10 Ways to Use LinkedIn Effectively

LinkedIn is one of my favorite tools I use to connect with folks in my network. I use it for a TON of different reasons, but before I share some advanced tips, I thought I’d share some basic tips about how to best use the free service out there. 

Top 10 11 LinkedIn Tips

1)      Your photo – Always include a picture of you smiling in your profile. It humanizes you and makes you seem more approachable. Mine is the same picture you see on the side of this blog.

2)      URL – Always customize the URL to be your name or something folks can remember. Mine is http://www.linkedin.com/in/philgerb 

3)      URL – If you don’t have your own blog or website, buy whateveryournameis.com and forward it to your LinkedIn profile. Don’t forget to include the www in your profile or it won’t work. 

4)      Name – Always include the way folks would know you so when they look for your name, they find you. Include your maiden name and/or nickname if applicable.

5)      Requesting Connections – Always customize your invitation when you ask people to join your network. Include how they know you, how you can benefit them by being a part of their network, and even how you hope to work with them in the future. Leaving this as the default says “You’re not important enough for me to customize this to you” or worse “You sent this to 200 people and are probably going to spam my network.” The default message of “‘I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” is NOT very compelling. 

6)      Email address – If you’re going to use your work e-mail address, always put your personal e-mail address on there as backup just in case you leave a company and forget your password.

7)      Export EVERYTHING – Monthly, export your entire profile and all your contacts so you have a hard copy backup. Email them to your Gmail account for double backup.

      Recommendations – Give folks you work with/for recommendations when they do great work. Be willing to revise them if folks find typos in your recommendation or if they want you to use different words to say the same thing. 

9)      Recommendations – Ask for recommendations after you do great work. Don’t be afraid to offer a suggestion of what a good recommendation to you might look like. Make sure you ask the right people for the right thing. The last thing you want to do is put someone in a place to give you a recommendation on something they can’t honestly say you did.

10)  Answers – Answer questions in your area of expertise, or recommend the questions you find to experts you know can answer them.

11)  Answers – Ask questions of your network when you need help (and for bonus points, publish the answer on your blog for all to read). Never ask folks to respond privately so everyone can learn from your questions.

What are YOUR best LinkedIn tips? Share them in the comments below.

If you’d like to connect with me on LinkedIn, please invite me to your network, and let me know how I know you, and I will be happy to connect to you. If you give me a generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” and we’ve never exchanged e-mails or I don’t remember you, then I can’t add you. I can’t let just anyone in my network.

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Tagged as: connections, linkedin, New Media