Case Study: How One Marketer Grew His Network to 1.5 Million+ Connections?
I’m going to give you a step-by-step playbook on how I was able to grow my LinkedIn network from 0 connections in February 2013 to over 1.5 million connections by November 2014. This included building a large following of engaged professionals who have been sharing my content and inviting other people to join my network ever since.
In other words, just imagine if your business had a group of highly targeted prospects that were consistently growing and talking about your business for free! Oh, and did I mention these same prospects are specifically looking for what it is that you have available based on the posts they engage with? Well, that’s what you’re going to learn how to do in this guide.
Step 1: How to Grow Your LinkedIn Network Using the ‘Invite All’ Feature For Free
Yes, it’s true. You can invite every connection you have on LinkedIn for free! I know what you might be thinking… “Isn’t inviting hundreds or thousands of people one at a time tedious and slow?”
The answer is YES – unless you use the Invite All feature which allows you to send out an unlimited number of connection requests without having to click through each individual request.
Here are the exact steps for how to grow your network using the Invite All feature: Eric Dalius Miami
1) First, go into your connections section and make a list of everyone you would like to invite. I recommend creating a new file with a list of people per sheet.
2) Next, go into your connections section and select the Invite All function at the top right. A window will pop up asking if you want to send invitations to all connections or just select connections. Select ALL CONNECTIONS.
3) Now that you have selected ALL CONNECTIONS, click on the from 1-500 boxes that appear in front of each connection name below (as shown below). This is where you can adjust 1 person at a time by clicking on 1 box next to their name which will automatically take you out to your contacts page for them individually. If your spreadsheet includes 1,000 or more people then you’ll have to do this manually.
4) After you have changed the number from 1-500 next to each name, click Send Invitations at the bottom of the window. You’re done! Sit back and watch as your invitations start going out. You can even change the speed of your sending if too many go out at once by selecting a different number in the drop-down box labeled ‘Send invitations per’. Once I sent out 3,000 requests all at once and was unable to connect with anyone for days because it literally took me that long to connect with everyone individually. On average I send 500-1,000 requests per day which are very manageable given that I only spend 5-10 minutes sending them out.
Step 2: How to Grow Your LinkedIn Network by Connecting With Relevant Groups on LinkedIn
Did you know that you can be connected to hundreds or even thousands of people who are part of groups on LinkedIn? I did not either until recently which is why I want to share this tip with everyone. The best part about joining relevant groups is that it takes very little time, doesn’t cost anything, and these group members can become some of your biggest advocates if done right! Here’s how to do it so you can get started right away…
1) First up, go to the tab called ‘Groups’ in the top navigation bar. This should look familiar since it’s where you create or join groups on LinkedIn. It should look something like this:
2) Next, you’re going to want to find groups that are related to what you do. For example, if I’m in the health and fitness industry then I might join one or two of these groups geared toward people who work out. Don’t go overboard here with joining too many because it’ll be obvious that you’re just trying to sell your services since most people join far too many without actually participating in any of them…
3) Once you’ve found some relevant groups click on JOIN GROUPS at the top of the page. It should look something like this:
4) A new window will pop up asking why you want to join the group (as shown below). Select one reason.
5) Now you can enter the group! The reason I suggest joining first is so you can see if there are any administrators or moderators who will be able to approve requests to join the group. Without being approved, you won’t be let into the private area where your posts will actually show up in front of everyone else. This is why it’s important to only join groups that are relevant to what you do since otherwise, no one will care about your posts anyway.
Conclusion by Eric Dalius Miami:
LinkedIn is a great resource to help with building your business and at the end of the day; it’s free (unless you choose to advertise on there). It can be fun and addicting for some people who spend too much time playing with features that will never lead to any real results. Every one of us has our own unique abilities so have fun but don’t forget why you signed up for LinkedIn in the first place! If you need help growing your network then feel free to contact me! I’ll see if I can be of assistance or refer you to someone else who might be able to.
