In our personal social network communities, we value good exchange, relevant reach – and the feeling that we can approach contacts when we need something. But what many people forget is that they have to become such a contact themselves before they can expect others to do the same. But how do you become a good contact on LinkedIn?
(How to find good contacts, by the way, you can read in Part I.)
Connect with Stefanie Soehnchen on LinkedIn
Give and make visible – If we want interaction from other users under our content, we should first become active ourselves. This means: diligently linking and commenting where the content fits. This gives the content a better reach because the engagement rate increases. It also makes the commenter visible and interesting for the community of the person posting.
First, this increases the likelihood of generating interaction and new contacts yourself. But more importantly, it encourages a technical, substantive discourse on your core topic on LinkedIn. This can have the effect of making the community in your professional environment more stable and lively, which is also in your interest.
Confirm knowledge & give recommendations – Take time to look at and confirm the knowledge of your contacts. In doing so, you not only help with better tagging of profiles, but also trigger notification of your actions.
Of course, this can also confirm your own knowledge. However, the first motivation should be to help your own contact get higher visibility and to stand out even more to others for essential skills. Just as liking, endorsing is an activity that doesn’t take much time, but can still send a clear signal of appreciative support.
Additionally, creating a recommendation can also be offered. However, this should only be done for contacts that you really know and where a recommendation from you feels authentic. These don’t necessarily have to be current colleagues – they can also be former employees, business contacts or customers for whom this format is a good fit.
Recommendations confirm that the person is a valuable team or discourse member, and therefore add credibility to the person’s profile.
Shout-Outs – Currently, there are no reach benefits to sharing outside content in your own stream. But it has the effect that the own community gets to see the input of the corresponding person at least partially. It also informs the person posting about the sharing and thus the appreciation that comes with it.
At the same time, you can fill a slot in your content calendar with relevant content without having to create any yourself.
Tagging is also a way to give others more visibility. The focus here should not be on your own reach (which only comes about if the person interacts anyway), but on the intention of giving the other person a stage.
Therefore, don’t tag users whose reach you want to profit from, but rather really relevant players for the content you are posting. Who deserves credit? Who has something exciting to say or contribute? Who should become better known? Help without thinking of yourself in the first step.
Network with other interesting people – Open up your own network to others.
“Vitamin B” also exists in the digital world – and is often no less needed here. So think about it: Who should perhaps get to know whom? Who could benefit from mutual networking – without you gaining anything from it? Someone is looking to fill a position, and you have a tip? Someone is looking for interview partners, and you may have just read a great post from a contact? Network – but preferably after asking in advance if it’s okay to do so.
This way you open doors for others – and they will be happy to approach you with exciting ideas and requests.
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