Rather be followed on LinkedIn than connected? Well you can.

A while ago LinkedIn introduced the option to opt-in to making “Follow” the primary action on your profile rather than “Connect.”

LinkedIn’s thinking is “it’s important that the right people can see and interact with your thoughts, questions and ideas. Other like-minded professionals benefit from hearing your perspectives on timely news and trends impacting your industry. We are committed to providing more options for content creators like you to grow your audience on LinkedIn.”

If you are scrupulous about your network and surround yourself with good people you know to enable your social selling success you might want to select this option so that the default shown on your profile is follow as opposed to connect.

To opt-in to grow your audience follow these simple steps.

On your profile select the settings and privacy option:

Select the visibility option:

Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see Followers or select Visibility of your LinkedIn activity from the menu on the left.

Select Followers and then on the dropdown arrow select Everyone on LinkedIn:

Once you have selected Everyone on LinkedIn you will need to select whether you want to display Follow as the primary action for members viewing your profile (move the toggle to Yes), or whether you want the Connect option to show as the primary action for members viewing your profile (select No).