TL;DR
LinkedIn categorizes connections into levels (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and external) based on your direct relationship, interaction history, and mutual connections. Nurturing your existing network (1st degree) is crucial as they see your content. Expanding your network by connecting with 2nd and 3rd degree individuals is important for business growth and lead generation. A long-term strategy combines posting valuable content, engaging in groups, and potentially using LinkedIn Ads to increase reach and attract connections organically.
LinkedIn can be a great way to connect with people in your industry. However, the professional social network offers different “levels” of connections: so you won’t be able to contact everyone in the same way.
What are the different connection levels? What are the different actions you can take based on them?
In this article, we will focus on the connection levels on the platform and the stakes they involve.
What is a LinkedIn Connection Level?
To determine the architecture of its network, LinkedIn has implemented connection level rules that link different users together.
Each time you have a contact on the professional social network outside of contact purchases, they are classified based on three criteria:
- The relationship you have with the person (friendly, family, colleague…)
- The number of exchanges you’ve had (messages exchanged, comments posted…)
- The connection level of your contact (1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree)
Therefore, you should view LinkedIn connection levels as intersecting circles of professional relationships.
How Do LinkedIn Connection Levels Work?
Thus, the algorithm will classify you according to different connection levels. They can be grouped as follows:
- 1st Degree Connection (Direct Network): these are people with whom you are directly connected, meaning you have accepted their connection request or they are in your address book. For these contacts, you can see all information on their profile;
- 2nd and 3rd Degree Connections (Indirect Network): these are the connections of your connections, meaning the 2nd and 3rd degrees of connection. These people are therefore not part of your direct network, but you can still access some of their information (public profile, profile picture…). To contact these people, you can either go through an intermediary, i.e., someone in your direct network, or add them directly by explaining the link that connects you;
- 4th Degree and Higher Connections (External Network): these are all other people on LinkedIn with whom you have no link. These users are therefore not part of your network, direct or indirect. If you wish to contact them, you will need to use a private message (InMail) or a connection invitation.
What is the Best Strategy for LinkedIn Connection Levels?
To understand LinkedIn connection levels and the different stakes involved, you can implement several strategies. We recommend experimenting with all of them and learning from the results.
1. Nurture Your Current Network
In most cases, it is best to maintain relationships with people in your direct network because you likely already interact with them.
Furthermore, first-degree connections contribute to your engagement on the platform, as they are the ones who will see your posts. In other words, your success in LinkedIn prospecting depends on them!
2. Expand Your Network
However, since LinkedIn is primarily a professional tool, it’s important not to neglect other connection levels. Indeed, some people you don’t know directly can be valuable for your business, your career, or simply your LinkedIn ABM strategy.
As you know, the social network is a powerful tool for generating leads. Lead generation on LinkedIn relies heavily on your ability to expand your reach.
How does this work? By creating interesting LinkedIn posts, of course, but also by adding new people to your network.
A 2nd or 3rd degree connection is more likely to accept you than someone from the external network.
For this, there are several techniques:
- follow a 2nd or 3rd degree connection to stay updated on their publications;
- join LinkedIn groups where you can participate regularly;
- create interesting and useful content to attract the attention of other users.
You can also add people randomly, but it will be slower and less effective in the long term.
3. Think Long-Term Reach
A LinkedIn strategy should not solely rely on acquiring new people for your network.
As you’ve understood, the idea is to combine several practices simultaneously:
- post interesting and useful content;
- subscribe to a LinkedIn plan to benefit from more features like InMails;
- run LinkedIn ads or sponsored posts;
- etc…
If you manage to create a strategy and stick to it long-term, you’ll notice that you won’t even need to add new first, second, or third-degree connections anymore. They will come to you directly.