This article is written for current students, particularly in Year 11, 12, and undergraduate university students around the world. The purpose of this article is to provide you with several key strategies to build your LinkedIn network without making a single post.

1. Get your LinkedIn network to 500 plus as quickly as you can

LinkedIn will recommend people in the “My Network” tab. From my experience, I strongly suggest that you take the following steps:

a. Send a Connect Request (CR) to the majority of these suggested contacts

Why do I say this? These suggested contacts are “People you may know based on” various factors, including “industry”, “recent activity” and “institutions”. They are relevant to where you are now (institution), where you want to be in the future (industry), and what you have been looking at on LinkedIn (recent activity).

b. Add a note to your CR (optional)

Adding a note comes with a caveat. Be very careful of appearing to say something that sounds like it is a cut and paste to every person you are contacting. If there is something in a profile that really resonates with you, then I suggest writing a short note to highlight that.

I do this often. For example, if a PhD student has successfully defended their thesis and completed their final milestone, or received their examiners report, or graduated, I congratulate them and ask them what their plan is going forward. In some cases, this has allowed me to recommend people they can contact, or make other suggestions around their next steps. In other cases, it can also lead to some discussion around a shared professional interest.

2. The benefit of LinkedIn when you do not post

When you do not post on LinkedIn, you still benefit. I know there are algorithms, I know there is the golden rule of helping others to be perceived as a trusted source. Yet, when you are a new university student or graduate, you do not have to post every single achievement on LinkedIn (I will say more on this in another post).

What should you do if you are not posting on LinkedIn, then? Great question.

You can scroll and consume the content in your LinkedIn feed. However, you should be more strategic than this. I have no doubt that consuming the content of others in your network on LinkedIn without a strategy can lead you down a rabbit-hole of emotional upheaval and turmoil.

For example, I know many connections find that as they peruse their LinkedIn they feel a sense of competition, as they observe everyone is “so proud”, “excited” and “honoured” to have achieved something that is actually expected of that person (both for the person who posted, and the person reading the content) in a typical day-in-the-life of (student or professional).

Tip: There is value in being silent, and achieving quietly. Many CEOs that I know confirm this.

However, if you are actively working on growing your LinkedIn network to above 500 people, you have a source of incoming information to help you remain informed in your areas of interest. Remember the “industry”, “recent activity” and “institutions” in 1a?
Considering this context, in my own network of over 4,100 contacts, the following statements can be made:

1. I will never meet every one of my connections in-person.
2. I do not correspond on a regular basis with a majority of these connections.
3. Similar to point 1, there is a large percentage of my connections that I will never meet in person.

So, what is the benefit of having thousands of LinkedIn connections?

The benefit of having so many LinkedIn connections is that when they post, this is a source of information I can use to inform myself, typically for business decisions, discussions and strategies. For any teachers out there, especially at university level, I recommend you bring your LinkedIn feed into your teaching. I openly share my LinkedIn feed with my students, and show examples from it. I truly believe that makes me a more relevant, industry-focused teacher.

To highlight the benefit of my having thousands of LinkedIn connections further, through the posts made by my LinkedIn network I receive such useful information as:
1. Updates from industry seminars and conferences.
2. Pre-registration opportunities for webinars and live online events. I recently received an invite to a University of Melbourne Taylor Swift webinar this way.
3. Pre-publication access to the latest academic journal articles. These articles span many disciplines, including strategy, management, education, health, medicine and more. I can immediately apply this research into my business. Talk about bridging the gap between industry and academia. I learn things I would never be exposed to from people I would never meet.

3. Search using hashtags

All social media uses hashtags and keywords to generate interest in content posted, and to build an audience of followers and connections. LinkedIn is no different. You can search LinkedIn using hashtags. The most valuable uses (I find) are for Posts “from my network”, “past 24 hours” and “past week”.

Action Step: Generate a list of hashtags relevant to you. These hashtags should be relevant to your study, your profession, and your interests. Remember, though, LinkedIn is not Facebook. Although, there is a shift towards more Facebook-like content (memes and inspirational posts, for example). Keep it focused on professional goals and aspirations.

Conclusion

There are countless ‘experts’ who will tell you what to post and when to post on LinkedIn. In this article, I have given you several key strategies to build your LinkedIn network without making a single post. I encourage you to adopt these strategies.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and let me know how these strategies help you.

In the meantime, I continue to focus on building my tutoring business. And reading the content of others, to remain informed, aware and up to date on the latest insights and initiatives of interest to me.