You know how you sometimes find yourself talking to a person you’ve never met before. When you have an interesting conversation, it’s easy to forget to swap contact details. Or might not feel the need. It was just an interesting talk.

If you bump into each other again, you relate back to your first meeting. Before you know it you are engaged in a fun conversation again. When you decide to swap contact details, or plan to meet for a coffee, it comes natural, as you already know each other.

HOW COOL WOULD IT BE TO ACT LIKE THAT ONLINE?

Fancy you could actually engage on LinkedIn, without being connected? Talk off taking the cold out off cold calling! Heck, they might even make the first move and invite you to connect!

• Create a list of people you’d like to get to know.
• Visit their profile and view recent activity.
• If there is something you can add a meaningful comment to: go for it!
• Engage on LinkedIn in this manner once a week.
• Delete the people from your list who are not actively using LinkedIn.
• Narrow it down to a shortlist of 10-15 people.
• Evenly divide them over the weekdays.

Now it only takes you 10 minutes a day to engage on LinkedIn with 10-15 important people!

HOW EASY IS THAT?

Remember you want to add value through your comments. You don’t want to be noticed as that pesky little stalker, but as the friendly professional that I know, you are. Few things to keep in mind:

• Show curiosity for what they talk about. Don’t move away from their topic, but ask a question to keep the conversation going.
• Touch on something you are both interested in, that is not only an easy but also a genuine way to build rapport.
• Connect people. Draw others into the conversation by tagging them.