Linkedin is a very powerful business tool. It’s wonderful for Networking, Personal Branding, Sales & Marketing, Job Seeking, Recruiting and More! I have used LinkedIn successfully for over a year now. Just to prove the point when creating this post, I posed a question in the Q&A section on Linkedin asking for people’s tips. Thanks again to everyone that contributed! So including some of my own here are:

#50 ways to get more from Linkedin

1. Realise that Linkedin is a complex and multi-functional tool; it’s going to take some time to learn to use it wisely – Niall Devitt

2. Contact/connect with experienced users and ask them for their advice as to how best to use it – Niall Devitt

3. Know why you are using Linkedin – what is your primary goal? This will determine your strategy – Lisa Murray

4. Decide whether you are going to post a resume/CV-oriented profile or a customer-oriented one. If you’re looking for a job, the first is appropriate – Dave Stein

5. If you’re happy where you are but would like to further highlight your personal capital to your customers, use the latter. It should include accomplishments you’ve made from the customer’s perspective, not from your next employer’s. They’re usually quite different – Dave Stein

6. Just be real and authentic, don’t hype yourself or your product if it isn’t the truth.  I always make it a point to get to “personally” know people and what they do…after all; this is ’social media’! – Jody Maley

7. List all your experience and education- Sahar Andrade

8. List all your achievements and honours- Sahar Andrade

9. Ensure your profile is set to full view – Lisa Murray

10. Personalise your Linkedin profile URL - Sahar Andrade

11. Create a proper profile with keywords, no typos and proper grammar – Sahar Andrade

12. Make sure you use a professional photo – no blanks or logos – people like dealing with other people! -Lisa Murray

13. Choose a good picture: ensure to have a clear, professional picture in your profile instead than a holiday pic – Fred Caballero

14. Update your status regularly to share your expertise in useful ways – Lisa Murray

15. Use your three links! You have the option to create three outgoing links to promote your company, blog, twitter account, etc. Use these to generate traffic wherever you want and edit the text so it becomes more attractive to click on. e.g.: don’t leave “My Company” when you can write “Social media blog” for example – Fred Caballero

16. Use box.net to add samples of your work – Sahar Andrade

17. Make sure to set up and add your company page to Linkedin – Niall Devitt

18. Give recommendations, endorse the people that you know are good at what they do – Niall Devitt

19. Get recommendations: one of the tops 5 things that most of the people pay attention to are your recommendations. These say a lot about you. Make sure you request an endorsement to everyone that knows how you work to share that experience with others – Fred Caballero

20. Always write a personal message when connecting with someone – Ian Cleary

21. Double check that you have spelled the person’s name correctly when sending invitations to connect -Ian Cleary

22. When someone connects with you, thank them for doing so Niall Devitt

23. Don’t reject invitations by hitting the IDK (I Don’t Know) button. Archive them instead – Judy B. Margolis, MA

24. Don’t upload your address book as a short cut to building your network. Instead, invite contacts one by one with a personalized invitation – Judy B. Margolis, MA

25. If you make a list of people you want to connect to and they are not in your network, join a group that they are a member of that you have a similar interest, start contributing to the group and then make a connection – Ian Cleary

26. Leverage your connections to get introduced to people you would like to form a relationship with, after all that’s what it all about, making connections – Niall Devitt

27. Join and participate actively in Linkedin groups. You’ll get known to the participants and be top of mind not only for their needs but also when other people ask “do you know someone?” Shel Horowitz

28. Choose relevant groups and be active: offer value and connect with other people in the group. -Fred Caballero

29. Make sure to read and observe group guidelines – play by the rules! -Niall Devitt

30. Stay away from self-promotion in Groups; instead demonstrate your expertise by contributing, asking questions, starting discussions and adding value -Niall Devitt

31. Start your very own group and invite people to join, this is a super way to get noticed and build your contacts – Niall Devitt

32.  Demonstrate your competence and expertise by using the Groups and Answers features to help people, not sell your wares! – Lisa Murray

33. If you correspond with someone as part of a discussion, follow it up with an invite to connect – Niall Devitt

34. Upload valuable articles and posts to the news section – Niall Devitt

35. Don’t just connect on Linkedin, pick up the phone or meet for a coffee, you will really start to see the full value of Linkedin when you take your on-line relationships off-line – Niall Devitt

36. Ask and answer questions in the Q&A section: show your expertise – Fred Caballero

37. Don’t forget to close any questions you ask in the Q&A forum and rate them – Judy B. Margolis, MA

38. Set up an RSS feed for the category of questions/answers you are interested in so you can monitor them – Ian Cleary

39. Don’t flag/report questions and answers willy-nilly because you don’t agree with the politics or don’t like the individual or it looks like spam to you – Judy B. Margolis, MA

40. Use the events application to promote your events – Sahar Andrade

41. Attend events that your contacts are attended and arrange to meet up face to face – Niall Devitt

42. Connect before you arrive: do your homework and check out on Linkedin each on of the people’s profile before going to a networking event – Fred Caballero

43. Connect proactively: When you meet with someone face-to-face ask them if they’re on Linkedin. If they are not, INVITE THEM, and keep in touch. They’ll always remember you for that – Fred Caballero

