Who Should I Connect With On LinkedIn? 3 Easy Strategies for Immigration Professionals

Who Should I Connect With on LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is for everyone- not just people looking for jobs. Perhaps the job hunt was the last time you checked your LinkedIn profile. Or maybe, you’ve heard about colleagues using LinkedIn with success and you’re skeptical. I understand the skepticism but I truly believe every immigration professional who is not using their LinkedIn on a regular basis is missing out on some amazing career and networking benefits.

Deciding why you are going to use LinkedIn is the first step before figuring out who would make your best connections. Having a goal going into networking will result in higher quality conversations and connections and LinkedIn is no different!

So Why LinkedIn?

Most immigration professionals are used to happy hours, connecting over fundraisers or alumni events but are not using any kind of online social network to connect with their peers. However, I believe that many people, especially immigration and global mobility professionals are missing out by not utilizing LinkedIn.

You don’t have to be looking for a new job to find a lot of value in LinkedIn networking. LinkedIn expands the scope of your network and makes it easy to keep up with the trends and thought leaders of your industry. With over 500 million members across 200 countries, LinkedIn will give you the opportunity to meet those in your field and area of expertise that wouldn’t be possible in your local circles.

The quality of your LinkedIn connections means more than the number of your connections, if you’d like to learn more, check out my post on what a high-quality LinkedIn connect looks like, and this is especially true in a niche industry like immigration/mobility.

So who should I connect with on LinkedIn in a way that maximizes the time, effort, and quality of your potential connections?

If You’re Asking Yourself, “Who Should I Connect With on LinkedIn?” Try These 3 Strategies

Here are the three ways I use to engage on LinkedIn that have resulted in the best responses both in terms of average acceptance rate and quality of connection.

  • Reach Out to 2nd and 3rd Connections Who Like Your Post
    If someone has liked your post, then that already means that they’ve received value from you. They’ll probably “like” your future content or be interested in hearing more about what you have to say.
  • Reach Out to 2nd and 3rd Connections Who Comment On Your Post
    If someone you’re not connected to has left a comment on one of your posts, reply first to their comment and then ask them to connect! There’s an even greater chance they’ll get value from and engage with you.
  • Find Content You Like on LinkedIn, Engage With It, and Then Reach Out
    There are a LOT of folks we aren’t connected to but could or should be. The best part of LinkedIn is that now you actually find and engage with them!

    You can find them by looking for content (searching LinkedIn hashtags for content in your area of interest can be great for finding fresh content, for example, #immigration.) Once you’ve found a post that resonates with you, like or comment on the post, and then ask the content creator to connect.

When you are leaving comments and sending connection requests, thoughtfulness is key. Everyone is looking for people that will enrich their current experience so mindlessly adding people without telling them why you want to connect can put people off. Be sure to add a personal note with your connection request. It really increases the likelihood that they’ll accept. If you are unsure what to put in your note or if you are feeling shy, LinkedIn has a great guide to personalizing your connection request.

If you’re interested in learning how to engage more on LinkedIn, check out my tips for creating engagement and growing your network through thoughtful comment replies.

Enjoy LinkedIn!

BY ROMAN ZELICHENKO

BY ROMAN ZELICHENKO

Roman is an immigration lawyer, the founder of an immigration tech startup called LaborLess, a LinkedIn coach, writer and speaker.

I help immigration businesses around the world level up their brands, enhance their LinkedIn and YouTube presence and grow through original written content, LinkedIn coaching, YouTube coaching and other strategic consulting.

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