I receive requests regularly from people I haven’t met in person or don’t know at all. And while connecting with people on social networks like Facebook and Linkedin can be a great way  build your online audience and brand, it can be a tough decision to add someone without knowing much about them.

Here are a couple of steps you can take that will make it more likely that people will want to connect with you.

1. Add a message to your request
2. Tells me why you want to connect with me
3. How being connected to you could benefit both of us
4. Have a profile photo (a nice friendly photo works best in my opinion. (Sorry I don’t really care about being friends with your kids or dogs even though I’m sure their photos are very cute).
5. Read and comment on the persons blog or visit their Web site. If you read my blog and leave a comment it will make it much more likely I’ll add you and even reciprocate.
6. Make sure you have some relevant information in your public profile available to peruse. If there’s very little information in your profile – what else do I have to make a decision on?
7. Don’t try to sell me something right away (you know who you are). Try developing a relationship first. It’s much more likely that I’ll buy something from you without you asking,  or refer people to your service or business.
8. If Facebook shows we’re connected to few of the same people,  let me know how and why or even if that person recommended we connect.

I’d love to know more about how you make your decisions to friend or not to friend?

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