How to Make LinkedIn Work For You

This is the third article in a three part series about LinkedIn.  The first post was a general introduction and the second article included helpful hints in creating a compelling profile.  In this article, we’ll talk a little bit about how to best utilize LinkedIn’s features.

• The More You Give, the More You Get: Fill out as much of your profile as you can. The more information you put in, the more connections you’re making and by doing so, you’re creating more opportunities for people to find you. For example, by including former employers on your profile, you will be connected to other LinkedIn users who have worked for that company. Same with colleges: by including the colleges you attended, you’ll be connected to others who have attended the same college.
• Update Your Status: Update your status regularly and strategically, usually about once a day. Use your status update to remind your network what you do and what you know. Example: “Working on a “Best Practices for LinkedIn” article for the GCFLearnFree blog.” You can also use your status update to share articles with your network. If you provide interesting links the people in your network will be much more likely to pay attention to your updates, which keeps you top of mind and also positions you as knowledgeable in your area. That trust in your ability will make it much more likely that people will consider you as an expert to whom they can refer their contacts. If you plan on doing this, use a URL shortener like bit.ly to save space in your status updates and to track how many click-throughs a given link garnered.
• Learn Advanced Search: LinkedIn’s Advanced Search is extremely powerful as it can help you find targeted audiences. Spend time familiarizing yourself with this feature and you could benefit greatly from the search results.

• Join Industry Groups: Search for and join industry-related LinkedIn groups , even if there is no activity within them. The icons for those groups will show up on your profile which tells people at a glance that you are involved in your industry and presumably knowledgeable about it. It also creates a connection between you an anyone else who is a member of that group. If the group is active, join in the conversation where appropriate. This is an opportunity to demonstrate your  expertise.
• Post News: Many groups allow you to post links to news articles intended to spark conversation. More often than not, conversations do not arise from these links but that doesn’t mean that no one pays attention to them. Like status updates, this function can be used to position yourself as knowledgeable in your field. But think before you go down this route. Before you post anything, ask yourself if what you’re about to share is truly valuable to the group. If it’s sheer self-promotion, don’t do it.
• Ask and You Shall Receive: Utilize LinkedIn’s Answer feature to get questions answered by trusted and knowledgeable people.  Or answer questions posed by others. This, again, is another aspect of LinkedIn that can be used to demonstrate your competence. Only answer the questions for which you know the answer intimately. Your attitude should be that you want to help the person who posed the question by sharing your expertise. If you are truly helpful to the person, they’ll consider assigning you as the best answer among the group. Your answer, but also the fact that it was the best answer, will be displayed on your profile.
• Install applications: LinkedIn doesn’t have many apps, but those that they do can be helpful for positioning and to create more contact points. The WordPress and BlogLink apps allow you to send your blog posts automatically to your LinkedIn profile. The Google Presentation and SlideShare apps let you embed PowerPoint presentations you’ve created into your profile. This is a superb way to demonstrate your expertise while also creating an incentive for people to keep an eye on you for your valuable content. If you travel a lot, the MyTravel application lets you know your network’s travel activity so you can see when your colleagues are in the same place, creating yet more opportunities to connect. The Amazon Reading List app lets you list the books you’ve read, the books you’re currently reading and those you’d like to read and it connects you with other who are using the app. This not only demonstrates more of your knowledge through your books but also creates more connection opportunities.

Most of this information came from: E-Strategy Blog

Do you feel that you could benefit from having a LinkedIn profile?  Do you have other tips or helpful hints to share in your exploration of LinkedIn?