Are you utilising LinkedIn to best effect?

Linkedin is growing at a rate of 1 million new users every 10 days and about 42% of professionals in the UK have a profile. Here are a few easy things you can do with your LinkedIn profile that you might not be aware of to get better results.

Integrate other sources to LinkedIn

It’s easy to add your Twitter feed or your Blog posts to LinkedIn so they automatically show in your profile and to your connections. Not doing this is missing a trick unless you have these feeds covered elsewhere. Go to your profile home page and select the MORE tag and  then GET MORE APPLICATIONS. You’ll be surprised what’s available.

Make sure you have a company page

I covered this  previously so I won’t go through it again but it’s a very valuable resource to have online and it’s free.

Join some groups, they are fast replacing discussion areas on specialist web sites

Like much on the internet you need to sift out what works for you and what doesn’t. I do this by joining a group and reading the incoming articles from that group for a few weeks. If I find myself not interacting or deleting the group update email without reading it I unsubscribe from the group. I am currently a member of just 4 groups but every so often I look for more groups or just as importantly I look at groups that fellow marketers are registered with and give them a try. Leaving a group is fiddly so here’s how. Go into the group, from the MORE link select MY SETTINGS and there’s a grey button in the bottle right saying LEAVE GROUP.

Visualise your network with In Maps

You can use LinkedIn to generate a map of your connections if you have more than 50.  Go to https://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com  then login as requested and you’re off.  It’s a very interesting exercise and you can even label different areas of your network by colour.

Add a reading list

It’s always good to see what your peers are reading. Most of my reading is online but occasionally I buy a book and I enjoy haring my thoughts after I’ve read it.

Use LinkedIn answers

Got a question or need some help. Use the LinkedIn Answers feature.  You can search by selecting ANSWER in the search box drop down and if nothing is found post your own question. Responding to questions will enhance your credibility and authority.

See everyone in your network that’s done something new in the last year

This is just a bit of fun but very interesting.  Go to https://yir.linkedinlabs.com and follow the instructions.

LinkedIn advertising

Have you tried using LinkedIn for advertising? Research has shown that you get far less traffic than other display advertising channels but the quality of those responses if far higher. What’s really useful is you can segment/deliver your ads to as tighter set of recipients as you wish by using any criteria LinkedIn has available. This might be job roles, age, company size, industry, and many more.

I hope this helps and any feedback or comments are always welcome.

Alan