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It’s high time we explored another of the social networks on this blog (before becoming completely Twitter obsessed!). LinkedIn may not have so many active members (a mere 55 million, compared to Facebook‘s monolithic 400 million!), but then it serves a very different audience. To be honest, this is the site I’ve found the hardest to get to grips with – and I’m still learning.
At first glance the LinkedIn site seems rather plain but that’s actually a refreshing change from the busy, bright pages of some other social networking sites! It certainly gives the impression of being a professional site to belong to. Not a gift or lost turtle in sight!
Who is LinkedIn for?
I believe it can work well for those employed (or wanting to be employed) by larger organizations, as well as for professional service businesses of all sizes. As with most networks, it attracts people from around the world engaged in different businesses, but thankfully it doesn’t work so well for the network marketers and ‘get-rich-quick’ merchants who seem to proliferate on FaceBook.
Here’s a whistle-stop summary of just a few of the useful features to get more from your LinkedIn membership.
Profile
Resembling a professional CV and listing present & previous employers/businesses, this is the place to talk about you and your expertise. (Some people still get it wrong and try to write a sales pitch!) A friendly and professional photograph (of you, not your logo) add a further human element.
Connections
As with all online networks, it’s best to start off by connecting with people you know ‘in real life’. LinkedIn provides options (see screenshot) to help with this and has a great additional feature, based on the ‘six degrees of separation’ model. Once your new contact is confirmed, you can see everyone they’re connected with (unless they’ve chosen to make that information private).
Recommendations
Offering and requesting recommendations is a good way to show viewers of your profile that you have friends/former clients who are prepared to say nice things about you, and of course, you then have published testimonials to impress potential employers/clients. I would just caution against a too obviously parochial approach when using this feature.
Groups
Another great way of making new, like-minded contacts, taking part in discussions and demonstrating your expertise and generosity in your areas of interest. If you’re on LinkedIn, we’d love you to join our Savvy Marketers Group!
Answers
Where you can also post questions you’d like answers to from the collective wisdom of other members. The real power of this feature lies in watching out for other people’s questions in your area of expertise and sharing your answer. If the question originator likes your reply they can ‘rate’ it which helps you build your expert status.
Applications
These are optional ‘extra’ features you can add to your profile page to share more about you and your business. For example you can include an Amazon reading list, let others see what’s being tweeted about you on Twitter, set up a Poll to do some market research – just for starters. Other interesting applications include:
Events
Quick to set up and easy to share forthcoming events with all your contacts. A short summary is posted on your profile page and it can be linked to other networks or booking websites.
Blog
You can import the feed from your WordPress or Typepad blog and show off latest posts on your profile page.
Slideshare
This is an underused facility to share PowerPoint presentations with your profile visitors. and another opportunity to showcase your knowledge.
There’s lots more to share about this powerful professional network, so we’ll be revisiting again soon!
Do you have any tips or success stories to share about LinkedIn? Please use the comments section below!
About Louise
Louise Barnes-Johnston has been working in social media marketing since 2007 after realising that it was a powerful marketing tool which would enable her clients to raise the profile of their businesses on the internet, even when working to a limited budget. Her specialism is in researching social media practices; trying out the most effective online tools and then sharing the best of them with her clients.
