Get Started on LinkedIn: A Guide to Maximizing Your Professional Network

Angela MacAusland
September 2012

www.linkedin.com/in/angelamacausland

Getting Started
Whats it all about? Contacts

Facts & figures Groups

Why use LinkedIn? Engaging

How to use it More to discover

Your profile And finally.....



Professional
Organiser
FSB Member
Social media
obsessive
Joined LinkedIn
1 July 2008


My Background


What’s it all about?


What is LinkedIn?
A social (professional) networking site
A way to connect with people in business
A platform to help you keep in touch
An exchange for knowledge and ideas
A source for seeking job opportunities


But also..
A way to promote your identity online
A great way to maintain your online image
A way to re-connect with old contacts as
well as make new ones
An excellent way to be found online -
LinkedIn results usually appear ﬁrst in search
engines when searching for people


Main Beneﬁts
An excellent networking
platform
A huge database of
potential customers
Numerous opportunities
for marketing
Its free, and easy to use


The ‘Saturday night in the The ‘professional networking
pub’ of social media event’ of social media


Facts & Figures


LinkedIn - Then
www.linkedin.com
2002 Reid Hoffman started it in his living room
Ofﬁcially launched on May 5, 2003
Had 4,500 members in the ﬁrst month


“In
its
embryonic
form
the
first
adopters
were

invariably
tech
minded
professionals
-‐
so9ware

engineers
and
electronics
whizz-‐kids.

They
loved
the
hard
data
look
to
the
pages
and
the

no
nonsense
a?tude
to
networking
without
all
the

perceived
'fluffy-‐bunny'
so9
soap
of
the
markeDng

world”

Ian Pritchard Consulting
www.uk.linkedin.com/in/iancpritchard


LinkedIn - Now


LinkedIn Facts


Why?


“What everyone’s dealing with is not B2B or B2C,
it’s B2I, or business to individual.

Increasingly that’s how we’re buying, whether it’s because somebody’s
told us something on Facebook or because we’re part of a community
that shares our views.

We’re scouring sites like Trip Advisor. We’re all on LinkedIn.

We’re making choices that are not easily influenced
by a piece of paper coming through the door,
because we are picking up influences through so many channels”.

Anne Godfrey CEO
Chartered Institute of Marketing (August 2012)

How?


Create an Account


Account Type

Basic account great to get you started
You do not need to upgrade to premium account


Classic LinkedIn Mistakes

Upgrading to a premium
account and not using the
features

Your Proﬁle


Public Proﬁle


Home Page


Your Status

Most LinkedIn members - active in the afternoons
Mobile LinkedIn - used during the evenings


Your Status
Link to a recent blog item
Share company news / announcements
Events coming up / organising or attending
Ask questions / advice / for help
Links to other newsworthy items
Link to youtube / twitter / facebook pages


A word about Twitter
Twitter and LinkedIn have
fallen out of love
You can now post LinkedIn
status updates to Twitter
But not the other way around
Tip : Keep status updates
twitter friendly (140 chars)



Not updating your status
regularly


Top Priority
Make sure its
100% complete
LinkedIn likes this
Spell check
Key words
Keep up to date


To get 100%
Current position
Two previous positions
Education history
Proﬁle summary
Photo
Specialities
3 recommendations

Your Photo
Make sure its a photo of you
Not a logo or product
Head and shoulders
Not with your cat/car/guitar
Up to date
Approachable


Professional Headline


Summary Statement
Not too generic
Target market
Up to date
Spell checked
Relevant


Personal URL
Personalise your URL
http://linkedin.com/in/yourname
Helps google and others ﬁnd you more easily
It also looks better
Edit this in your proﬁle settings


Settings



Not having a complete and
professional proﬁle


Contacts


Contacts/Connections


Add Connections


Advanced Search


Contacts - Top Tips
Add a personal message when inviting
Not the LinkedIn default one
Only link to people you know - not strangers
They will have access to your network of
contacts too!
Keep to a manageable level
No prizes for having over 5000 contacts



Not having the right people
in your network


Groups


Groups - Facts
1.35 million groups
Own 10 groups
Be a member of up to 50 groups
Find using search box
Or see what others are members of
Open and closed groups


Groups - Facts


Groups - Joining
FSB Bath
http://goo.gl/yfQrB


Groups - Notiﬁcations
Manage group notiﬁcations
Individual emails
Daily digest
Weekly
No email


Groups - Options


Groups - Managing
Managing
Requests to join
Submissions
Discussions
Group statistics


Groups - Sharing


Groups - Engaging
Get Involved
Post discussions
Add news
Requests for advice
Engage in conversation
Form new alliances


Your Status / Posts



Joining too many groups,
not managing notiﬁcations,
not getting involved

Engaging with your
Contacts


Keeping in Contact
Contact people who have shown an interest
in your proﬁle
Send / reply to a message / invitation
Engage in a group discussion
Invite to an event
Give / receive recommendations


Proﬁle Stats


In Box
LinkedIn equivalent to Email
Messages
Invitations
Notiﬁcations


Send Messages
To individual contacts
To groups of contacts
Select location
Specify industry
50 at a time
Un-check ‘allow others to see’


Receive Messages


Notiﬁcations


Recommedations
Person / Services
Give You’re a
Receive Star

Reciprocate


Give a Recommendation


Receive - Person


Receive - Services


And there’s more


More to Discover
Help LinkedIn Answers

Events Applications

LinkedIn Today Contact Centre

Direct Ads LinkedIn Mobile

Jobs And much more..


Help!!


Events


Invite to an Event


LinkedIn Today


Direct Ads
Find the exact customers you are looking for
Job title/function/industry/seniority/age
Drive new customers to your business
Connect to inﬂuential professionals
Set a budget and timescale
Pay per click/date dependent/spend per day
Minimum spend $10 per day


Jobs


LinkedIn Answers


Applications


Word Press


SlideShare


Contact Centre


LinkedIn Mobile


And ﬁnally.....


What to do next
Sign up for LinkedIn
Create a professional proﬁle
Join some groups
Connect to people
Get involved in discussions
Ask for / give recommendations


Thank you


Get Started on LinkedIn: A Guide to Maximizing Your Professional Network

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