Reader - I want to share the best way to get started on LinkedIn. This is an essential first step for growing your own personal brand, or the personal brand of an executive you work for.

One of the secrets of social media platforms is that they test your content with small groups of users to gauge if it's good or not before sending it further.

A number of factors determine whether they deem the content good enough to push out beyond the test groups: watch time, click through rates, shares and many other things.

But one little-known aspect here is "who" they test the content with.

On LinkedIn, that test user group is your current connections. Hold this thought for a moment.

The truth is, most people are not actually starting from zero. Most people have some connections on LinkedIn - people gathered over the years of your career, past and present colleagues, as well as suppliers and clients.

The problem is, you've probably not talked to many of these connections in years, and don't engage with them at all. Does this ring true for you?

This means they are 'cold connections'.

Back to my original point - what do you think happens when LinkedIn uses your cold connections to test the validity of a piece of content you post?

Flop City!

So when we talk to clients about growing their personal brand, the very first thing we have to do - before even thinking about growing - is something we call connection management.

The first task is to either make those cold connections warm, or get rid of them.

Are the connections people you can reach out to with a DM to say, "hey, it's been a few years since we've been in touch. I just wanted to reach out to say hi and I hope all is well with you and your team at [company name]."?

Do this to every single person you want to keep as a connection. Then make sure you are following them and are commenting on anything they share on their own feeds.

Next step is to look through the connection list again and see if there's anyone who should be deleted.

This includes people who are not your target audience and people you think are unlikely to engage with you and your content. Be ruthless. Delete them all.

Keep people you actually know and want to stay connected with, of course.

If you follow the above process, you'll soon have a list of warm connections.

LinkedIn uses this group of people to test your content on. If they are cold, don't expect your content to get any kind of wider algorithm boost. If they are warm and they engage, then you have a really good chance to get started with your LinkedIn growth journey.

Of course, the next thing is you have to make good content, but that's a story for another day.

Remember, we are not growing your personal brand for fun (although it is also fun). There's a lot of work to do here just to get started - but that's what's required to share your message, build your reputation, and ultimately grow your business.

Shaun