5 tips for using LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the B2B social network which has seen phenomenal growth over the past few years. Today LinkedIn has over 200 million users worldwide who use the network for everything business related.

With this in mind it’s important that you explore the opportunities LinkedIn can offer so you can generate new business with the people that matter. Whatever your commercial objectives, LinkedIn will help you to build a network of useful contacts.

Here are five top tips to help you get the most out of LinkedIn:

• Name

It sounds simple but you will be surprised by the amount of people who don’t take full advantage of this box. Make sure you include your job title after your surname and not just in your headline as highlighted in red below. This way you will rank higher and appear more frequently in search results.

• Completed profile

You need to invest some time in making sure your profile is up to date as it’s going to be the first thing people look at. Make sure you update your skills and expertise regularly and add any awards you have achieved.

• Groups

Join up to 50 groups but appear active within a select few. Create discussions but don’t go into sales mode. You could also create a group around a specific topic and invite your target audience to join it.

• Recommendations

Send a polite note to someone you have recently done business with and ask them to recommend you. Recommendations mean more than endorsements as they are more personal. We’ve all seen the emails when people you barely know have endorsed you, but it doesn’t really have any value or meaning. Anyone can endorse you but recommendations have an element of trust behind them.

• Company page

Set up a LinkedIn company page and it can help you to grow your company’s reputation. People can easily find out more about what you do and the services you have to offer. It’s also a really good way to post company news and staff vacancies.

If you’re already on LinkedIn then please visit our page and connect with us.