Tech Tuesday Tip

Are you LinkedIn?


I'm On LinkedIn...Now What?


Are you new to this professional social network?

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is the world's largest professional networking website. Here are some tips from Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs, an Internet marketing agency, on how to get the most out of it.

Status Update
People still use the status update in LinkedIn. Here's what NOT to do: link Twitter to it. People don't really want to read "@dogguy -- Lol me too" on LinkedIn. Instead, craft business updates for business people over there.

Link in Your Blog and Slideshare
At the very least, import your blog and your SlideShare (www.slideshare.net) accounts in there. And for extra bonus material, make one of the slideshare decks that you share something that's both useful content and a lead generator for your business.

Join Some Groups
Don't immediately make a group. Join a few. There are some great groups in there.

Answer Questions
If you read questions and answer ones that relate to your business, you can get some business. You might also ask questions in such a way that your company/product/whatever is the answer to the question.

Connect Frequently
I'll connect with anyone. I don't see much in the way of negativity to connecting via the service. I think that by my connecting with people, I'm opening up potential networks so that people can see and reach out to more like-minded people. I do sometimes turn down connection forwarding requests, because I have some very high profile connections who might not feel the way I do. But for the most part, I can't see anything wrong with making the offer.

But Recommend Only People You Can Vouch For
Here's the gold of LinkedIn. The reputation engine inside the referral system is where I think LinkedIn's biggest untapped value hides. Only write recommendations for people you can vouch for in a professional way.

Schedule Some Time
Go in there and look around for about 20-30 minutes every week to start. See what you see. Are there opportunities in there? Download your contacts as a spreadsheet and pore through them every now and again. See someone you should connect with? See someone you haven't talked with in a while? Drop them a line. That's the real meat of this. You can do lots once you get into a few really simple habits. But it requires you to schedule the time and go through with it.

Invite People
If you want to risk it a bit, invite people to join you on LinkedIn. And once you're in THERE, is there somewhere you want to invite people that's off-site? Now you're thinking.

Source: Online Marketing Connect (05/24/10)