Linkedin Consultant | Linkedin Consulting

5 Tips to Build and Grow Your LinkedIn Network

Do you want to tap into LinkedIn’s 150 million–member worldwide network?
It’s important to focus on the right kinds of activities that will yield the best results.
In this article, I’ll reveal five key strategies and activities you can focus on to build and grow your network.

#1: Update Your Status Frequently and Consistently

Only one-third of LinkedIn members visit the site every day, and another one-third of members visit the network several times a week, according to a survey conducted by Lab42. You can check out the complete infographic from Lab42 on LinkedIn Members.
When you log into LinkedIn, notice each time who shows up in your home feed. Most likely you will see the same few people frequently.

Active LinkedIn users will show up more frequently in your home feed.

These individuals are getting more visibility because they are more active, and you can do the same if you commit to staying active on the network. This is a subtle but powerful way to build influence with your network connections.
If you make the commitment to become more active in the network, you have a real opportunity to shine! It takes time, effort and dedication, but the payoff from staying top of mind can be significant in developing new introductions, relationships and business opportunities.
Here are a few ideas on how to be an active LinkedIn member:

• Update your status at least three times a day on the actual site itself, versus using third-party tools so that you have full control over your message and increase engagement (see image below).
• Share and comment on the updates of your first-, second- and third-degree connections at least once a day.
• Send an invitation to connect to at least one new person per day.
• Start and/or participate in LinkedIn Group Discussions three times a week.
• Answer questions on “LinkedIn Answers” three times a week.
• Comment on profile updates from the companies you follow on LinkedIn once a day.
  

  By updating your status manually in LinkedIn, you can control your message and increase engagement.

Important note: Be careful about sharing your tweets directly on LinkedIn. When you do this, you don’t give your LinkedIn network connections any opportunity to engage with you within LinkedIn. Be selective about the tweets you choose to send automatically into LinkedIn from your Twitter account. There may be some value in saving time and increasing visibility by doing this, but realize no further engagement will take place within LinkedIn.
Sending all of your tweets into LinkedIn can get very annoying for your connections!

When you send a tweet to LinkedIn, your network connections are unable to engage with your update within LinkedIn. Instead, if they click "Reply" or "Retweet," they'll be taken to Twitter.

#2: Build Connections Constantly

One of the best things you can focus on in growing and engaging your LinkedIn network is to always look for connection opportunities. LinkedIn recently enhanced its People You May Know feature.
Take advantage of this opportunity to review whom you may know and send them a personalized invitation to connect right there from the People You May Know tab.

The new People You May Know feature makes it easy to discover potential connections in your target markets.

The “Alumni” search feature on LinkedIn is also quite powerful, as you can narrow your search by geographical location.
In the example below, I’ve selected the high school I attended and my current geographical location, which uncovered 74 new connection opportunities for me! Make sure to plug in the high school(s) and college(s) you attended to expand your results.

A search for new potential connections who attended my high school and live in my area.

#3: Be Strategic about When You are Active on LinkedIn

Studies have shown that LinkedIn members are more active in the afternoons and are more likely to use the mobile site in the evenings. With this in mind, focus your participation activities during the times when you have the best chance to be seen.
I would also recommend experimenting with this depending on where you live and what industry you work in. Mix up your strategy and record the results over a week’s time, such as how many new connections you gained and how many engagement opportunities you created during each week based upon when you participated.
For example, I have found that engagement within my industry and target market is quite high on weekday mornings AND on Saturday mornings. Therefore, I make LinkedIn one of my first stops of the day as much as possible.

#4: Join and Actively Participate in LinkedIn Groups

You’ve probably heard this recommendation before, but LinkedIn Groups are one of the most active areas of the network and the participation stats are quite compelling.

A survey and infographic from Lab42 reveals powerful LinkedIn Group participation stats.

Simply joining a group on LinkedIn won’t get you anywhere. You must jump into the new and popular conversations and add value as a member!
One of the best successes I’ve ever had in a group within my targeted niche was to ask for advice. I needed to find a resource to complete a certification and that simple question generated over 30 responses.
Be careful not to over commit to too many LinkedIn Groups. Pick three to five groups that make sense for you to be actively involved. Here are five ways to use LinkedIn Groups to build influential connections.
LinkedIn has just made it much easier to find groups within the network that might be valuable for you to join through the new LinkedIn Group Search feature.
Now, group conversations are being indexed within LinkedIn search. Additionally, you can filter your searches and see which of your connections are also members of a particular group.

Find the right LinkedIn Groups to join and get actively involved through the new LinkedIn Group Search feature.

