Is it better to have followers or connections on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 810 million members. As a professional looking to establish your personal brand and network, an important question is whether it is better to prioritize gaining more followers or more connections on LinkedIn.

Followers vs Connections: What’s the Difference?

On LinkedIn, followers and connections represent two distinct types of relationships:

• Followers – Other LinkedIn members who follow your profile and see your posts in their feed. Following someone does not require their approval.
• Connections – Other LinkedIn members who you are mutually connected with. Both parties must approve the connection request.

So in summary:

• Followers can unilaterally choose to follow you and see your content.
• Connections represent a two-way, mutually agreed upon link.

Benefits of Having More Followers

Here are some of the main benefits of having more followers on LinkedIn:

• Increased reach – Any content you post on LinkedIn will be automatically broadcast to all of your followers. More followers means greater visibility for your posts.
• Build your personal brand – A strong base of engaged followers helps establish you as an influencer and thought leader in your industry.
• Drive traffic – Followers boost visibility for your LinkedIn profile and any links you share, potentially driving more traffic.
• Stay top-of-mind – Maintaining an active presence in your followers’ feeds increases your visibility and keeps you fresh in their minds.

In summary, a larger follower count signals that you have built up enough authority to have people unilaterally choose to hear what you have to say. It expands your reach and helps solidify your personal brand.

Benefits of Having More Connections

Here are some of the main advantages of having more LinkedIn connections:

• Expand your network – More connections give you a larger direct network to leverage for advice, insights, referrals and opportunities.
• Increase discoverability – You gain access to your connections’ networks, exponentially expanding your visibility and reach.
• Strengthen relationships – Nurturing mutually beneficial connections builds deeper, trust-based relationships over time.
• Gain insights – Connections provide valuable perspectives, ideas and resources based on their own expertise and experience.
• Stay updated – Connections share news, articles and posts that broaden your knowledge and keep you in the know.

In summary, connections help you forge a wide, diverse professional network and signal that influential people have agreed to affiliate with you directly. This provides access to knowledge and opportunities.

Should You Focus on Followers or Connections?

As we have seen, both followers and connections offer important benefits. But is one more valuable than the other? Here are a few key points to help determine where to focus your LinkedIn efforts:

• Followers help build your brand and increase content reach
• Connections provide direct access to professional relationships
• It depends on your goals – brand-building vs networking
• A balance of both is ideal for most professionals
• Quality matters more than quantity – engaged followers and active connections are best
• Start with a subset of followers strategically chosen from your network

Based on these points, the ideal approach for most LinkedIn users is likely to:

1. First build up your connections by networking and linking with professionals in your industry and roles.
2. Then leverage some of those key connections to also become followers, by actively engaging with their content.
3. Post content regularly to gradually build up your overall follower count – providing value to followers helps sustain engagement.
4. Focus on quality over quantity – prune inactive connections periodically and seek followers genuinely interested in your work.

This balanced approach allows you to benefit from both wider direct access to professionals in your network as well as increased visibility and thought leadership for your personal brand.

Tips for Gaining More LinkedIn Followers

Here are some proven tips to help you organically build up your base of engaged LinkedIn followers:

• Regularly post valuable insights, resources and updates to give followers a reason to follow you.
• Engage with content from those you are following to build reciprocity – likes, comments and shares.
• Utilize relevant #hashtags to increase content discoverability.
• Follow accounts complementary to your industry/interests to spark mutual following.
• Participate actively in relevant LinkedIn Groups, providing thoughtful contributions.
• Proactively connect with those who would find your content valuable when you mutually follow each other.

Gaining followers takes time and consistency, but these tips can help accelerate your follower count in an authentic way.

Tips for Expanding Your LinkedIn Connections

Here are some strategies to help you proactively grow your LinkedIn connections:

• Request to connect with colleagues, clients, partners, group members, alumni etc. with customized invitations.
• Search based on shared universities, employers, interests etc. and connect citing commonalities.
• Connect with presenters/attendees after events, conferences and webinars referencing the event.
• Identify and connect with key influencers, thought-leaders and experts in your industry.
• Follow up on warm introductions made by your own connections with personalized requests.
• Provide value, advice and insights to new connections to start relationships off strong.

Focus on selectively building connections aligned with your professional goals and interests. Quality connections provide more value than accepts from irrelevant contacts.

Key Takeaways

• Followers expand your audience and increase content visibility.
• Connections give you direct access to meaningful professional relationships.
• A balance of quality followers and active connections is ideal for most users.
• Posting valuable content and strategically engaging others helps attract followers.
• Customized outreach, shared affiliations and introductions help gain quality connections.

Focus on nurturing mutual, trust-based relationships and your LinkedIn presence will organically flourish. Consistency and value are key – your followers and connections should feel actively engaged and empowered by your content and insights shared over time.