For many, LinkedIn causes confusion – what is it, exactly? Is it a virtual Rolodex, a place to showcase one’s resume, or is it a social network? My answer – yes, yes, and yes. Here are 7 tips and tricks to greatly improve your LinkedIn experience and make it a site you want to visit every single day.
1. Expand Your Network
With a limited number of connections, LinkedIn is going to be pretty darn boring for you. There will be few updates for you to see, and virtually nobody will read your status changes. So, how do you expand your network to include relevant connections? Send the invitations yourself! Don’t be shy about it, either. I say go for the gusto, invite the CEO of your company to connect, invite the awesome presenter that enthralled you at the latest conference, invite anyone that you either know well or want to know better.
But, when you do send the invite, follow these tips for how to properly construct the invitation.
2. Be Creative With Your Headline
Most tend to assume that a LinkedIn headline should include only your precise job title. Why? The LinkedIn police aren’t going to hunt you down for adding a bit of creative flair to your profile.
After all, it is highly unlikely that your job title alone does you justice. You might officially be an “Account Executive”, but that title tells us next to nothing about what you actually do. Look to these examples for inspiration on how to amp up your LinkedIn headline.
Marci Reynolds – Operations Leader | Expertise in Call Centers – Sales Ops – eBusiness | Blogger & Social Media Enthusiast
Dan Schawbel – Personal Branding Expert, Bestselling Author, Speaker, Consultant, Columnist, Publisher and Blogger
Liz Isaacs – Connector ♦ Passionate Writing & Marketing Communications Strategist ♦ Writing Coach ♦ Author & Screenwriter
To make the change, navigate to LinkedIn > Edit My Profile > Edit Headline.
3. Incorporate Twitter
LinkedIn and Twitter integrated with one another in November of 2009. The unlikely pairing instantly changed the way many use and think of LinkedIn. By incorporating a select* number of tweets into your LinkedIn status updates, you can form a much closer bond with many of your business contacts.
*But a word of caution – many LinkedIn users won’t be used to a Twitter-like bombardment of updates, so be thoughtful with your frequency. And remember to keep everything business-appropriate.
4. Access LinkedIn Via Mobile
Only staying connected to your network when you are chained to your desktop is so 2009. Several months ago LinkedIn released a completely new interface for their iPhone app. The result? Functionality shot through the roof, and the mobile experience instantly improved. The LinkedIn iPhone app is the reason I now visit LinkedIn every single day.
5. Ask Questions
Most often my advice is for folks to answer questions on LinkedIn, showing their specific expertise via the official “Answers” section. But this is about making your experience better, so go ahead, start off by asking a few questions of your own. Here you will see the power of the LinkedIn community – try and stump them by asking a doozy of a question.
6. Join Groups (Even Cool Ones)
I know what you are thinking. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard of LinkedIn groups, but why would I want to join? They seem boring.” Maybe you are a skateboarding champ who happens to love The Simpsons, and you think there is no LinkedIn Group worth your while. Think again! You can join the “Action Sports Connect” and “Simpsons Fan” groups, and find a few like-minded individuals in your industry.
7. Create Your Own Group
What is better than joining a group that suits an interest of yours? Creating your own, of course. You can create a group around any niche you want – be it topical, age-based, geographic, anything. Sure, your group might start out small, and maybe it will stay small. Who cares? The connections you make via a small, tight-knit group in your industry are likely to be stronger than any formed in a group of thousands.
These are just seven ways of many to improve your LinkedIn experience. If you haven’t logged in to LinkedIn for a long while, give it a shot again – I think you will like what you see.
Now seems like the perfect time to connect on LinkedIn, right? Connect with Ryan Rancatore on LinkedIn here, or on Twitter here @RyanRancatore. Swing by Personal Branding 101 too if you are cruising for more personal branding tips and tricks.
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