How to Get More Out of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has up to now for me been something I only looked at when someone sent me an invitation to connect. Other than that it has just sat there, under utilized, and to be quite honest, disregarded. That was until I saw this snippet from Liz Strauss

I had a wonderful conversation yesterday with someone I met in this fashion. I expect that we’ll be doing business soon.

Obviously Liz was doing something right that I am doing wrong, or not doing!

I See You, You See Me

Read the post and you will see Liz has a strategy of following up with people who are looking for her. We shouldn’t be surprised, Liz is The Connector (would make a good title for a film of her life, hehe). So now I know I can see who is reading my profile and have an idea how to view them back and attempt a conversation.

Twitter Users Advise

What other LinkedIn nuggets am I missing?

Being the Twitter addict I am, I asked my Twitter followers. I’m going to start calling my Twitter followers my mastermind team because they came back with lots of feedback.

Most responses (ScrapNancy,Green_Panda,talespinner) were in the same boat as me. Passively wait for things to happen, browse occasionally to see what folks are up to. Some use it more actively to find job applicants or for helping with references for your own career progression (coffeejitters,smiling,ciaranj,pitchyourbiz,christianbogh,erich13).

Better Address Book

Perhaps the most straightforward use, but also quite clever, is to use it as a more trustworthy address book.
This relies on folks actually updating LinkedIn, but it’s better than nothing which is my current approach!

Answers for Authority

It seems the most popular feature, and one that can really help you grow authority, is the “Answers” facility.

This was suggested by several Twitter people ( micheleneylon,chris_bailey) so I thought I would use the feature myself to ask!

As you can see (maybe) by following the link above, I have had one (great) answer so far, from Bryan C Webb who says

One should not expect overnight results here any more than attending a
Chamber of Commerce meeting and expecting new orders to flow in.
Networking takes TIME and EFFORT on your part. Trust is gained over
time through observation of your actions and reactions.

I suggest you become more active in Q&A so that people recognize
your expertise and seek you out. Grow your network of 150 by
downloading and using the Outlook Toolbar (if you have not already done
so).

So another recommendation for Q&A. It seems if you answer questions then you grow your profile. This makes sense, it is exactly what I have done in other areas and recommend Authority Bloggers do but I have never really considered LinkedIn as a venue until now. I can’t use the Outlook toolbar as I use mail.app on Mac - is there a Mac equivalent?

More Reading

hdbb_stephen recommended the following articles full of great advice

Finally, a Warning

How Do You Use LinkedIn?

Please share in the comments …

Posted on June 3, 2008 by Chris Garrett 
Filed Under Software Tools

Comments

6 Responses to “How to Get More Out of LinkedIn”

  1. hdbb_stephen on June 3rd, 2008 2:18 pm

    Hi Chris, thanks for the link. I will actually have another post on this topic up tomorrow, and a guest post at Home Office Warrior about how I used the Q&A feature to learn tips and tricks on working from home.

  2. Chris Garrett on June 3rd, 2008 2:33 pm

    Cool, looking forward to seeing it :)

  3. Good Questions Make Great Content @ chrisg.com on June 3rd, 2008 2:57 pm

    [...] - For my post about getting the most out of LinkedIn I asked for suggestions on Twitter. Twitter, after my blog, is my go-to place for getting quick [...]

  4. Amy Ahlers on June 3rd, 2008 7:16 pm

    Whenever I meet folks at networking events, I invite them to my linkedin profile. That allows me to have an instant database of people to ask questions through Q & A to, promote upcoming events, new services etc. I think it also is an image thing. It says you’re on top of the web 2.0 stuff.

  5. Chris Garrett on June 3rd, 2008 11:01 pm

    How do you invite them to your profile Amy? With your business card?

  6. How to Fix Wrong StumbleUpon Categories @ chrisg.com on June 4th, 2008 1:11 pm

    [...] just a slip up in the drop down list.  Putting it right is not so obvious, so after seeing my LinkedIn tips post mis categorized as “socialism” by mistake, I thought I would put these [...]

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