LinkedIn Tips

Don’t imagine that people will believe what you say just because you know it’s true.

As David Ogilvy (a top copyrighter and famous advertising man) remarked, "Why should anyone take the word of an anonymous copywriter?"

I sometimes think the most underrated weapons of all in our business are testimonials, guarantees, and independent verification – proof.

Are you using them enough? When the happy client or peer says positive words others may just listen. When you say them, it’s bragging and big-headed!

Action – Obtain and give recommendations

A short video showing how you can export your entire LinkedIn contacts list into a spreadsheet and save onto your computer.

Did you know that you can remove connections on LinkedIn without the other person finding out? The only way they can find out is if it they figure it out on their own!

We regularly posts tips on the Kintish LinkedIn Group for members, and also circulates a newsletter with lots of free tips and resources to help members learn more tips on how to use LinkedIn. Here’s a sample of the lastest tip…

You don’t want to be seen in the same network as ‘iffy’ people.; If you wouldn’t associate with those people in ‘real life’ then don’t link in with them here.

Invitation to Connect

Only accept an invitation if you know the sender and want them in your network.

Accept invitations when:

* You want to stay in touch with the inviter
* You know and trust their judgment and expertise
* You’ve worked with them and would recommend them
* They know your work and can represent your potential
* Do not accept invitations when:
* You don’t know the sender well (consider replying or deciding later)
* If you don’t know the sender at all, click on the "I don’t know" button or "Flag as Spam"

Flagging as Spam:

When you select "Flag as Spam" on an invitation, the sender will be blocked from inviting you again, and their invitations will be reviewed to make sure the User Agreement has not been violated.

Here’s a tip – always have your LinkedIn side menu open for easier browsing.

Show me how

The answer to this questions is yes, members can be searchable by their maiden/previous name – the only way for your profile to reflect this is to put it in as your surname, (for example Reta Madgin nee Smith, or married name was Smith) – some people do this. On the other hand, you can have your previous name registered, so that you will appear in search results under that name but it doesn’t show on your profile. To do this;

• Go to your LinkedIn Home page
• Under the Profile navigation, click the + box on the right to expand the selections
• Click Edit My Profile
• Click Edit to the right of your name
• Under your Last name, there is an option to put in your Former/Maiden name
• Put in the new one, and click Save

By Jan Vermeiren

View Jan’s LinkedIn Profile

Time for busting another LinkedIn (or networking in general) myth: I am happy with my current professional situation, I don’t need to build a network on LinkedIn (or elsewhere).

Let me start by answering you don’t have to do anything. All the tips in "How to REALLY use LinkedIn" are suggestions and tips that are derived from my experience with giving hundreds of training courses and presentations about networking or referrals and from using LinkedIn myself.

So why build a network on LinkedIn? For starters almost everybody needs some expert advice once in a while or new connections inside or outside a company. LinkedIn helps you to find these experts and the people who can introduce you to them. So that is one reason.

The second and maybe even more important reason is that I see too many people only start building their network when it is too late. People who got unexpectedly fired and needed to find a new job suddenly realized they needed a network to help them. Then they get on LinkedIn and start building their network, which takes time. Many times time they don’t have.

The same applies to entrepreneurs. I meet so many people who have a great idea, leave their job, start a company, invest a lot of money and after a few months they realize they also need customers. And a lot. And fast. Why? Because the monthly costs and investments are high. Then they realize they need to start building their network while they should have done that months ago.

In these two examples they start building the network when they NEED IT URGENTLY. This creates an energy of despair, which turns people off instead of making them interested to help you. So start building your network before you actually need it. You can then interact in a normal way with the networking attitude of sharing without expecting anything immediately in return.”

This is an excerpt from Jan’s book How to REALLY use LinkedIn.

Earlier this week I was doing a LinkedIn presentation to over 200 business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers. I showed a LinkedIn Profile and noted the best use of the Box.net Application I’ve seen on a Profile.

One of the participants emailed me after the presentation and asked why, when he went to the Profile, he couldn’t see the Box section, even though he was a first degree connection.

Does that ever happen to you – you go to someone’s LinkedIn Profile and you don’t see all that you want to see?

I asked him how he got to that Profile and indeed, he went "the wrong way." There shouldn’t be a "wrong way," but there is. Case in point:

If I’m LOGGED IN to LinkedIn and you send me your LinkedIn URL and I click on it, I’m taken to a page as if I were logged out. I don’t see what I want to see (I see an abbreviated version of your entire Profile, and I don’t see any of the communication links I want to (send a message, recommend, etc.).

To see all of the stuff I want to see I have to go to LinkedIn.com, put your name in the search box, and then go to your Profile.

I think that is rotten – so here’s my request to LinkedIn – please notice if I’m already logged in – if I am, don’t take me to that lame abbreviated page – take me to the page I would go to if I went there through the search…

And the case of the missing information on a LinkedIn Profile is… solved!

Jason Alba – author of "I’m on LinkedIn – now what!?"

When people find you in searches on Linkedin, or when you contribute to Group discussions, or in the Linkedin Answers Q&A section; the initial thing they see is a little box with your name, photo, and your "headline".

What most people have in their headline is their job title. "Owner at XYZ Company" or "Principal consultant at ABC Ltd". Unfortunately, this doesn’t give people a clue as to whether you might be able to help them, or might be interesting to connect to.

You should treat your headline like your introduction when networking. Focus on what you can do to help people.

Will’s headline, for example is "Business Networking and Online Networking Skills Authority" rather than "Managing Director of Kintish Ltd". His headline is much more useful in telling people what he actually does than using an "official" job title. That will get more people to click through to his profile and maybe begin to interact with him.

You can edit your Headline via the Edit My Profile option.

Link in with Ian here or visit his website.

Join the Kintish LinkedIn Group to receive more tips like this.

Did you know? LinkedIn was originally set up as a jobs board for recruiters and job seekers to connect. LinkedIn is still a useful tool for job searching, here is Guy Kawasaki’s blog post on Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job.