While traversing LinkedIn you might have thought to yourself what is the difference between LinkedIn followers vs connections?
Understanding their differences is an integral part of your LinkedIn experience.
In this short guide, we’re exploring the difference between LinkedIn connections and followers and how to use them best.
Let’s begin with the basics.
What Are LinkedIn Connections?
LinkedIn connections or 1st-degree connections are individuals you are directly connected to on the LinkedIn platform.
You can easily make a new connection on LinkedIn by clicking on anyone’s profile and clicking “Connect”. If they accept your connection request, you become connected.
When connected with someone you can both message one another without the need of InMail and can freely see their profile without limitations.
Each one of your connections spreads the reach of your LinkedIn network giving you access to more potential connections.
You can easily see how many connections you have by clicking on the “Connections” link on your profile.
Note that LinkedIn imposes a 30,000 connection limit after which you would need to remove some connections if you want to add more.
What Are LinkedIn Followers?
LinkedIn followers are individuals who can see your LinkedIn posts and comments in their feed, but you don’t see theirs (unless you’re also following them).
You can follow a person on LinkedIn by clicking on the “+Follow” button on their profile.
Once you follow someone you will regularly see their content on your LinkedIn feed.
You can also see who is following you by clicking on the “followers” link on your profile.
LinkedIn Followers VS Connections – The Difference
Both LinkedIn followers and connections have subtle differences in how you can interact with them.
For instance, you can have two-way interactions with your connections through direct messaging while there’s only a one-way interaction with your followers through content.
But you can also have an unlimited number of followers while there’s a 30,000 connection limit.
However, you aren’t able to build relationships in a traditional way with your followers as they can only see and interact with your content, not you directly.
Followers also don’t give you access to more people to connect to.
Basically, followers are great if you’re a creator and want to influence people with your content.
On the other way, connecting with someone means that you want to build a relationship with them and open new opportunities.
Can Someone Be a Follower and a Connection?
Yes, you can connect with someone and follow them at the same time and vice versa.
LinkedIn even follows everyone you send a connection invite to, meaning you already are following everyone you’re connecting with.
But sometimes you don’t want to follow your connections, usually when you don’t enjoy their content, but you like having them in your network.
How To Manage Your Followers and Connections?
On its own, LinkedIn keeps your followers and connections separate and doesn’t offer much in the way of managing them.
You can easily lose track of who is who and it’s pretty hard to find people in your network.
Instead, you can use a tool like LeadDelta to automatically sync all of your connections into your personal database.
This database allows you to utilize Tags, essentially labels to distinguish between different connections, and use Advanced Filters to find the people you are looking for.
The big advantage of LeadDelta is its ability to go beyond your immediate connections and import any LinkedIn contacts into your database.
Think of contacts as anyone on LinkedIn, your connections, followers, people you aren’t connected to… Everyone on LinkedIn is a contact.
The LeadDelta Sidebar allows you to import any contact with a click of a button while you’re on their profile.
For instance, you can import your followers into LeadDelta and manage them with Tags and Filters.
LeadDelta gives you an easy way to manage your whole network in a single place with its huge suite of features.
Conclusion
You shouldn’t be considering LinkedIn followers vs connections, but LinkedIn followers and connections.
They are essential parts of networking on LinkedIn and allow you to build audiences and open up new opportunities.
In the digital age, fostering meaningful connections goes beyond the traditional realm of LinkedIn followers and connections. Integrating personalized gestures, such as sending a thoughtful ecard on special occasions, can further enhance your networking efforts and leave a lasting impression on your professional contacts.
It’s on you to find the best way to manage them and utilize them to grow.
