How to Research People and Organisations on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is often described as a place to connect, post content and build visibility. It is also one of the most useful places to do quiet, informed research before a meeting, proposal, event, partnership conversation or more deliberate approach to business development.

For leaders, subject-matter experts and the teams supporting them, this is not about building a long list of names or sending connection requests to strangers. It is about understanding the people, organisations and conversations that are relevant to your work before deciding whether there is a genuine reason to engage.

The goal is professional preparation, not monitoring people from a distance. Used well, LinkedIn research can help you arrive better prepared. It can give you a clearer sense of an organisation’s priorities, the people shaping its direction and the issues currently receiving attention in its sector.

Begin with a genuine professional question

The best LinkedIn research starts with a question that matters to your work. You may be preparing for a meeting with a prospective client. You may want to understand who is leading communications, people, operations or business development in a particular organisation. You may be looking for potential partners, referrers, conference speakers or organisations working in an area that is becoming more important to your clients.

The question does not need to begin with, “Who can I sell to?”

For a more relationship-led approach, read How to Network for Job Search Without Feeling Transactional.

It may be more useful to ask:

• Which organisations are growing, changing or entering a new phase?
• Who is contributing to a conversation that matters to our sector?
• Which leaders are publicly connected to an issue our clients are facing?
• Who is involved in an upcoming industry event or professional community?
• What organisations appear to be investing in areas relevant to our work?

Starting with a genuine question gives your research a clearer purpose. It also makes it more likely that any future interaction will feel relevant rather than transactional.

Look at organisations as well as individuals

It can be tempting to search for job titles and focus only on the people you hope to reach. But organisations often provide just as much useful context.

A LinkedIn Company Page may give you a sense of how an organisation describes its work, what it is currently promoting, the issues it is discussing and the people it chooses to feature. You may notice an expansion into a new market, a leadership appointment, a recent partnership, a focus on recruitment or an emerging area of expertise.

This does not tell you everything about an organisation, and it should never replace deeper research or a real conversation. But it can help you arrive with a more informed understanding of what may be happening around the business.

For example, before meeting with a potential client, you may look at the Company Page alongside its website, recent announcements and the profiles of relevant leaders. This can help you see whether there are shared interests, upcoming priorities or useful questions to explore.

Use search filters to narrow your focus

LinkedIn search can help you find people and organisations by name, company, location, industry, role, seniority or existing connection.

The exact filters available will vary depending on your type of LinkedIn account and can change over time. The important point is not to use every filter available. It is to use them to narrow your attention.

You may begin with one organisation and look at the people working there. You may search for a particular role across a region or sector. You may look at who is connected to an event, professional association or shared area of interest.

If privacy settings are part of your concern, read Understanding LinkedIn Profile Viewing Settings and Privacy.

A smaller, more thoughtful list is usually more useful than a large one. The aim is to identify the people and organisations where there may be a genuine reason to pay attention.

Pay attention before you reach out

Once you have identified someone relevant, take a moment to understand what they are sharing and engaging with. Look at the way they describe their role, the themes they return to, the organisations and people they follow, and the posts or conversations they choose to join. You may notice a recent role change, an event they are attending, a sector issue they care about or a shared connection.

This kind of research can help you approach a future interaction with greater care. It may lead to a thoughtful comment on a post, an introduction through someone you both know, a conversation at an upcoming event or a more relevant message when there is a genuine reason to make contact.

Research should make your next interaction more informed and more useful. It should not simply make it more efficient.

Let research lead to contribution

Not every search needs to lead to an immediate connection request. Sometimes the right next step is simply to follow an organisation, keep an eye on an emerging conversation or take note of a leader whose work is relevant to your own. Sometimes it may be appropriate to comment on a post, share a useful article or reconnect through a mutual contact.

For people using LinkedIn to support business development, this can be a more sustainable way to build relationships. It gives you time to understand the context before you make an approach, rather than treating every profile as a lead to pursue.

For leaders and subject-matter experts, it can also strengthen the quality of your own LinkedIn activity. The people and ideas you follow may shape the questions you write about, the conversations you join and the perspectives you bring to your professional community.

For more on participating thoughtfully, read How to Be More Active on LinkedIn Without Posting All the Time.

Use LinkedIn research before meetings and events

LinkedIn can be particularly useful before a conference, industry event, client meeting, interview or partnership discussion.

Before an event, you may look at who is speaking, sponsoring, attending or sharing information about the event. Before a meeting, you may learn more about the people involved, their role in the organisation and the areas of work they have publicly discussed.

This is about arriving with enough context to ask better questions and make more meaningful connections. A few minutes of preparation can often change the quality of a conversation.

Help your organisation stay closer to its sector

For communications, marketing and business-development teams, LinkedIn research can also be a useful way to stay close to the wider market.

You may use it to follow clients, prospective clients, partners, competitors, industry bodies, conference organisers and sector leaders. Over time, this can reveal recurring themes, changing language, emerging priorities and opportunities for your organisation to contribute more thoughtfully.

It can also help inform content planning.

For organisations thinking about how their Page and leader profiles work together, read The Page and the Person: Why Your Organisation Needs Both on LinkedIn.

When you understand the issues people are discussing, the questions they are asking and the types of stories gaining attention, you are in a stronger position to develop content that feels relevant to your own audience.

The purpose is not to copy what others are doing. It is to understand the conversation well enough to decide where your organisation has something worthwhile to add.

Keep the focus on better conversations

LinkedIn research is most useful when it helps you understand people and organisations before deciding whether, how or when to begin a conversation. It can support better preparation, stronger business-development activity, more thoughtful networking and a clearer sense of the people and issues that matter to your work.

The opportunity is not simply to find more people. It is to understand the right people more clearly, and to show up with something useful to contribute.

Looking for LinkedIn support for your organisation?

Think Bespoke is a Melbourne-based LinkedIn consultancy supporting leaders, teams and organisations across Australia.

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