To get more connections on LinkedIn, invite people you already know and trust, starting with colleagues, classmates, mentors and fellow volunteers. Add a short note of up to 200 characters when someone needs context, such as a person you've just met at an event. For anyone you only admire from a distance, use Follow instead, which needs no invitation.
Before you send a single invitation
- A primary email address on your account. Without one you can't send invitations at all.
- A list of people you know and trust. That's the line the LinkedIn help page on who to invite draws, in step with the User Agreement and Professional Community Policies.
- A sentence or two for anyone who won't place your name straight away. You've got 200 characters.
- A plan for your notes if you don't have Premium, because you only get a few each month.
How to invite people and grow your network
Work outwards from the people who'd recognise you.
- Write down the people you know and trust.
- Start with colleagues, classmates, mentors and people you've volunteered with.
- Pick out anyone you've met recently at an event, because those are the invitations that benefit most from Connect with a note.
Adding a note from a desktop
- Open the member's profile.
- Select Connect in the introduction section.
- Click Add a note.
- Type your message in the text field.
- Select Send invitation.
Adding a note from the mobile app
- Open the member's profile.
- Tap the More icon in the top section.
- Tap Personalize Invite.
- Enter your message.
- Tap Send Invitation.
Those two routes come from the help page on personalising invitations. The labels differ slightly between desktop and phone, so look for the exact wording on whichever you're using.
Match the button to the person. Someone you've worked alongside already knows who you are, so they don't need one of your notes. Someone you met once at a conference gets Connect with a note, so they can place you. Someone whose posts you enjoy but have never spoken to gets Follow, and no invitation at all.
It's also worth tidying what people land on when your invitation arrives. Anyone who doesn't place your name straight away may look you up first, so a profile that explains what you do does some of the persuading for you.
What happens once you've invited everyone you know
Eventually the list runs out, and that's the point to change tools. LinkedIn says to invite people you know and trust, and it gives you a different tool for everyone else.
That tool is Follow. If you don't know someone but enjoy their posts or insights, following them needs no invitation, so there's nothing for them to accept and nothing that sits outside the rules on who to invite. If you later meet at an event, they've moved into the group you can invite.
If you're starting close to zero, the piece on building a presence with no connections picks up from here. And once the numbers do climb, it's sensible to know how to export your connection list so you've got your own copy.
The catch: personal notes are rationed
Without Premium, you can personalise up to three connection requests per month.
That's a tight allowance, so decide who gets one before you start. Spend your notes where they do the most good. A former colleague will know who you are without an explanation. Someone you spoke to for five minutes at an event may not, and that's the invitation worth writing a few lines for. You've got 200 characters, so say where you met and why you'd like to stay in touch, then stop.
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There's a second trap on the phone. Invitations sent from People You May Know on the mobile app can't be personalised at all. If you want to add a note to someone who shows up there, open their profile and use the More icon route above instead.
Frequently asked questions
Should I connect with people I've never met?
LinkedIn says to send invitations only to people you know and trust. For anyone else, Follow is the suggested option.
Can I run out of invites?
The three-a-month figure is for personal notes. For any limit on invitations themselves, check LinkedIn's help centre.
Why can't I send any invitations?
Check that your account has a primary email address, as it's mandatory for sending them.
Does Premium change the note limit?
The three-a-month allowance applies when you don't have Premium. Check the help page for what your plan includes.
Where should I spend my three notes?
On people you've recently met, as that's where LinkedIn recommends Connect with a note.
What's the difference between Connect and Follow?
Connect sends an invitation the other person responds to. Follow involves no invitation, so it's the option for people you don't know.
