to like and comment on someone’s post every day, that person will notice and is likely to reciprocate. Even if they were to never need or use your business, them doing the small action of reacting to your post will begin to show on other people’s feeds. It works vice versa too, who knows what posts could now end up on your feed, the perfect post for you could magically appear.
Increase your visibility and help your business grow. Increase someone else’s visibility helps their business and your business grow. It’s a win, win situation really.
That yes could start anything
A connection is a great way to start a conversation, a conversation can go nowhere, or, and here is the beauty of it, it can go anywhere. The person that you have just connected with might do a weekly live show on LinkedIn. They like the idea of your business, they notice how valuable your experience and insight are and invite you on.
You then share a bit of your knowledge and get free advertising more people now not only want to connect with you, but they know your name and they know what you do. Trus is key in business and if you know your stuff, and they know you know your stuff, then they will trust you.
Spread your connection wings
So by now, you may have noticed that visibility is quite important. The more connections you have, the more 2nd connections you have. This means you see more potential 1st connections and they see you as 1st degree as well. Then should you connect with another person, it starts all over again. The more connections you have the more 2nd-degree connections you can send a Linkedin connection request to. This just keeps ongoing.
When to say no
Before you do say yes it is worth just making sure they tick a couple of boxes:
- Do they have a profile picture?
- Does their profile have any information?
- Do you have any shared connections?
- Are they active on LinkedIn?
If the answer is no to any of these then they probably aren’t worth connecting with. They could be fake accounts or spam accounts. You don’t want to deal with them, they just clog up your connections.
Other than that, just say yes.
