Social Business Success

Do you have a philosophy on how you plan to build your LinkedIn network?  Are you a person that will send out invitations to everyone you run into on LinkedIn to join your network?  Or a person that accepts every invitation that you receive?  Maybe your philosophy is you don’t accept an invitation until you meet or speak to that person.  Whatever your philosophy is, it’s the correct one if you feel comfortable with that philosophy.

I find the different philosophies interesting the longer I am on LinkedIn.

When I train people on building their LinkedIn network, I explain the various philosophies I’ve encountered.  I go on to say that you will find the philosophy that you feel most comfortable using.

When a person first starts out on LinkedIn, they are concentrating on building their network to that elusive 500 number where they become a “super connector”.

What is your philosophy for adding people to your network?

As for my philosophy, at first I concentrated on hitting that 500 mark.  When I first started building my network, I took the advice of a couple of people I respected.  The longer I kept doing what they suggested, the more uncomfortable I felt with that philosophy.  I finally developed my own philosophy and I am very comfortable with how I am adding people to my network.

Whatever your philosophy is for building your LinkedIn network, if you’re comfortable with it then its right for you.  Many people will start using one philosophy and after a period of time use another philosophy.  As I learn more and more about networking, my philosophy has changed on how I build my LinkedIn network.

One of the factors that I use when accepting invites from people is does the person customize the invitation?  Customizing the LinkedIn invitation is important to me.  In my LinkedIn classes I emphasize customizing the LinkedIn invitation because it tells that person right off the bat you are interested in them.   That is part of my networking philosophy.  It’s the “it’s all about them” philosophy.

The number one question I hear everyday is should a person’s network be quantity or quality. That’s the age-old question, quality vs quantity.  The answer is build your network with the philosophy that makes you comfortable.

As I build my network, my goal is to develop and maintain relationships with each person.  I find that I’m building my network at a slow rate; however it’s a rate and a philosophy in which I am comfortable.

When building your network, think about what is your networking philosophy and what do you want to get out of LinkedIn.  The answers to these two questions will help shape your philosophy on building your LinkedIn network.