44. Use the network updates for fresh content (SEO and networking) Sahar Andrade

45. Make relevant comments about your connections’ status updates: that shows that you care about them. Also try to offer help or assistance if there’s anything you can do to get them closer to what they’re looking for -Fred Caballero

46. Don’t hide your contacts. Share! Leave them open so your contacts can see who you are connected with and request for introductions. At the end of the day Linkedin is about getting connected. Facilitate that job. Be a good sport! -Fred Caballero

47. Do an advanced search based on whatever you want to keep top on and save this as an RSS feed e.g. recruiter might set up a search for “looking for a job” – Ian Cleary

48. Embed a video in your Slideshare application – Ian Cleary

49.Leverage your profile with applications: Embed your blog, show people what you’ve been up to and share your expertise. Include presentations with Slideshare and add the Amazon app to share with other what you’re reading and learn from others – Fred Caballero

50. Attend some Linkedin training or get some Linkedin coaching- Niall Devitt

Please share YOUR LinkedIn tips in the comments section below.

“Top Sales Experts International is the most successful, innovative and inspiring collection of professional sales gurus ever assembled in one location”

I joined the TSE team earlier this year and they are a truly inspiring group of International sales leaders. Jonathan Farrington is the TSE captain and has acted as a good friend and mentor to me on many occasions.

To celebrate the launch of Bloggertone - he has very kindly offered the new TSE Autumn ebook completely FREE to readers of this blog. It’s another absolutely brilliant sales ebook from Jonathan and the TSE team.

Just Click on the banner to download

I would openly encourage anyone involved in sales and developing business to join the TSE site as a VIP member….. It’s a great sales resource that offers simply amazing value for money – Make sure you check it out!

According to new figs released by analytics firm Postrank, the predicted demise of blogs as a result of the success of social media appears to be wide of the mark.

Since 2007 Postrank has been analysing blog metrics including comments, trackbacks, shared links and online bookmarks for the 1000 most-engaging feeds and 100,000 randomly selected blog posts. The resulting evidence paints a very interesting picture as to the evolution of blogging over the period.

The three major findings are:

1. Overall total engagement has increased 30% year on year.
2. Commenting: On-site engagement has decreased.
3. Link Sharing: Off site engagement has increased.

Another interesting outcome is that blog posts now have a much longer lifespan. In 2007, only 6% of total engagement happened after the day of posting , while in 2008 it was up to 17%. This year it has more than doubled with a full 36% of engagement happening after day one.

So what might this mean for business?

Other research indicates that time remains the number one factor cited as to why businesses choose not to blog, with approximately 2/3 yet to start. And for those that believed blogging was something that would run its course – the contrary in fact now appears to be the case.

The growth of social media means that a company blog is now an even more effective means of communicating with customers . Blogging combined with social media allows the smallest businesses a long reach.

So then!…perhaps there has never been a better time to start blogging… what do you think?

Related posts:

Blogging is dead again

How blogging has changed over the last three years

Why you should use blog networks

As you can probably tell, I have struggled to find the time to blog on here recently. My intention is to get back to it in the New Year but in the meantime, here are some updates on what’s been happening.

Sales Leadership Ireland: Zero to Here

Our Third SLI event was help last night in the Hampton, again the conversation was excellent led by two wonderful speakers in Vincent Reynolds and Sean Weafer.

Vincent kicked off with a truly insightful presentation - as he took us on a journey into the minds of senior managers. I have undertaken research before meeting with CEOs or CFOs before - but never with the type of perspective that Vincent talked about last night. He recommended that you effectively step inside the world of the senior manager, and that you adjust your thinking and selling - so as to be aware of the opportunities or indeed threats that exist from their points of view. I am not doing his presentation proper justice here, but let’s just say there was a huge amount of learning to be had for those that attended.

Next up was the fantastic Sean Weafer. Sean talked about why people really buy? -they buy feelings. Why USPs are no longer relevant. He demonstrated why proper and expert questioning technique is the most effective way to create points of compelling relevance and how to create win-win situations between buyer and seller. Sean is a wonderful motivator and a fantastic teacher of the craft of selling - but he is also a passionate defender of professional selling and salespeople. He is a true Irish sales leader and we were thrilled to have him.

Bloggertone

Bloggertone continues to go from strength to strength on the back of the wonderful contributions from the bloggers.

A few recent mentions include:

http://www.iia.ie/news/item/1395/bloggertone-brings-together-the-collective-voice-of-business-blogging/

http://www.dubchamber.ie/mn_pressrelease.asp?page=members_news&article=1188

http://www.dceb.ie/news/bloggertone-brings-together-the-collective-voice-of-business-blogging

http://www.dceb.ie/news/50-ways-to-get-more-from-linkedin

http://www.simplyzesty.com/uncategorized/bloggertone-launches/

http://www.connector.ie/2009/11/2009-awards-christmas-connector/

http://blog.iia.ie/2009/get-the-facts-fast/

http://www.scip.org/NewsRoom/PRDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=9007

http://sortmybooks.ie/wordpress/2009/11/19/bloggertone/

http://www.cvsandinterviews.ie/job-hunting-two-great-articles/170/

http://www.codegaconsulting.com/blog/82-bloggertone-launches.html

http://www.cubeonlinemarketing.ie/why-you-should-use-blog-networks/

http://wwwcareerscoacheu.blog.com/2009/10/25/a-new-site-for-irish-businesses-launched/

Here is a link to my articles