Online Networking

By Mahmood Reza

One powerful way to create and develop your network is by setting up and managing your Linked In account



  • Post a profile for yourself
  • Add detail about what your business does
  • Link to people you already know
  • Connect with people in your line of business
Your online business profile will be one way you can publicly sell yourself and your business to a wider community or business professionals
  • You can publicly market yourself and promote your business to a wider community of business professionals

LinkedIn Etiquette

  • Only ask to connect to people you have met – regardless of how fleeting it was.
    • Be strategic about who you link to.
  • Connect to people you respect and you have no reason to think they won’t respect you.  
    • Bad connections are worse than none at all!
  • Always write a personalised message when you ask to connect with someone directly.
    • Using the default Linkdin message just says you’re randomly gathering connections. 
  • If possible, get someone who knows you well to introduce you to new connections you don’t know well or at all.  
    • They will be the person who opens the door to that connection.  
    • But don’t worry if they don’t immediately, they may need more time to consider if this is the right link of theirs to link you too now.
  • Don’t accept invitations to connect from anyone you don’t know or isn’t obviously linked to your business interests.
    • Some people just want to build up their number of links thinking this makes them more valuable in some way (e.g. the 500 connections gang) – it doesn’t!
    • You will be judged by who you are connected to, so be strategic about your connections.
Networks are mutually advantageous

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