LinkedIn is all about connecting with people — and a great way to be remembered when you reach out is to personalize your connection request.
When you take the time to write a note instead of just firing off a no-frills request, it makes a positive impression on the recipient. That minute or so you spend writing a message yields a great return on your investment!
How to Get Personal on LinkedIn
Here are seven simple ways to make your invitations compelling and — well, truly inviting — by saying something beyond Would you like to connect with me? (It’s OK to include that blurb in your message, but say more):
1. Mention the person’s location or your own. Did you check the city and state on the person’s profile? I always do. Include a reference in your message — I’ve never been to Rhode Island, but I hope to someday — or write something about your location, which is what I often do: Hello from Queen Creek, AZ, south of Phoenix.
2. Explain how you came to hear of them. Don’t leave your new acquaintance scratching their head, wondering how you know them. Mention the Zoom networking meeting you were both on or their blog post or video that caught your attention: I see you’re a big fan of Google My Business. (Just read your blog post!) So am I.
3. Reference a mutual connection. My business coach, Ilise, has thousands of LinkedIn connections. When LinkedIn reminds me of that fact, I can say this: Looks like we both know Ilise Benun of Marketing Mentor — she’s the best! Would you like to connect?
4. Comment on their LinkedIn headline. Does the person you’re reaching out to have something unique in their headline? Reference it in your message: Your headline about being a marketing manager by day and a stand-up comedian by night caught my attention.
5. Reference something they posted on LinkedIn. Mention their content in your outreach message: I saw your survey about favorite social media schedulers. I’m enjoying Facebook Creator Studio these days. Ever tried it?
6. Use their name in your message. I don’t do this 100% of the time, but I try to do it a lot, mentioning the person’s name when I ask them to connect. (If you do this, be sure to spell it correctly.) Dale Carnegie said, “A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” I love that!
7. Get to the point if you have something to sell and nothing to lose. I don’t advise going for the sale right away when asking to connect — I prefer some “get to know each other” time — but it can work with the right approach. Try planting a seed like this: I see you’re the marketing manager at Acme. I help busy marketing teams who occasionally need to outsource blog writing. If you ever need help with Acme’s blog, please keep me in mind. In the meantime, would you like to connect?
A Word of Caution When Connecting by Phone
If you ever used your phone to send a connection request, you know LinkedIn doesn’t make it easy to personalized the message. Recently, I heard someone say it’s flat-out impossible to personally connect via phone. But that’s not the case, and this short video I created shows you how to do it.
Want to see one more mobile-focused video from yours truly? Here’s how to create a story on LinkedIn using your phone.
You know what a story is, right? It’s just like a story on Facebook and Instagram, except LinkedIn cheaped out on the features. LOL. I hope they make it more robust so more people will post stories.
Are You in My 2021 LinkedIn Challenge?
I created this checklist with tasks from my LinkedIn challenge. It’s yours when you sign up.
On January 1, I announced a LinkedIn challenge to help my connections, clients and others use the platform more effectively in 2021. So far, 232 people signed up to participate, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the response.
If you’re not in it to win it with us, join my challenge today with its 21 prompts you can do between now and year-end to get more from the time you spend on LinkedIn. (Here’s my blog post that explains the challenge.)
See you on LinkedIn, and if we’re not connected please reach out with a personal (!) message to say you read this blog post. 🙂
