Should You Always Connect?

What does connecting to everyone on LinkedIn and Twitter say about your brand?The famous proverb states “You may know a man by the company he keeps”. In today's market, many brands are judged by their audiences of fans, followers and connections. What does your following say about you?The average LinkedIn user could receive ten requests per day, however, it’s possible that only one of these requests is from a genuine user or someone the user has encountered before. LinkedIn is a source of personal credibility - an online portfolio of you, including your achievements, your recommendations, your endorsements and finally the quality of the people that you are connected to.‍

Here are the people we recommend that you should accept or add on LinkedIn:

1. Current colleagues - above, below and on par with you.
2. Current clients - this is particularly important for obtaining recommendations and endorsements.
3. Classmates or course friends - they may now work for organisations that you would like to work with.
4. People you meet in your normal working life e.g: suppliers, connected industries
5. Networking - people that you meet of relevance through networking events.

Here are the people we recommend that you should NOT accept on LinkedIn:

1. Complete strangers who you have no connection to.
2. Recruiters who you haven’t worked with or give no personal message.
3. People that are connected through your connections but don’t introduce themselves.
4. People who are connected to a morally questionable business.

Every time you connect with someone on LinkedIn or Twitter, you’re connecting your brand to them. You can share in their success but you’re also indirectly linked to their failures. Social media should be used to add value to your business and brand - not simply grow your followers. If you wouldn’t connect with a person in a face-to-face meeting then you shouldn’t connect with them on social media.As an example our Commercial Director Dan Brookman had an invite from an individual who ran an escorting firm; 43 of his connections had already connected to her, damaging their credibility, professionalism and online reputation.

When you are looking to connect with people whom you haven’t met but are associated through connections, ensure that you send them a personal introduction through the connect button or use Linkedin Premium features such as InMail.