How to Increase Your Network on LinkedIn

With a billion users and growing, LinkedIn is a goldmine when it comes to growing and expanding your network online. As a business owner you can’t afford to neglect increasing your LinkedIn network. You need a strategy to do it well. We’ve compiled a list of easy strategies to increase your LinkedIn network which will open you up to more opportunities.

What you should know: Networking on LinkedIn!

Before we jump right in and look at easy ways to increase your LinkedIn network it’s important to know the following facts about LinkedIn:

LinkedIn is currently the world’s largest professional social networking platform with a billion users on the platform. It’s expected to grow by at least 55% in 2025.
The higher the number of your connections the better. It’s a fact that those with 500 connections and more rank higher in search results.
SEO is crucial for LinkedIn. Both your profile and company page must have search engine optimisation to rank accordingly.
LinkedIn has an inbuilt analytics tool that gives you data. With a paid account (Premium or Sales Navigator) you will have access to better analytics.
Alongside LinkedIn you should always network in person. Remember social media shouldn’t and can never replace face to face networking.

The ABCs of Growing your LinkedIn Network

Through implementing the following strategies you’ll start to see results- a higher ROI for your business. But for this to happen you must be consistent with LinkedIn. As we’ve said many times linked is not a low maintenance plant. That is, you water it a few times and forget about it but yet the plant still thrives!

Not so with LinkedIn. It needs regular watering and maintenance for it to work for you. This applies to any social media platform. You’ve got to be active on social media at least two to three times a week to see results. The bare minimum would be being active once a week. You can’t build your network without being active on the platform. Once your active and a large part of being active involves creating content for LinkedIn then your ready to implement the following strategies.

Take out LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator

As a paid member of LinkedIn, it gives you extra ‘perks’ and incentives that you don’t get with a free standard LinkedIn account. More and more in 2024 and beyond we are seeing that LinkedIn wants people to be paid members as so many features that were available for free are not anymore.

LinkedIn always gives you a one-month free trial which is worth taking out to see if it’s for you. Please note that you get four different price options. With a paid account you get:

Access to more people (larger network from all over the world)
Unlimited visibility of your extended network
Advanced search options
In depth analytics that allows you to conduct better data analysis
30 InMail messages a month (message people that are not your first-degree connections)
Free learning (courses) that not only expand your knowledge, but give you access to the trainers. Most are experts in their field. You can include them in your network
and no doubt more features are being rolled out

Create Great LinkedIn Content

If you’re not already creating great LinkedIn content than you’re drastically reducing your chances of increasing your network. Remember content is a crucial component of business growth in this digital age so you should invest time in creating great content for your network. Remember your network is searching for great content on the platform so give it to them.

Read WORD EMPIRE’s blog Creating Content on LinkedIn: A Step By Step Guide to help you with your content creation on LinkedIn. In addition, your business should already have in place a content plan in place to assist you. Great content is one of the best ways to increase your LinkedIn network. Produce amazing content by:

Adding value to your network through solving a problem they have, being entertaining, being educational or inspirational
Providing interesting perspectives and different angles on issues related to your industry. This will help build your thought leadership.
Being consistent (post often, at least two times a week- have a schedule in place)
Providing variety by mixing it up: posts, articles, slideshows, videos, livestreams, infographics etc
Having a target audience in mind (its strategically targeted to them & so speaks to them in their language)
Having purpose (No piece of content should be random; it must have a purpose to it. Always ask ‘what’s the purpose of this content’?)
Offering incentives (consider offering giveaways and freebies to your network- eBooks, how to guides, whitepapers etc. We all love a good incentive especially if its FREE.
Positioning yourself as a subject matter expert and ensure your content reflects this. Content like e-courses, e-books, webinars, and tutorials is great for subject matter expertise.
Features a great CTA that gets them to take action (book a call with you, visit your website etc). So many LinkedIn posts and articles still fail miserably in this.

Regularly Update your LinkedIn Profile

Don’t let your LinkedIn profile including your company page become like an unkept front garden. It gives the impression that your home is uninhabited or just untidy. The same goes for your LinkedIn. Impressions count online. If your serious about increasing your LinkedIn network, you must invest some time (at least every few months if not more) reviewing and updating your LinkedIn profile.

This goes for both your personal profile and company page. If you’ve rebranded or changed your slogan or tagline or added new services and products to your business ensure your LinkedIn reflects this.

