10 Tips on How to Make the Most of LinkedIn | Varn

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21 January 2013

10 Tips on How to Make the Most of LinkedIn

1) Choose your LinkedIn name carefully.

You want prospective and current clients to see your screen name and know right away that it’s you. Avoid middle initials – these can make it difficult for other people to find you.

2) Fill out your Profile

Although filling out your profile can be time consuming, it is a vital part of joining LinkedIn. Profile pages tell those you want to connect with who you are and what you have to offer them and they make it easy for you to increase visibility.

3) Quality Contacts

When it comes to your contacts, quality is much more important than quantity. Don’t link for the sake of linking as it does nothing for you, your business, or your contacts. Linking for the sake of linking is actually detrimental to the value of the system because when you have a real connection to make, either on your own or on someone elses behalf, those ‘unknowns’ get in the way. You want to link to those you actually know are on target with your business goals.

4) Never use the Default

When inviting people to join you on LinkedIn, never use the default invite: “I’d like to add you to my professional network”. Make it something personal. Remind the person how you know them.

5) Do not connect with people you haven’t spoken to

Don’t make a habit of inviting people you haven’t had a real conversation with. If that person informs LinkedIn that they’ve never heard of you, then you can be penalised.

6) Don’t focus on selling yourself all of the time.

The value of your expertise and open sharing of resources and ideas is well worth the time investment alone.

7) Asking for a recommendation is easy and painless.

You can even ask for a revision gracefully, if you do not like what someone has said and you have the option to post the recommendation or not in your profile. Also give recommendations to other people.

8) Respond to Q&A’s

Responding to “Questions and Answers” can help to educate you and to share your knowledge with others. Each time you answer a question the information is posted to your profile allowing others to see your insight and style.

9) Ask questions

It’s a great way to build name recognition, expert status and connections. There are a couple of tips which you can follow to make sure you’re doing it right: Find the right group to post in, be as specific as you can and use relevant keywords in your question. These will all help ensure that the answers you receive are the ones you need.

10) Make the most of the Group News Area.

Don’t just answer questions within groups, link articles you’ve written and other similar content. These notices get posted to the home page of all group members, which can create a great amount of exposure.

For more on improving your business’ online presence, contact the professionals at Varn.

Article by: Aimee, Head of Innovation More articles by Aimee

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