What To Do When You’re Asked To Make A LinkedIn Introduction

By Emily Liou—The Muse

Let’s imagine you just received a message from one of your friends (let’s call her Anna) who saw you were connected to someone she wants an introduction to (let’s call him Bob). Anna may really want to connect to Bob, but you’re not quite sure how to go about it. You’re not exactly best friends and you don’t want to hurt your reputation in the process.

 

This is a common situation (and kinda the whole point of LinkedIn). And the good news is that it’s pretty simple to do. The big trick is to get your friend to do the heavy lifting.

In fact, you’ll want to ask her to write a one to two paragraph message that you can easily send over.

Here’s an example:

Hi Emily,

I stumbled across Bob Smith’s profile on LinkedIn as I was researching local meteorologists. I was particularly impressed with his published academic papers on climate change. His findings have not only made large contributions toward sustainability, but have also raised my awareness and impacted me to be make more conscious decisions in my purchases.

I’m currently finishing up my PhD program (graduating next month!) at UC Berkeley in the area of Atmospheric Sciences and would be very interested in meeting a fellow Cal alumni with such extensive experience in the field. I’d very much appreciate an introduction in case our schedules sync up so I can treat him to a cup of coffee, as I admire the wealth of knowledge he has developed in the field.

Thank you,
Anna

As you can see, Anna kept the message to two paragraphs at maximum. But more importantly, she answered the following questions:

  1. Why does she want the introduction?
  2. What about the person’s background interested her? What specifically about their experience made them special?
  3. What is her professional summary or background overview?
  4. What does she hope to get out of the introduction?

By answering these four questions, Anna did two important things: She articulated everything better than the mutual connection could, and she made it effortless for the mutual connection to agree to send an introduction.

 

Because now you can pen the message below, copy and paste Anna’s right under it, and hit send.

Hey Bob,

Anna, a good connection of mine, was really impressed by your background and I am thrilled to introduce you to her. I think the two of you would really enjoy connecting. Please see her message below and reach out directly if you have questions.

What to Do If You Don’t Know The Other Connection Very Well

While LinkedIn encourages users to only add and connect with people they actually know, many users are connected to people they’ve never actually met before.

So, what do you do if someone asks you to introduce them to another person you hardly know?

As the mutual connector, you might decide to just customize the message a little:

Hi Bob,

I hope this message finds you well. We connected on LinkedIn months back and I just received this message from an old classmate of mine, Anna. She saw we were connected and asked if I could introduce you to her. Please see her email below and reach out directly if interested in her request.

Thank you!
Emily

Just remember, in this fast-paced world where people are being inundated with messages and notifications every few minutes, it’s important to be as clear and concise as possible.

 

And that helping others by facilitating introductions not only makes you a strong networker, but people will reciprocate the favor for you in the future. I believe you’ll not only have fun doing it, but you’ll feel great helping others build meaningful and long-lasting relationships.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Muse and is reprinted with permission.

 

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