#5: What You Share Matters

What you share on LinkedIn does matter. This is what will define you as a trusted authority within your industry and with your target markets. The key is to share news, articles and insights that are relevant to your connections if you want to attract and grow the right audience.
If you’re plowing your blog posts into LinkedIn as status updates or into LinkedIn Groups without asking a question or trying to achieve engagement, you won’t get very far. Believe me, I’ve done this and so have many other marketing experts. It is perfectly okay to share your content, but it’s important to be considerate when you do so and position it in such a way that can potentially get your connections to engage with you.
I’m a big believer in the idea that creating and sharing your own content is extremely important for establishing yourself as a thought leader and becoming the trusted authority in your niche. Just avoid phrases such as “check out my videos” or “check out my latest blog post” because honestly, no one cares about you until you care about them. Be a resource and be helpful to your connections in addition to finding ways to create dialogue with them.
Keep in mind that when you share something that is “share-worthy” and members of your extended network see it and share it, you increase your visibility significantly because you gain exposure to their connections.
To easily find and share content that is interesting and relevant to your target markets, consider using the LinkedIn Today site. This is a great tool for finding popular, trending and relevant content to share with your network.
Now it’s Your Turn
I hope you find these recommendations for growing and engaging your LinkedIn network helpful. As the network itself continues to develop and add new features, it’s important to refresh your LinkedIn engagement strategy and make sure you are leveraging all of the great features!
What do you think? What other tips do you have for building and engaging your network on LinkedIn? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Facebook Consultant | Facebook Consulting