Make sure to also update simple but often overlooked things like your phone number, website, keywords, picture and banner. These easy and simple tweaks make a huge difference in increasing your network over time.

Prioritise and Promote your LinkedIn

Just like you would promote your brand you need to promote your LinkedIn profile including your company page throughout your marketing and branding. This includes showcasing your LinkedIn on your business cards, whitepapers, brochures, website, blog, email signature, etc. In order to fast track your network expansion, prioritize promoting your LinkedIn profile over prioritizing and promoting your other social media platforms especially as a B2B. Keep in mind the following statistics:

LinkedIn is the number one channel for B2B to distribute content.
LinkedIn is recognised as the most effective for B2B lead generation.
LinkedIn drives more traffic to B2B blogs and sites by 55%. Its much less with Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels.

Think Outside the Box with LinkedIn

It’s easy to just think in terms of ‘your network’ – first degree connections. After all you probably interact the most with these. However, to increase your LinkedIn network step outside the box and:

Look at your competitors and see who is engaging with them and connect with them.
Look at your industry, and people who provide services or products to the same end user as you - follow them, connect, and engage with them.
Make sure to look at your second- and third-degree connections and reach out to people who are in similar industries or have similar roles.
Utilize LinkedIn Advances Search. It allows you to conduct more in-depth queries to be able to find organisations and individuals to connect with.

Consider Joining LIONS (LinkedIn Open Networkers)

Lions (Linked Open Networker) are members of LinkedIn who have an open network which allows them to accept all invitations from other members. This benefits their network and yours too. They are super connectors with some LinkedIn members having several million connections.

By adding LIONS to your network, you can expand your network. If your brand needs an international audience and larger search capability then add LIONS from America, Canada, Australia, Europe etc. Learn about more the Linked Open Networkers.)

Join LinkedIn Groups to Increase Your Network

Aside from joining LIONS consider joining LinkedIn groups. Although considered dead by most people, some marketing experts predict that LinkedIn groups will grow to become active in 2025 and beyond.

Remember that many LinkedIn groups have thousands of members. Some from all over the world. So, the possibilities of expanding your network are great. You can interact and connect with many of these members even if they are not your first-degree connections. Not to mention you can reach out to them personally by sending them a DM (direct message).

Be Visible on LinkedIn to Expand Your Network

When your visible your valuable an old marketing saying goes and this couldn’t be truer with LinkedIn. To be visible on LinkedIn you must consistently post and create content, participate in interesting discussions, make comments on other people’s posts, utilise LinkedIn’s status update and ensure you have turned on the right privacy settings.

If you go to your privacy settings, you’ll see that LinkedIn gives you various options of how you want to be seen and found on the platform. Some users only want their immediate network to be able to see their profile and connect with them. Make sure you select the right setting for you as this will determine who is able to find you and connect with you.

Set Monthly LinkedIn Growth Goals

Think strategically and just like with growing a brand set monthly growth goals for LinkedIn. This is where you decide how many people you want to connect with. Be realistic. Don’t aim to connect with 1000 people a month. You can start with 100 people and increase from there if its appropriate to do so. In several months you’ll get to 500+ connections.

Many users have a network of 10,000 and over like Sandra Gabriella Di Francesco, the founder of WORD EMPIRE. But they started small and grew their LinkedIn network day by day month by month till they got to where they are now. You can do the same. It just requires effort and diligence. Remember for some of these connections consider personalising your requests. This is good online etiquette and increases your chances of being accepted.

Use Good Images in your LinkedIn Content

Humans are visual creatures so naturally are drawn to images. A brand that doesn’t utilise images is disadvantaging themselves big time. Research has shown that using images in your LinkedIn posts increases engagement and views by at least 11 times. Some LinkedIn experts disagree with this, but we’ve seen time and time again that posts or articles with great images increase traction.

So be sure to incorporate great visuals on your LinkedIn. When possible, consider using actual photos. If you do use stock photos only use high quality ones. Make sure that your images are relevant to the content. Don’t just add an image for the sake of getting clicks. Do consider adding infographics which are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge displayed in a succinct way.

By implementing the above strategies you’ll start increasing your LinkedIn network in no time and be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner. For more expert tips on LinkedIn and marketing Contact WORD EMPIRE^® today the experts at building business empires.