Are you LinkedIn?
If not....why?!?! It's SUCH a good social media tool for businesses and the free account is packed full of features and functions.
If you are....do you thin you are using it to it's full advantage?
We've developed the following 'top tips' to get you started....happy networking!
CONNECT
Stating the
obvious?! Perhaps but once you’ve signed up to LinkedIn you need to connect
with people, businesses and groups.
After every
networking meeting spend some time working through the business cards collected
and search for the individuals on LinkedIn. If they’re on there, send a request
to connect.
DON’T send
LinkedIn’s generic “I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn” request – be more
personal. As an example a recent request I sent said….. “We met at the charity
evening in Burnham last week, it was great to meet (and compare our love of all
things Mint Velvet)…..it would be great to connect here on LinkedIn.”
INTERACT
Once you have
connections – interact with them by perhaps commenting on their status updates.
LinkedIn will
notify you of any job changes that your connections have – congratulate them,
ask them about their new role. ENGAGE!!!!!!
JOIN
Groups are a great
part of LinkedIn and one of my top tips is to join groups relevant to your
industry.
I am a member of
the CIPR and social media marketing to name just 2 and I regularly join in
discussions within these groups and have connected with other members and in
fact have a meeting with another member in a couple of weeks to discuss a
collaboration.
You can start a
discussion chain – it needn’t be an in-depth analysis of your industry – I
asked the question which e-newsletter provider do you prefer, a client asked me
to do a quick poll…..had around 8 replies and some really useful feedback for
the client
SHARE
LinkedIn (like all
social media) isn’t about selling. It’s about awareness and it’s about sharing.
So share your knowledge, share your expertise. Try to post an update at least
once a week – link back to your website or other sites that may be of interest
to your connections. Make people want to look out for your updates because they
are useful, insightful and helpful.
RECOMMEND and ENDORSE
If you work with
someone and enjoy how they’ve helped you – write a short recommendation or endorse them!
Don’t be shy about
asking for recommendations! No-one will mind being asked. The worse that can
happen is they won’t reply! The best they’ll write a glowing paragraph about
working with you!
If you are asked
to recommend someone and are happy to – make the time to do it. It need only be
a sentence or two but this is the life-blood of LinkedIn and if we all used it
‘properly’ it would be an even more powerful networking tool!
One tip – don’t be
too ‘trigger happy’ with the endorsement button.
YOUR PROFILE
I’ve tried to save
the most important ‘til last!
Complete your profile – get it to 100%
It is important
for you to spend time building your profile.
This is going to
be the first thing people see when they find you on LinkedIn so make the first
impression the right impression!
Aim for:
-
A
well-written summary of who you are and what you do – you’ll only have around
150 words so get it right!
-
A
professional picture (not a blurry holiday snap) for your profile – and
whatever you do don’t leave it blank or use a picture that is 10 years old!
-
Fill
in as many of the profile sections as possible and revisit to update when you
have taken on a new project or gained a new
qualification