Facebook Advertising Guidelines Advertising philosophy At Facebook, we believe that every part of our site, including the adverts, should contribute to and be consistent with the overall user experience. Thus, we are committed to protecting our user experience by keeping the site clean, consistent and free from misleading advertising. We believe that we can help transform existing advertising into messages that are tailored to the individual user based on how their friends interact and affiliate with the brands, music artists and businesses they care about. Advertising Guidelines The following guidelines apply to all adverts appearing on Facebook, including adverts within canvas pages of Facebook Platform applications. In addition, all advertising on Facebook must comply with the Privacy policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Advertising appearing within applications on Facebook Platform must comply with all additional Facebook Platform policies. Facebook reserves the right to reject or remove advertising that we deem contrary to our advert philosophy. These guidelines are subject to change at any time and Facebook may waive any of these guidelines at its discretion. 1. Accounts 1. Advertisers cannot create or manage multiple Facebook accounts for advertising purposes unless given permission by Facebook to do so. 2. Advertisers cannot programmatically automate the creation of accounts or ads unless given permission by Facebook to do so. 2. Landing pages/destination URLs 1. Adverts that contain a URL or domain in the body must link to that same URL or domain. 2. Adverts must send users to the same landing page when the advert is clicked. 3. Landing pages cannot generate a pop-up (including "pop-overs" and "pop-unders") when a user enters or leaves the page. 4. Landing pages cannot use "fake" close behaviour (ie. when a user clicks the 'close' icon on the page, the page should close down and no other behaviour should result). 5. Landing pages cannot utilize "mouse trapping" whereby the advertiser does not allow users to use their browser "back button" and traps them on their site and/or present any other unexpected behaviour (for example, navigation to another advert or page). 6. Adverts cannot require viewers to click on the advert to submit Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone numbers, social security number, physical addresses or email addresses) on the landing page or in the advert, except to enable an ecommerce transaction and where the advert and landing page clearly indicate that a product is being sold. 3. Facebook references 1. The following conditions apply to all ads that have a Facebook Page, application, event, group or Connect site as its destination, except as otherwise specifically permitted to those subject to the Branding and promotion policy section of the Platform policies: 1. Adverts may make limited references to "Facebook" in its title, body or image for the purposes of clarifying the destination of the advert; 2. Adverts cannot imply any endorsement of the product, service or ad destination by Facebook. 2. All other adverts, destination adverts and landing pages must adhere to the following restrictions: 1. Adverts cannot mention or refer to Facebook, its site or its brand in any manner, including in the title, body, image or destination URLs; 2. Adverts cannot use Facebook logos, trademarks or site terminology (including but not limited to Facebook, The Facebook, FacebookHigh, FBook, FB, Poke, Wall and other company graphics, logos, designs or icons); 3. Facebook site features cannot be emulated. 4. Advert copy and image content 1. Adverts must directly relate to the content on the landing page. 2. Adverts must clearly represent the company, product or brand that is being advertised. Products or services promoted in the advert must be directly available on the landing page. 3. Adverts must not include unsubstantiated claims, including but not limited to prices, discounts or product availability. 4. Adverts cannot insult, harass or threaten a user. 5. Adverts must not contain audio that plays automatically, without a user's interaction. Any automated animation must cease after 15 seconds and must not replay. 5. Prohibited content 1. Adverts must not be false, misleading, fraudulent or deceptive. 2. Adverts will not be permitted in cases where a business model or practice is deemed unacceptable or contrary to Facebook's overall advertising philosophy. 3. Adverts, or categories of adverts, which receive a significant amount of negative user feedback or are otherwise deemed in violation of community standards will not be permitted. 4. Adverts cannot contain, facilitate, promote or reference the following: 1. Offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene or inappropriate language; 2. Obscene, defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content; 3. Tobacco products; 4. Ammunition, firearms, paintball guns, bb guns or weapons of any kind; 5. Gambling, including without limitation, any online casino, sports books, bingo or poker without authorisation from Facebook; 6. Scams, illegal activity or chain letters; 7. Contests and sweepstakes unless given permission by Facebook to do so; if permission is given, you are subject to Facebook's Promotions guidelines; 8. Get-rich-quick and other money-making opportunities that offer compensation for little or no investment, including "work from home" opportunities positioned as alternatives to part-time or full-time employment or promises of monetary gain with no strings attached; 9. Adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual or provocative images in violation of community standards; 10. Adult friend finders or dating sites with a sexual emphasis; 11. Adult toys, videos or other adult products; 12. Uncertified pharmaceutical products; 13. Spy cams or surveillance equipment; 14. Web-based non-accredited colleges that offer degrees; 15. Inflammatory religious content; 16. Politically religious agendas and/or any known associations with hate, criminal and/or terrorist activities; 17. Content that exploits political agendas or uses "hot button" issues for commercial use regardless of whether the advertiser has a political agenda; 18. Hate speech, whether directed at an individual or a group and whether based upon the race, sex, creed, national origin, religious affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or language of such individual or group; 19. Content that advocates against any organisation, person or group of people, with the exception of candidates running for public office; 20. Content that depicts a health condition in a derogatory or inflammatory way or misrepresents a health condition in any way. 6. Data and privacy 1. You may not give data you receive from us to any third party, including advertising networks. 2. Unless authorised by us, your adverts may not display user data -- such as users' names or profile photos -- whether that data was obtained from Facebook or otherwise. 3. You may not use user data you receive from us or collect through running an advert, including information you derive from your targeting criteria, for any purpose off of Facebook, without user consent. 7. Targeting 1. Any targeting of adverts based on a user attribute such as age, gender, location or interest, must be directly relevant to the offer and cannot be done by a method inconsistent with privacy and data policies. 2. Adverts with adult themes, including contraception, sex education and health conditions must be targeted to individuals at least 18 years old. Platform Adverts should do this via Demographic Restrictions, not by obtaining user data. 3. Adverts for dating sites, services or related content must follow these targeting criteria (does not apply to Adverts on Facebook Platform): 1. the Relationship Status targeting parameter must be utilised and set to Single; 2. the Sex targeting parameter must be utilised and a single value of Male or Female must be selected; 3. The age targeting parameter must be utilised and the age range selected must start at least at 18 years old; 4. the Interested In targeting parameter must be utilised and a single value of either Men or Women must be selected. 