Ok so a friend sent you a LinkedIn invite and you signed up. Now what?
This article will show you how to turn LinkedIn into a powerful tool.
Tip #1 Get Your Profile 100% Complete
Why? When you google your name what is the first thing that appears? Chances are your LinkedIn page is one of the first results. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. LinkedIn can help you have the best first impression possible. Remember, if you are an author, people will be googling your name.
How: After you log on click “profile” in the left hand side of the screen. When you do that you should see something that looks like this:
You will see how complete your profile is and what you need to do to improve your score. All Judith needs to do is type up her specialties and she will complete her profile. What do you need to do?
Tip #2 Upload Your Address Book
Why? This is the primary way to build your LinkedIn network. One client I worked with went from 4 connections to over 100 connections in less than a week after uploading her address book to LinkedIn.
How: If you use Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or AOL this is as easy as typing in your password. If you use Outlook or Apple Mail you will need to follow these instructions. Once you upload your address book, make sure to send invitations to everyone you want to add to your LinkedIn network.
Tip #3 Join Groups
Why? Joining groups can be an easy way to build your network.
How:
- Click on groups in the left sidebar.
- Find a group you want to join.
- Click “join group”
Can’t find a group you want to join? LinkedIn allows you to create your own group for free. I created an alumni group for my university.
Tip #4 Ask Questions
Why? Because experts all over the world are waiting to give you awesome answers. I asked a question about book proposals and had a manager at Random House and an Executive Editor at BankInfoSecurity.com answer it. Only LinkedIn would give me that kind of access to expertise.
How: To ask a question click on “Answers” at the top of the screen.
Tip #5 Answer Questions
Why? After someone asks a question they select a “best answer.” If your answer is chosen as the best answer then you will get props on your public profile. This will help you look like the expert.
How: Click on “Answers” at the top of the screen and then “answer questions“.
Tip # 6 Upload a Photo
Why? People may not remember a name but will remember a face. If you add your face to LinkedIn you will build your network faster.
How:
- Click Edit my profile on the left hand sidebar.
- Click Add Photo
- Browse to the photo on your computer and click upload.
- Crop the image with the cropping tool. Tip: Zoom in on your face as close as possible. This will be a tiny photo.
- Click save settings
Tip #7 Write Recommendations
Why? What goes around comes around. The more recommendations you write for others the more people will recommend you. Recommendations greatly improve the performance of your LinkedIn page.
How:
- Browse to the person you would like to recommend.
- Click “Recommend This Person” to the right of their photo/name.
- Follow the steps provided.
Tip #8 Add a LinkedIn Button To Your Website
Why? This is an easy way to build your LinkedIn network. Once you set it up it takes no extra effort. It just runs in the background.
How:
- Visit the LinkedIn buttons page.
- Pick the code for the button you want.
- Paste the code into your blog or website.
Tip #9 Add Your Blog to LinkedIn
Why? Adding your blog to LinkedIn will bring extra traffic to your blog as well as boost your search engine ranking.
How:
- Visit the LinkedIn Applications page.
- Select the application for your blog
- Follow the steps to add your blog
What do you think? Leave a comment or question below and let me know.
Thank you so much for this post, Thomas! I really appreciate your thorough, clear posts that are written for folks like me who really don't know anything about LinkedIn. Many thanks! I've spent the last week working through your list item by item to get my LinkedIn profile up-to-date, and I'm posting a link here from my Job Seekers' website.
Thank you so much! I’m about to join Linkedln but I really wanted to get a decent ‘how to’ post to read before I got going and this is exactly what I was looking for. Brilliant post, excellent detail and well written.