Daily Bytes: LinkedIn Matters and How to Make LinkedIn Matter More
Posted on Thu, Nov 19, 2009
Thursday Daily Bytes from now on will focus on training and insights about how to use social media tools and platforms to your company’s and/or personal career to the fullest advantage. This first training-focused Daily Bytes will be on LinkedIn.
I think LinkedIn is one of the best tools out there. Before I go to meet with someone for the first time, I check out their LinkedIn profile to learn about them. It helps advance the meeting if we have common connections which can help the pending conversation. I also use it as a resource to find out about information about certain industries or companies. I have joined certain groups which enables me to make connections that cross beyond my immediate connection circle. Finally, LinkedIn is a great search engine prophylactic. Don’t think people aren’t googling you. People meet you and what do they do immediately after?! They check you out online. What if you are doing amazing consulting work since you left your last job and the first search result is a press release from two jobs ago in 2003! I am amazed by how many executives don’t recognize the power of LinkedIn in helping all of us manage our on-line search results! Some of them like to brag at how many LinkedIn invites they have turned down. Then I tell them to google themselves. When they see the initial results, they then change their minds!
So all this being said, here are a few interesting posts on using LinkedIn:
What is LinkedIn?
Common Craft, whose product is “explanation”, put together this video on LinkedIn which is short, to the point and entertaining:
10 Ways to Maximize Your Profile on LinkedIN
Social media expert and blogger Kyle Lacy, through his company Brandswag hosted a seminar yesterday on how to maximize your profile on LinkedIn. The ten ways include:
- Take full advantage of your profile
- Upload your initial contacts
- Recommendations
- Using Groups
- Promotion of Events
- Using Your Status Updates
- Using Applications
- Networking for a Job or Lead Generation
- Search Functionality in LinkedIN
- Using LinkedIN for Lead Generation
In the post, Kyle also provides a link to the seminar’s presentation which provides more in depth information.
33 Ways to Use LinkedIn for Business
In July 2009, WebWorkerDaily published 33 ways to use LinkedIn for business which also included some good etiquette tips, such as:
- Don’t turn off your contacts: avoid hard-sell tactics.
- Write honest and valuable recommendations for your contacts.
- Request LinkedIn recommendation from happy customers willing to provide testimonials.
Coming Soon: Your Professional Network within Microsoft Outlook
Yesterday in their blog, LinkedIn announced their new partnership with Microsoft which has three key benefits:
- Keep up with LinkedIn connections right from your e-mail inbox
- Email your LinkedIn connections directly from Outlook
- Keep building your professional network from Outlook.
Visual Step-by-Step Instructions to Connect Your Twitter and LinkedIn Accounts
Last week, LinkedIn announced a new feature which links your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile via your status update. It also enables you to send out tweets from your LinkedIn account.