Five Things to Do on LinkedIN
Lots of people have a profile on LinkedIN, but they’re note exactly sure what to do after they put in all their past job information. Here are five things you can do to make your experience with LinkedIN better, once you’ve set up your profile.
Invite Others
LinkedIN has a strong tool to import your address books and then select people to invite to connect with you. You can import from Outlook, Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, and several more. So do it. Connect to people, and invite a bunch of people that you know to connect with you and to try the service. More connections means more future opportunities.
Launch a Recommendation Campaign
Reach out to connections on LinkedIN that you know reasonably well and offer to write them a recommendation. Ask if they’re willing to recommend you in return. **Note: it really is important that you ask for recommendations from people you know fairly well. Though LinkedIN and I differ on how to add connections, I believe FIRMLY that you have to know the details of someone’s job and a strong understanding of how that individual performed in it before you can write or ask for a recommendation.
Reread Your Profile
Does your profile state what you’ve done, or what you CAN DO for someone else? If it’s A, rewrite. If it’s B, pat yourself on the back. Make sure you blend your job description with your future value to an organization.
Answer some Questions
I’m finding that by answering questions of either my colleagues or people in the twice-removed category is a great way to get your name and thoughts out there to lots more people. It might net you some more awareness, and that might find you someone who doesn’t know you personally, but maybe wants to get to know you.
Check for updates on the Home page often
Keep tabs on who’s moved, who’s changed positions, and which other colleagues from your past and present companies have joined LinkedIN recently. I like to check in on the Home tab of LinkedIN every 2 or 3 days. It’s given me lots of great opportunities to open a dialog with someone I haven’t spoken to in a while, and occasionally, I’ve seen someone lose a job, and have been there to recommend another source quickly, just by watching the “Home” tab from time to time.
Your Turn
How else do YOU use LinkedIN and what else do you do on there, after you’ve built your first profile?
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Comments
Useful ideas, but I’d add the idea of asking questions, as well as answering them. I’ve not only gotten useful information this way — I’ve met a number of people with similar interests, etc.
[…] Five Things to Do on LinkedIN : [chrisbrogan.com] One of my favorite bloggers, Chris Brogan lists five things that you should be doing on LinkedIn. I guess I’m doing 4, but I’ll work on the 5th this week (answering questions). So if you’re wondering what to do next - this will answer your questions. (tags: linkedin social-networking) […]
Related to your 5th point, I also periodically go through the connections of someone in my network to see if there’s anyone in there I know or should know (it’s usually the people that have just added someone that stick out).
If it’s the later, I put them on my “bus dev” list and as my “link” to introduce us.
On a funny note, recently LinkedIn “recommended” some connections to me and one was my brother! It never occurred to me to look for family on a business networking tool - how funny is that!
I am going to be hiring a conference marketing specialist sometime in the next quarter.
I searched LinkedIn for marketing folks with conference experience in New England. I sent each of them a message, admitting that we had not met, but telling them why I was reaching out (counting on them to make referrals).
I find that I have build a good sized (several dozen) group of conference professionals based in New England. I hope that this group works for me and that others can leverage it as well.
That’s such a huge question, Chris — way too much for one blog post. :-)
In answer to the question, what else can you do with it… well, I’ve always wanted to have a good way to answer that question, so I started compiling blog posts and articles, and then run a group blogging project on the topic. End result: 80+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn
As far as what to do next after you first join and connect… Jason Alba of Jibber Jobber is getting ready to publish I’m on LinkedIn…Now What??? (disclosure: I’m the Executive Editor) There’s an overview on his blog.
Drop me a note (that goes for your readers as well) or leave a comment if you have any questions about using LinkedIn or if I can help in any way.
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