getting started with linkedin - professional & business success strategies

Getting Started with LinkedInProfessional & Business Success

Strategies

What the heck is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 40 million members and growing rapidly.

LinkedIn connect you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.

Why are Social Networks Important?

We’ll share some insight!

Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point

The human brain is hard-wired to handle a maximum of about 150 active social connections. In addition to the

time requirements to maintain those relationships, they occupy space in our mind even when we are not in

contact with them.

Even with electronic tools, it is extremely difficult to sustain more than about 150 strong ties. Fortunately, electronic tools such as contact managers and online

social networks allow us to develop a much larger network of weak ties. They relieve our brains of some of the workload of maintaining all those relationships.

The Strength of Weak TiesMark Granovetter, State University of New York

The argument asserts that our acquaintances (weak ties) are less likely to be socially involved with one

another than are our close friends (strong ties). Thus the set of people made up of any individual.

LinkedIn Strategies for Professional Success

Establish Your Professional Profile

LinkedIn gives you the keys to controlling your online identity.

Have you Googled yourself lately? You never know what may come up.

LinkedIn profiles rise to the top of search results, letting you control the first impression people get when searching for you online

Breaking it down!

Who are you, where are you currently working, and what are you working on?

Write your Summary & Specialties This should include what kind of worker you are and skills you have.

This is where your going to want to make a personal connection with your prospective audience to sell yourself to them as a valuable hiring candidate.

Breaking it down!

Experience Education, Activities, Societies, and additional information

A Profile that Stands Out

Your profile gives you credibility. A poor synopsis of who you are won’t bring in relevant contacts. Make sure that your picture looks professional, ensure there is enough information on your profile to get you noticed, and establish yourself and your business as professional. Be sure to enhance your professional summary with SEO strategies, using key words people would search for using Google.

Customize your URL

This will make it easier for people to remember your URL or to link all of your sites together if you are on multiple social networking sites as a method of personal branding.

Make Connections Stay in touch with Colleagues and Friends

In today’s professional world, people change jobs and locations constantly.

By connecting on LinkedIn, your address book will never go out of date.

Your contacts update their profiles, keeping you current with their latest jobs, projects and contact info.

You’ll stay in closer contact with great tools to communicate and collaborate

Take Advantage Of…Groups, Recommendations, Introductions and Questions & Answers

Know what your LinkedIn objectives are. Are you participating to gain business recognition? To grow your network? Having a clear understanding as to why you have signed up for an account in the first place will help you achieve your ultimate goal.

Introductions

LinkedIn is not Facebook! You only want to connect with

people that you know.

If you are job prospecting and want to get introduced to someone, check to see if you have a connection that could introduce you!

Recommendations

Getting recommendations gains creditability.

How to start getting recommendations: Don’t blindingly ask for them. Go out and write 10 recommendations and many will return the favor.

Rule of thumb: You only want to recommend people you would honestly hire or work with.

If someone recommends you, it is common curtsy to recommend that person back.

GroupsGroups You May Like / Group Directory / Search

Groups you may like allow you to easily find the right group. Click on the Category dropdown to sort by different group types (Alumni, Corporate, Non-Profit, etc.).

Once you have found a group you are interested in joining, click on the Join Group link to request to join the group. Clicking the Share button lets you invite your connections to join the group as well.

Groups

My Groups

Once you have joined a group, it will appear at the top of your screen under Groups You’ve Joined.

Click on the Groups link to view all of your groups.

This page gives you a quick overview of all of your groups, and allows you to access the homepages for each of your groups.

After joining a Group – you can start to become an active group member by taking part in discussions, see who is hiring, or post a help wanted advertisement.

Questions & Answers

LinkedIn Answers is one of the best places on the web to share business knowledge:

Ask your question and get fast, accurate answers from your network and other experts worldwide

Questions & Answers

Showcase your knowledge, expertise, and interests by answering questions

Stay up on the latest in your industry and functional area

Notice also, from a sales perspective, how some people respond sharing insight but also in an attempt to sell their product for the company that they work for.

Enhance your Professional Profile

You want your profile to be as close to 100% completion as possible.

No one wants to look at a website with no content and a LinkedIn page with just an avatar and a job title is boring.

Optimize your Professional Profile

What is great about LinkedIn is that it will tell you if your doing something wrong. It will ask you if you have updated your account, let you know if there is any information you are missing, and send you a notice of any new features.

LinkedIn Strategies for Business Success

What are some strategies you should be taking to use LinkedIn to your full benefit?

Social media is more than just being social. Social networking sites are excellent resources to achieving business success. Once looked upon as a place for job seekers, LinkedIn has gained a positive reputation for helping businesses gain clients.

Easily View NetworksYou should be asking yourself who you wish to network with; what is your niche market and how do you find them? Once you answer this question you will know what types of contacts would be beneficial to connect with. You can also search for contacts through other people’s networks.

LinkedIn users are extremely active online which can make them a very valuable audience to network with.

Create Positive RelationshipsOnce you decide to take part in social media marketing and sign up for LinkedIn, it is important to nurture the connections you make and create relationship out of them. People want to buy from people they like and trust. You should be getting people to like you and trust you.

Be genuine and don’t pitch your business. Be a real person and let people know the real you. Too much corporate talk wont draw in connections. Being genuine helps people see the real you and therefore helps create trust.

Make Relevant Connections & Know how to Invite People

How relevant are your connections? Add people who are going to be the perfect prospect for you and will be able to provide you with something, whether it is another connection or new businesses.

LinkedIn has its own introduction line, but if you hope to establish a meaningful connection with someone, you should be using your own persona opening line. If people don’t know who you are, they most likely won’t accept your invitation.

Six Degrees of SeparationLinkedIn compares social graphs and shows you the social connections!

Summary: Use LinkedIn to connect and generate leads

Searchable by employer, alma mater & industry

Use (and pay for) InMails for direct messaging

Get introduced to leads via trusted connections

Thank You

For your time – See you on LinkedIn!

mobile: 515 408 2903office: 303 605 6908email: carrie@kronoslimited.comcompany: Krono’s Limited2nd August 2011