How to continue to stay motivated using LinkedIn

by | Oct 3, 2012 | Business | 8 comments

Are you like me?  You start using a social network only to lose momentum & move on to something else?

LinkedIn was one of the first social media sites I was part of (mid 2000’s I guess) and my connection list grew really fast. I belonged to some great groups & then one day FaceBook came onto the horizon, and Twitter & I my LinkedIn profile. It’s been collecting dust for years.

Today one of my colleagues asked, “How can I re-engage with my Linked In Profile?” and I was inspired to do a little research. Partially because I love helping, but also because I would like to leverage that community & my resources there sometime (in the next decade).

Here’s what I found while doing a little research this morning.  See if there is 1 or 2 things from this list that works with your personal style that you could easily implement into your marketing strategy?

How to engage on LinkedIn:

  1. Actively engage in discussions in your field of interest (or expertise).
  2. Be helpful, don’t just pitch your product/service.
  3. Create a Group (tip: I hear you’ll have full access to this contact list & can send them weekly emails, but haven’t tried this)
  4. Always include a link to an offer (a freebie, or other call to action) in your signature line. Make it easy for people to remain engaged with you, outside of LinkedIn
  5. You can like, comment on, follow, or message people who started the discussion.
  6. Ask great questions!  Start your own discussion
  7. Share helpful information from your blog content (no need to create something brand new)
  8. Share helpful information from other peoples content (sharing is easy to do & creates great business karma)
  9. Add your blog through one of the advanced features
  10. Forward introductions from people
  11. Make connections/introductions for people (without asking for anything in return)

Another article by Lewis Howe here where he shares these great tips: http://lewishowes.com/linkedin/how-to-rank-high-on-linkedin/

In this video interview he was asked the same question:

How can you proactively use linkedIn? (his answer…)

  1. Ask questions and answer questions
  2. Find one thing & be consistent

Lewis also offered up this juicy tidbit!  Use your linked in profile like you would with keywords in Google SEO, and see an instant change in the way your profile shows up for keywords specific to your niche.

5 places to put your keywords in linked in

(like SEO for LinkedIn)
1. Headline
2. Current work experience
3. Past work experience
4. Summary
5. Specialties

Lewis Howe says that adding your keywords to these 5 areas will move your profile to the top of the page within minutes (not weeks, or months).

With 50 million people on LinkedIn it’s probably time to me to dust off that profile & get involved.  I’m going to pick one or two of the tips from this post over the next month or so.

How about you? What’s 1 thing you could do with your LinkedIn profile this month?

 

 

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8 Comments

  1. Pauline
    Pauline on November 5, 2012 at 1:53 am

    Hi Loralee
    I joined LinkedIn a while ago and to be honest have not done much with it, I have a lot of connections so I know I need to interact a lot more! Your post has inspired me to do this so thanks for sharing.
    Have a great week
    Pauline

  2. Laurie Rosenfeld
    Laurie Rosenfeld on November 3, 2012 at 11:05 pm

    Loralee, these are some GREAT tips! I have not done anything with my LinkedIn profile in awhile and it’s time to get moving. Your article is timely. Thanks so much for compiling these tips and sharing them. xoxo

  3. Susan Joy Schleef
    Susan Joy Schleef on November 3, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Thanks for the article about making good use of LinkedIn. My next step with my LinkedIn profile will be to complete my skills section, which for some reason I have procrastinated about for a long time!

  4. Bonnie
    Bonnie on October 22, 2012 at 6:35 am

    Hi Loralee,

    I’m right there with you. I created LinkedIN before any of my other social media networking sites and since Facebook, I have totally forgotten about LinkedIN.

    That needs to be changed!

    I should update with keywords on my profile, as I’ve never included SEO on the page. Seems like a great time to get it done.

    Thanks for the reminder!

    – Bonnie

  5. Nadine Nicholson
    Nadine Nicholson on October 17, 2012 at 7:26 am

    Loralee, thanks for these tips. You have a great ability to provide practical advice in a do-able way. I really liked “Always include a link to an offer (a freebie, or other call to action) in your signature line.” This is something I’m missing the boat on and will fix.

  6. Terry League
    Terry League on October 5, 2012 at 7:32 am

    Thanks for the great tips Loralee! Starting a group on LinkedIn is definitely on my to-do list. But first, I need to go through my account and leave some of the groups I’m currently in…I went a little crazy and signed up for way too many and I just can’t keep up!
    Thanks again for a helpful post!
    Terry

  7. Jan
    Jan on October 4, 2012 at 11:51 pm

    Thanks for the tips, Loralee. I think the biggest thing I’ll be doing with LinkedIn this month is actually logging in! I do pop in from time to time, it just doesn’t inspire me to stick around and use it. Time to blow the dust off and give it a serious go maybe 🙂

  8. Madonna
    Madonna on October 4, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Hi Loralee,

    Good post and great information about where to put keywords. i struggle with linkedIn as well. It’s boring but not as boring as google + which I cannot bring myself to visit any more.

    I will make more of an effort. I know it’s where I should be instead of on Facebook. The problem is F/B is so addictive.

    Thanks
    Madonna