LinkedIn offers dozens of triggers to reach out and engage your network and beyond, but often we miss these opportunities. We are all familiar with the “congratulate your connection or wish them happy birthday” but there are so many others that soar under the radar.

If you are in business development, engaging with your target market is vital to successful social selling, but often we get lost in our daily and weekly routines and forget some of these very simple yet effective activities that are essential to building relationships on LinkedIn.

Here are 5 ways to stay engage with your network in a meaningful and purposeful way that enhance your business development.

1. You Receive an Invitation to Connect – There are always three options in responding to a LinkedIn invitation, you can accept, decline or reply without accepting. If you accept, send a note with a message asking for a brief introductory phone call i.e. Thanks so much for connecting. Typically I like to have a brief call with my new connection so we can explore how we may be able to help each other now or in the future. Before declining and invitation, engage with a note asking how they found you and what inspired them to connect. (steps: hover over your open connections icon on the top right, click see all, hover over the message icon on the top right of the contact box, click on the arrow at the top right of the message and write your message.) You can communicate back and forth without actually accepting their connection request.
2. You Receive a Notification of a New Connection – I have a folder in my email where all my LinkedIn accepted connection request notifications go. This allows me to engage with my new connections when I am focused on that specific activity. I have a few different messages that I send, but if it is truly someone I would like to talk to, here is what I send.Thanks so much for connecting. Typically I like to have a brief call with my new connection so we can explore how we may be able to help each other now or in the future.

   If you are interested, I would be very happy to share some LinkedIn and social selling insights that could benefit your sales goals in 2016. If you are open to an introductory call, I invite you to visithttp://ScheduleaCallwithBrynne.com and pick a time that is most convenient for you. I am looking forward to speaking with you.

   Brynne Tillman
   215.499.0499
   Brynne.Tillman@SocialSalesLink.com

3. Who’s Viewed Your Profile – Look at this as Caller ID for LinkedIn. If someone you’d want to have a conversation looks at your profile, send a connection request, Thanks for visiting my profile, I had a chance to look at yours and I believe there may be some opportunities for us to work together now or in the future. Let’s connect. and than when they accept, send message from step #2. If you are already connected, send a message, Thanks for visiting my profile, it has been some time since we connected and I thought it might make sense for us to set up a call to see how we may be of service to one another. Here is a link to my calendarhttp://ScheduleaCallwithBrynne.com please pick a time that is most convenient for you. I am looking forward to our call.
4. Someone “likes” or “comments” on a blog post or update you have shared – If you are posting the right content that attracts and engages your target market, than you are dropping the ball at the 1 yard line if you don’t engage with them once they show interest. From your home page, click on “your recent activity” under your name to see all of your posts and shares. By clicking on the likes, you will see a list of all those who “liked” your post. You can send a message if it is your first degree connection, or you can send a connection request.
5. LinkedIn’s People You May Know Feature – Below your open connection invitations you will see a list of “People You May Know” – potential matches that LinkedIn recommends based on your profile and current connections. This is a great opportunity to scan through and select targeted people to connect with and include a note, Your name came up on LinkedIn as someone I should connect with so I wanted to reach out and introduce myself.  Let’s connect and set up a brief introductory call so we can explore how we may be able to work together now or in the future.

Here are just 5 of the many triggers that LinkedIn offers to help you engage better with your network. Make some of these activities part of your KPIs (key performance indicators) and track your social selling success.

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If you or your sales team is looking for a clear strategy and specific tactics to leverage LinkedIn and social selling to grow your business, I invite you to have a conversation. Whether we decide to work together or not, I am confident our call will be full of insights that can help you monetize LinkedIn right away. Here is a link to my calendarhttp://ScheduleaCallwithBrynne.com please pick a time that is most convenient for you. I am looking forward to our call.