8. Prices, discounts and free offers 1. Adverts cannot be deceptive or fraudulent about any offer made. 2. If an ad includes a price, discount, or 'free' offer, 1. the destination URL for the advert must link to a page that clearly and accurately offers the exact deal the advert has displayed; 2. The advert must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer. 9. Subscription services 1. The advertisement of Subscription Services must comply with the conditions noted below and as determined by Facebook in its sole discretion. "Subscription Services" may include sites that promote downloading ringtones, games or other entertainment services or any site that induces a user to sign up for recurring billing of a product or service. 1. The advert must clearly state what action or set of actions is required to qualify for the offer. If the user must subscribe to a service, the service and offer requirements must both be stated in the advert. 2. The recurring subscription must be consistent with what is promoted in the advert copy. 3. At a minimum, the promoted website must clearly and accurately display the price and billing interval (such as per week or once per month) on the landing page as well as any page that prompts a user for Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, National Insurance number, physical addresses or email addresses) or billing information (including, but not limited to, mobile phone number or credit card number). 4. If users sign up for the service by transmitting a code by text message, the price and billing interval must be clearly and prominently displayed beside the code. 5. If the service is a subscription, the website must provide a prominent opt-in checkbox or other clear mechanism indicating that the user knowingly accepts the price and subscription service. This should be on the first page where the user enters personal data, and the user should not be able to proceed without opting in. 6. All of the foregoing items should be located in a prominent place on your webpage, as determined by Facebook in its sole discretion, and should be easy to find, read and understand. 10. Adverts for alcoholic beverages 1. Adverts must be targeted to people 21 years old or older in the US, 19 years old or older in Canada, 18 years old or older in the UK and Ireland, and 21 years old or older everywhere else. All Facebook Pages viewer restrictions must be set at 21+ regardless of the country they are in or targeted to. In the case where a user's age cannot be determined, the advert cannot be displayed to the user in question. (Does not apply to applications on Facebook Platform.) 2. Adverts cannot include content that might appeal to (or mislead) minors by implying that the consumption of alcoholic beverages is fashionable or the accepted course of behaviour for those who are underage. 3. Adverts cannot include or target any person under the legal drinking age in the region the advert appears, or be suggestive of the presence of those who are underaged. Additionally, adverts appearing in applications on Facebook Platform must adhere to the Platform policies Alcohol content policy. 4. Adverts cannot portray or promote intoxication. 5. Adverts cannot induce people to consume alcohol in excess, make references to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, depict activities that encourage excessive consumption or that encourage drinking at a rapid rate or suggest the strength of the alcoholic beverage being advertised. 6. Adverts cannot promote any giveaways as a reward for purchasing the alcoholic product. 7. It is recommended that the ad creative contain text that promotes drinking responsibly, eg. "Drink Responsibly" or "Drink Smart". 11. Copyrights and trademarks 1. Adverts cannot include any content that infringes upon the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary right. 2. The advertiser must have intellectual property rights to the creative and be permitted to display such creative as advertising on the Facebook Site. 12. Spam 1. Adverts cannot contain, facilitate or promote 'spam' or other advertising or marketing content that violates applicable laws, regulations or industry standards. 13. Incentives 1. Adverts cannot offer incentives to viewers for clicking on the ad, for submitting Personally Identifiable Information (such as name, date of birth, phone number, social security number, physical addresses or email addresses), or for performing any other tasks. 14. Downloads 1. Adverts must not contain or link directly or indirectly to a site that contains spyware/malware downloads, whether initiated automatically or manually by the user, or other auto-initiated downloads. 2. Adverts cannot contain or link to a site that facilitates or promotes: 1. Collection of demographic and usage information from a user's computer without the user's express consent; 2. Collection or request of Facebook usernames or passwords from any user; 3. Proxying Facebook usernames or passwords for the purpose of automating logins to the Facebook site; 4. Any software that results in an unexpected user experience, including but not limited to software which (i) "sneaks" onto a user's system and performs activities hidden to the user, (ii) may alter, harm, disable or replace any hardware or software installed on user's computer without express permission from the user, (iii) is bundled as a hidden component of other software whether free or for a fee, (iv) automatically downloads without Facebook's express prior approval, (v) presents any download dialogue boxes without a user's express action, or (vi) may violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, patent or any other proprietary right. The following sections do not apply to adverts on Facebook Platform 15. Grammar, sentence structure, spelling and spacing 1. Advert text must be grammatically correct and contain proper sentence structure. 2. Advert text must be in complete sentences. 3. Adverts cannot include excessive repetition (such as "buy, buy, buy"). 4. Adverts must use correct spelling. 5. Advert text must include grammatically correct spacing. 16. Capitalisation 1. Adverts must use proper, grammatically correct capitalisation (such as capitalising the first letter of all proper nouns and capitalising the title of the advert). 2. Adverts cannot include excessive capitalisation (such as "FREE") or incorrect capitalisation (such as capitalising the first letter of every word in a sentence). 3. Acronyms may be capitalised. 17. Punctuation 1. Adverts must include logical, correct punctuation. 2. Adverts cannot contain repeated and unnecessary punctuation (such as "Buy now!!!"). 3. All complete sentences (including if the advert title is a complete sentence) must end with a single punctuation mark. Sentences cannot end with ellipses, dashes, etc. 4. Exclamation points cannot be used in the title of any advert. 18. Symbols 1. The use of all symbols, numbers or letters must adhere to the true meaning of the symbol. 2. Adverts cannot contain repeated and unnecessary symbols. 3. Symbols cannot be used for the following: 1. To substitute for letters (e.g. "$ave" instead of "save"); 2. To substitute for entire words (e.g. "&" instead of "and" or "$" instead of "cash/dollars/money"); 3. As unnecessary abbreviations to shorten character count (e.g. "w/" instead of "with" or "@" instead of "at"). 4. Symbols may be used for the following: 1. If the symbol is part of the product or brand name; 2. If the $ symbol is paired with a dollar amount (e.g. "Save $100 today"); 3. If the # symbol is used for comparative phrases (e.g. "Voted the #1 site by The Guardian").