Here’s an easy way to stand out on LinkedIn

People always ask me ‘How can I stand out on LinkedIn, with 500 Million of users and many more updates and shares?’ Well, of course you need to first work on your profile, turn it into a client magnet. But you knew that already, didn’t you? What else can you do? I’ll explain one simple strategy in this post, and yet only 1% of people use it! So you want to stand out? Be among the 1%!

Let me start by saying that LinkedIn is different from other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Yes, I hear you, it’s a bit more sterile, or others use the word ‘professional’. What I like about LinkedIn is its business orientation. People on LinkedIn are in a business mindset, they come to LinkedIn because they look for ways to grow, expand, find new partners, find new employees etc. This is a concept that most people understand. But yet, often the same people don’t really apply proper…

Business Etiquette

And believe me, I don’t blame them. Because LinkedIn really doesn’t help us out here because they keep saying that it’s optional. I’m talking about the invitations to connect. Think about it, in average, how many invitations to connect do you receive that use adequate business etiquette? Let me explain what I mean: on LinkedIn there are two ways to invite someone to connect:

1. Simply clicking on the ‘connect’ button, this sends out the default invitation that looks like this
   
2. Clicking on the person’s profile, from there entering a personal message explainig why you would like to connect, where you have met. The invitation then looks like this.
   
   

Which one in your opinion is a) using appropriate business etiquette and b) standing out from the rest? Of course it’s the second one.

Always customize invitations on LinkedIn, even on mobile, to stand out on LinkedIn

So the easiest way to stand out on LinkedIn, after you have turned your profile into a client magnet, is to only send out customized invitations! Every time, even from the mobile app. My colleague Mark Williams explains how to do that in this quick video:

So there you have it, the simplest and most natural way to stand out on LinkedIn is just applying proper business etiquette on LinkedIn!

Optimize your LinkedIn Profile first!

Of course, it goes without saying that you should first create a great LinkedIn Profile, a client magnet that makes people want to connect with you, and then contact you and say ‘I liked what I saw on your LinkedIn Profile. I think you offer exactly what I need. Can we meet?’ Do you get those kind of messages? If not, my LinkedIn Profile Quick Fix might help.