When to connect and when to follow on LinkedIn



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In this issue expect:

โœ๏ธ LinkedIn: When to Connect & When to Follow

๐Ÿ“Š How to Grow Organic Traffic Today

โ˜• Fill Your Cup: Reset Moments

๐ŸŽ‰ My Weekly Content Picks


โœ๏ธ LinkedIn Connections vs. Followers

Do you connect or follow?

Which option on LinkedIn do you choose?

And is one better than the other?

Spoiler alert - it depends on your relationship goals.

Connections

When connections are accepted, a two-way dialogue can begin.

  • You both can see one another's content
  • You can message one another whenever
  • You have access to each others' networks

โ˜๏ธ That last one is kind of big.

Once a connection request is accepted, you can see who's in their network and who may be good to connect with later.

Connections allow you to create relationships, which is the biggest benefit of being on LinkedIn.

It makes sense with people you foresee wanting to work with, are inspired by, and want to talk more one-on-one.

The truth is I'm picky about my connections.

You are limited to 30,000 connections, while you can have unlimited followers.

I'm nowhere near 30,000 connections, but LinkedIn advises that you only connect with those you know personally and trust professionally.

I would say this is true mostly for my connections but certainly not for everyone. I'm giving a large number of folks the benefit of the doubt.

I definitely don't know everyone I connect with personally.

But there's something about their content or their offers that I want to hear more about.

When you connect, it's saying, "I want to do more than just watch what you have to say, I also want the chance to drop in and talk to you 1-on-1 in the DMs."

To me, the best connection is when you both can benefit and learn something from one another.

Followers

This is a one-way relationship.

  • You can see their content, but they can't see yours.

You click "follow" when you enjoy someone's content with little intent to engage directly.

But of course - this can change!

You may eventually want to send that connection request someday after commenting and seeing more of what they have to say.

So, a follow can absolutely grow into a connection.

My personal experience with clicking "follow" is that it does not necessarily guarantee that I will see that person's content.

In fact, a lot of times, I don't.

(And that's probably because I'm following so many people.)

If I want to see someone's content consistently, I try to leave a comment.

This seems to increase my chances of them appearing in my feed again.

And if I notice I'm missing their posts in my feed, that's usually a sign I need to connect with them (not just follow.)

Here's something else that may be helpful...

Do you have a list of 30-40 people you consistently want to interact with and don't want to miss?

๐Ÿ‘‰ Try this...

  1. Go to www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/
  2. Select โ€˜Sort byโ€™ - Latest
  3. Select โ€˜Date postedโ€™ - Past 24 hours or Past week
  4. Use the โ€˜From memberโ€™ filter and add desired profiles by typing their names in the field
  5. You'll start to see the latest posts from names you typed in
  6. Bookmark this for easy access in your browser

Then, go back to this bookmarked page in your browser the next time you want to see who's posting on LinkedIn.


๐Ÿ“Š Increasing Organic Traffic

Do you know a great way to showcase your thought leadership that brings new eyeballs to your website?

๐Ÿ‘‰ Adding blogs that are optimized for search engines.

But don't just talk about anything.

โœ… Start by digging into the questions you've heard from your audience.

  • Get ahold of those feedback surveys.
  • Talk to customer service folks who are interacting with customers.
  • If there's a sales team, schedule time to interview them.

Dig into the pain points of common problems that keep coming up in conversations.

โœ… Add in SEO long-tail keywords that are relevant and follow best practices.

โœ… Remember to share your blog post once it's live - on social, in your newsletter, etc.

โœ… And don't forget to repurpose smaller bite-size pieces of content to convert into videos or use as additional social posts later.

When you write with your audience and SEO in mind, you create high-quality content that increases organic traffic AND can continue to be repurposed elsewhere to create brand awareness.


โ˜• Fill Your Cup Moment

Do you have a reset moment in your day?

My reset moment is when I'm running outside, trying to let go of work inside my head and get ready for my daughter to get off the bus in the middle of the day.

A physical shift in activities gets me away from my desk.

Sometimes, I just listen to music the entire time.

Sometimes, I choose a podcast to feel inspired.

But this physical shift in activities results in a mental shift.

I look forward to it.

And I value it.

Do you have a reset moment in your day?

What helps you let go of work for a little while?


๐ŸŽ‰ Allison's Content Picks

ChatGPT & Design Ideas

Sarah Hart gave a great example in this post of how she uses ChatGPT to help spark design ideas which she then carries over to Canva to create.

5-Step Copywriting Formula

Use Justin Welsh's PAIPS formula that continues to be the guide to how he creates social posts getting 100K+ impressions.


Did you catch last week's issue about prompting a connection request and keeping the conversation going?

Talk soon,

How I Can Help You:

๐ŸŽฏ Need more leads? I can set you up with a LinkedIn strategy and a month's worth of customized post ideas with just 1 hour or less of your time.

๐Ÿ“ˆ Want to grow organic traffic to your website? I work with nutrition and wellness businesses to create website content that converts and SEO blog posts that attract.

I'm also up for doing more speaking events!

Reply to Work With Me!

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