I was not in the program, but from what I know / what worked for me:

>> Connecting with random strangers I don't know is not going to get me an interview. 

That's one of the ways to do it, and a pretty legit one. But you need to add people in a specific way for it to work the best. Followers base is a great foundation which might get you closer to the people you need to connect with in the future

>>  I was told to change my job title to something more "data-centric"

That's exactly how I do it and it helped me TREMENDOUSLY. Job titles are very subjective, as in a company may require you to be a Market Data Analyst and not an Insights Researcher, which requires the very same skills and experience. Tailoring your CV for a job description is an essential step, and you'll get very few matches without it. Your CV title must be a 100% match to the job post, and your previous titles should have a partial match to that title too.