This easiest tip is to use the search feature on LinkedIn but it is not often utilized.
When was the last time you did a search for a group, person, or company?
1. Use Search Effectively
A great feature of Search is the ability to save a search and have the results emailed to you weekly or monthly. To save a search click the small green plus sign on the right side of a search result page. I use this feature quite a bit.
2. Join Groups
Groups – finding the right group. Don’t just blindly join a LinkedIn group. You are a security practitioner – investigate it a little bit. Check out the statistics, the posts, how often people post, where the majority of group members are located. How many are in the group? Get a feel for it. Ask yourself is this group going to get me ahead, where you can learn, grow, make serious connections or just a place to shoot the shit and full of spam? Once you start poking around in the group then commit to join.
3. Use Company Button
Follow company button – Just introduced this month. This feature is similar to liking a brand on Facebook. Once you follow a company you will get automatic updates from the company via your LinkedIn updates. No longer do you have to search for company updates – the updates come to you!
4. Add Features to Your LinkedIn Profile
Add features –SlideShare, WordPress, Books you read, all of which tell a recruiter about you. Post your presentations or videos on Slideshare or Google presentations. If all you have are images, post them on PowerPoint slides and upload the PowerPoint with the images to Slideshare. Add your WordPress blog. Don’t have one? Get one for free at WordPress.Com. Although I do recommend you use WordPress on a self-hosted website, but if you are strapped for cash go with WordPress.Com as a temporary solution.Add the books you read or want to read, or even the ones you are supposed to read.
So you’re asking why should I do all this? Well, the short answer is to get noticed. The long answer is to get noticed by recruiters and others that do the hiring and firing. Adding blogs, images, presentations, books that you’ve read are all signals to the recruiter which tells them all about who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. Three key answers that might get you that interview.
5. Post an Update
Use the update feature on your profile. Posting an update to LinkedIn is seen by all who you are connected with and those that visit your profile. You can post a news article, a post from your blog, an update on your services, etc. An easy way to post an update is to post a tweet on Twitter and add the hashtag #li or #in and it will automatically get posted as an update on LinkedIn. Be sure to check under your settings to enable the tweet feature.
6. Customize your Profile URL
Customize your public profile URL – By default your LinkedIn public profile is outrageously long and not easy to remember. You should customize i.e. brand your profile URL. For me I chose to brand my company: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencesnow.
7. Add LinkedIn Badge
LinkedIn badge – If you have a website, and you should, if you don’t, go register a domain name and set up a self hosted WordPress website, then add a “View my profile on LinkedIn” badge sometimes called a button in a conspicuous place. This way you are letting visitors to your website know to get connected with you on LinkedIn.
8. Use Skills Function
Try the Skills Function: http://www.linkedin.com/skills/. It still is in Beta but you get quite a few nuggets of information. Say you’re an avid skier, you would simply type “Skiing” in the Skills search field and on the results page it will show skiing professionals which you could then connect with, top companies related to skiing to follow, and related locations. Additionally the results page shows a brief definition of skiing from Wikipedia, and what I found really useful was the statistics on the top right of the page.
Are you using LinkedIn to your advantage? What are your tips?
Looking for more tips on LinkedIn? – check out Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile – Top Ten LinkedIn Tips
Need help with LinkedIn or other social media networks? Give me a call 781-369-5185
