Bloggers note: this is an update to a 7-year-old blog post (January 2015) that more folks still need to know about and use, updated for today.
Rhonda, a colleague messaged me on LinkedIn. She was looking through my connections and noticed Deirdre, one who stood out for her profile quality and is quite similar to her, so a natural match. Now why didn’t I think of that?
“Could you introduce me to Deirdre?”
“Sure. I will do so on LinkedIn.”
“Wait, you can do that? How?”
And BTW, thanks Rhonda, for the subject of today’s blog post.
Yes, you can do that and I do it all the time:
Search for one of the parties’ LinkedIn full profile page and open it, then click the white “more” button in the top card and then click “share profile in a message.”
From the new message box that appears, you will notice it awaits your verbal message and also contains the LinkedIn URL of one of the two people you are connecting to each other.
Craft a really insightful message why the two of them are a great match (areas of overlap, how they are similar, and other kindnesses to help the relationship prosper ahead of time. Don’t send it quite yet. You are missing a key component. Leave that page open on your browser.
Open a new tab on your browser, sign into LinkedIn, find the other person’s LinkedIn URL and add to the original message browser page you were working on.
End with “let me know how well this goes” or similar message, to stay involved. Thanks them both. End with warm wishes.
Then let them “make music together” as they take it from there.
Choose from among the best connections you nurture and fertilize the seedling relationships you can foster.
Use professional judgement and discretion here–the best connection for the specific circumstance to introduce your colleague to the target may not pan out or be meant to be. You have to make an educated guess in some situations.
The key: write a great intro message that both the other parties will be able to see. Be a connector.
