Cognition #1: LinkedIn networking for creators & freelancers | 5 Golden Rules

Welcome to Cognition!

I've been planning Cognition for a really long time as my premier long-form content. I'm glad it's live now!

Without wasting any time, let's dive into it.

In the 1st edition of Cognition, I'm gonna talk about:

1. Why should you focus on LinkedIn connection networking?

2. The never-ending Quality vs. Quantity debate.

3. Five Golden Rules I follow while connecting on LI.

4. Non-Technical aka Fun Segment.

The why of LinkedIn connection networking!

Networking, online or offline, is powerful. There's no debating that.

Twitter and LinkedIn are my go-to platforms for networking. Let's stick to LI on this edition.

That's about WHAT.

Now, let's discuss WHY.

Why should you network?

1. Income: Network with people/leaders/prospects in your industry to generate job or freelance opportunities. Get clients. Provide services or sell products. Earn money.

2. Collaborations: Collabs fast track your growth as a creator. Find the right people and share valuable content together.

3. Visibility: Network well, and your work is promoted even when you're not promoting it. Your network tags you and shares your content.

Few more advantages of networking on LI:

• Works best when you don't have recipients' personal emails.

• Scope for one-on-one interactions.

• Can notice what's happening in connections' professional lives and use it for conversations later.

Quality vs. Quantity of connections

Let's discuss both possibilities here.

Quality:

You're selective. You keep the count small.

You focus on conversations.

You bring people on GMeet/Zoom.

You build strong relationships.

Quantity:

You do the same thing as above, but you play the probability game instead of the patience + strategic + selective game.

You send more invites.

You connect with more people.

You build strong relationships with some.

What method to use? What works the best?

It depends on the person you are and your priorities with networking.

• You're selective, patient, and like to pick your network at will? Quality should be your approach.

• You don't mind having a lot of strangers in your network and a non-curated feed? Or like playing probability games? Quantity suits you.

I use the Quality Approach for my LinkedIn journey. And it's purely based on the person I am.

NOTE 1: If you're a content creator and skeptical about gaining followers using the Quality Approach, don't worry. Followers might take time compared to the Quantity Method, but you'll get there eventually.

Just focus on delivering valuable content. The rest follows.

I'm doing okay with my follower-connection ratio using the quality method. I'm sure you'll do even better.

NOTE 2: If you're using the quantity method, make sure you:

• Don't send random requests. Give a glance and a thought about the profile before sending an invite.

• Don't add inactive accounts. Inactive accounts decrease your reach indirectly. I'm pretty sure you don't want that.

Five golden rules I follow while connecting on LI.

While accepting invites,

Rule 1: Personalized Message and profile

The absence of a personalized note is a turn off for me. But, I still visit and go through the profile to check for metrics like content, consistency, professional life, etc.

Rule 2: Value Addition

Do they add value to my feed/network? If not, why should I connect with them? Just to increase my numbers? Nah, I'm not doing that.

Rule 3: Opportunities

Can they provide me with any opportunities in the future? Clients, collaborations, podcasts, anything that's possible.

While sending invites,

Rule 4: Value Offering

What can I provide? It's not always about what I get. Value sharing must be mutual. Only then you can build genuine networks.

Rule 5: Success and Potential

Achievements are secondary to me. If they're successful, great! I'll surely connect and learn from them.

But primarily, I look for potential. I look to connect with people who I feel will evolve with time. I look at metrics like skills, efforts, discipline, consistency, quality of work, etc., to estimate potential.

Either way, I always send a personalized note. Works like magic if you want to connect with successful people or those who use the quality approach to connect (if you're good at it, of course.)

So that's about LinkedIn connection networking. And it's a wrap with the technical segment of Cognition.

The next segment is a bit more fun where I recommend movies, shows, music, books, etc. I also share quotes, tweets, videos, and posts that I liked during the last week.

Here we go!

Non-Technical aka Fun Segment

Favourite quote from a book

Wanting to be loved is healthy. Pretending to be someone you're not to gain love can be harmful.

Movie I watched this week

I rarely watch love stories, but Anand is a vibe. I highly recommend you to watch this Telugu film. It's on Hotstar and YouTube.

Tweets I loved

Song I'm listening to on a loop

The BGM while watching TENET. 🔥

One of the most sexiest songs I've ever heard.

So yeah, the fun segment ends here. I'll try to add some learning resources in future editions.

If you liked this edition, do share about Cognition on your socials. Help more people benefit from the newsletter.

See ya! Stay safe, take care, and don't be so hard on yourself.

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

Enjoyed Cognition? You can always gift Vikra chocolates as a token of appreciation. He's a BIGGG foodie. He loves to eat.