We wanted to dedicate an article to LinkedIn. Keren has a friend who works at the LinkedIn European office, but this article isnt just for that, but rather to highlight its importance in business life!
Each of the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, BT Tradespace and the others) has their own purpose, and the main thing about LinkedIn is:
- it’s a trusted network - which means you connect to people who you have met in a business capacity
- its for business – so not really for sharing personal details but for sharing your business activitiesSo, it’s really for business contacts and business topics. Whether you run your own business or work at a company, it’s about your professional life – an online CV and profile. LinkedIn is highly searchable, so as people are in the habit of Googling you, it’s a good idea to make sure your profile is online and up to date and says all the things you want people to know about you, and none of the sordid details you may not want to share.
Below we have put some useful icons you can save off and use on your website pages if you want to link to your LinkedIn profile. We recommend if you own or work in a company, you get everyone in your team to update their profile and link to it from your company website, as this will extend the network of your company.
People use LinkedIn to varying degrees. The most active (and successful) users consistently participate by:
- Joining LinkedIn groups for specific topics and interests
- Setting up their own groups and keeping them going by inviting people and starting new conversation topics
- Interlinking their Twitter and Facebook and other Social Media profiles to their LinkedIn profiles
- Putttng little “LinkedIn profile” links on their website where they have their own bios or on the homepage
- Submitting forum posts to their LinkedIn groups and responding to other’s conversations
- Writing and adding blog articles which are useful and relevant for the specific groups
- Using other tools such as the slideshare tool to show PowerPoint presentations.
- Consistently keeping their profile up to date.
- Browsing profiles of other LinkedIn users and ask their mutual contacts for introductions.
Of course – the more you put in the more you get out – if you use this resource as a way of keeping in touch, keeping “in people’s heads”, and getting inspired to meet up in “real life” then you will see too the magic that can happen from connecting through LinkedIn.
At the very least, keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date is of utmost importance – as this makes up a big part of your online professional reputation.
Some people don’t know that there is actually a LinkedIn Learning Centre. – see www.learn.linkedin.com – this is a valuable resource and show you a lot of what is possible on LinkedIn as well as answer FAQs.
See http://learn.linkedin.com and let us know what you learn – just email us or comment in the comments box and let us know extra tips!
