Networking is a contact sport

Rick CurryThe Coach

Networkinmaniac

Why do I want to use LinkedIn Your Profile Company Page Groups Connections Advance Search

LinkedIn has more than doubled in size (OVER 100 Million Members) in the past year with one user added every single second!

Executives from ALL Fortune 500 Companies are registered on LinkedIn!

45% of LinkedIn’s members are considered the major decision makers for their companies. (Twitter and Facebook account for only 24-29%!)

LinkedIn holds the record for the Highest Average Household Income over all other Social Networking sites at over $109,000 per member!

There are no distractions! On LinkedIn, you’ll only find high-caliber individuals with a business mindset, focused on networking for results!

1. What’s the purpose? Only once you are clear how you will use LinkedIn will you get it to efficiently achieve your business goals.

2. No typos, spelling or grammatical errors please That on-line first impression counts just as much as face-to-face first impressions.

3. Who do you want to be seen as? Every time you appear on LinkedIn your headline or personal tag line goes with you. Make sure you brand your headline as what you want to be seen as by the on-line community.

4. Write your elevator pitch The summary box in your profile needs to be your personal elevator pitch but targeted at the people you want to see it – i.e. potential clients and customers. If you are using it to market your business then this summary needs to be more about your business and the value it adds for clients.

5. Public Profile and URLs Fight for the right to have your personal name in your LinkedIn profile URL, i.e. “http://linkedin.com/in/yourfullname.” As well as your LinkedIn URL you need to think about other websites that you want your profile to display. Do take the time to put the actual title of the link in rather than leaving them as “My company‟ or “My website‟. For example, instead of “My Company‟ – I have written , “Networkinmaniac‟. I have also included my Twitter ID as I use twitter for business purposes.

6. Connect up your social networking presence It is very inefficient to manually update all of your social networking presences. Linkedin can be used to connect up all of your social networking presences

7. Recommendations Most social networking sites have an ability for members to collect recommendations and testimonials. LinkedIn is no different – and your recommendations are very prominently displayed. Do take the time to ask your clients and colleagues to recommend you on LinkedIn.

8. Make it consistent Consistency just like integrity and reliability is very important in the on-line world. Make sure the messages on your website, twitter biography, (business) Facebook page and other on-line sites you maintain a profile are all consistent.

9. Keywords Search Engine Optimization is still important on Twitter. Annoying, but true I'm afraid. Similar to thinking about keywords for your website you need to identify the keywords that you would like your profile to show up in

More than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages

Company Pages are a company’s profile of record on LinkedIn and a powerful way to speak to millions of professionals through word-of-mouth recommendations and trusted testimonials. It’s like a LinkedIn profile for a company.

Company Pages present an opportunity to reveal the human side of your company. Provide a peek at the individuals behind your brand and highlight how members use your products. Your Company Page offers tools to bring your brand to life.

For LinkedIn members, Company Pages are a great way to research companies you’re interested in, follow them to stay updated, see what kind of people work there, and even review the products and services you use.

Overview - The reception area of your Company Page – the Overview Tab provides a friendly introduction to your brand. When a member visits this tab, they see everyone in their network who works at your company, your company’s blog posts and Twitter feeds.

Careers - This section provides you with a unique opportunity to interact with millions of passive and active job seekers on LinkedIn. Investing in a Silver or Gold Careers Page allows you to feature additional content about your employment brand and your company’s culture, showcase your best employees, and tailor your messaging and job postings to target audiences.

Products & Services - Here’s your chance to catch the eye of prospective customers by highlighting products or services that are relevant to your target audience. When a member visits this page, they see how many of their network connections recommend your product or service as well as their recommendations.

Analytics - This tab is visible only to you, as an administrator of your Company Page. Use information to understand the composition of your base of followers – who they are, what they do and what products, services or jobs interest them.

LinkedIn Groups allow you to: Quickly discover the most popular discussions

in your professional groups. Have an active part in determining the top

discussions by liking and commenting. Follow the most influential people in your

groups by checking the Top Influencers board or clicking their profile image to see all their group activity.

See both member-generated discussions and news in one setting.

Answers

LinkedIn is only as effective as your contact list. Send personalized invitations The larger the network the more powerful If you want to grow your business, the best

approach is to connect with as many people as possible (quantity and quality)

Look through your LinkedIn connections weeklyEvery week, take 10 mins to look through your LinkedIn connections and comment on people's status updates. Use the status updates, or new jobs as an excuse to get in touch and have a phone call or meeting with them.

The Advanced Search functionality of LinkedIn is one of the most effective uses of LinkedIn

By name, keywords, title, company and/or industry, location, interest, reference and connections

Regularly connect with 5 current or former business associates. When you connect with people, you and your business jump to the top of their mind.

join several Groups. Why several? Because it’s not 2 or 3, which is the number most people join. Your goal is to spread your visibility online, and the best way to do that is by joining many Groups, not just 2 or 3

Start a discussion in each new Group every day for 5 days after you join them.

Add applications on your Profile Page. Rinse and repeat the above steps. The key to

making LinkedIn work is consistency.