Tag Archives: LinkedIn Advice

Want to make an impression on LinkedIn? Just say “Hi!”

July 15, 2012 by ,

Short and sweet today and, at the same time, one of the most powerful things you can do on LinkedIn.

You receive an invitation to connect and press the “Accept” button. Another contact made.

Should you leave it at that? I say no. At that moment, perhaps more than any other, you have the perfect opportunity to develop that potential relationship easily and immediately by writing back and getting the conversation going … right there and then.

Think about it for a second and imagine you were doing this face to face. Someone has decided to approach you {sends an invite} and extends a hand with a cheery smile and a brief introduction {personalised message}. You shake it warmly in return {accept invitation} and then … (more…)

Article Categories: B2B Advice for LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Tips, Networking supercharged
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LinkedIn Tip: Planning makes perfect

May 2, 2012 by ,

LinkedIn Tips and AdviceHaving hesitated for a while about adding a LinkedIn tip which has the word “Planning” in the title – it does seem to scare people – I’ve decided to finally take the plunge, although I haven’t quite plucked up the courage to add one with “Strategy” in just yet. 🙂

However, planning is hugely important because, like all of the social media channels, LinkedIn is essentially a tool for you to use in the way that best suits your needs. I am constantly reminded of this when I see people advise newly joined members of LinkedIn to first of all get their profile up to date. Hugely important I agree … but a close second after first deciding why you want to be on LinkedIn and what you want to get from the time you’ll be spending on it.

It’s therefore key to work out from the start what (more…)

Article Categories: LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Strategy, LinkedIn Tips, Using LinkedIn
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Searching for Groups on LinkedIn just got easier

April 4, 2012 by ,

LinkedIn Groups searchWell, it needed to happen … and finally it did. The search function for the groups section on LinkedIn has just got an overhaul to bring it a little more in line with the rest of the site and not before time, it has to be said.

Groups on LinkedIn are an absolute treasure trove of information, debate, contacts and prospects – a key element of the site that really delivers value at all levels. There are currently some 1.2 million groups, all run by LinkedIn members like you and me, and they deliver a huge variety of content and focus areas, so being able to find the right ones and tap into them is invaluable.

From a sales and marketing perspective, they also provide a veritable goldmine of information and opportunity – though one which needs to be used with great care.

However, the challenge has always been finding the most appropriate ones to participate in. Using my own rule of thumb, with 1.2m groups on offer and our ability to join (more…)

Article Categories: Groups on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Course, LinkedIn Site Changes, LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Workshop, Using LinkedIn
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LinkedIn Tip: Get your blog connected

March 30, 2012 by ,

LinkedIn Tips and Advice: LinkedIn Public ProfileI don’t know about you, but I like to get as much benefit as possible from the work that I put into something.

My blogs are a great example of that. I’ve been running a blog for over 5 years now and also have set blogs up for, I guess, over 100 companies and individuals. Done right, they’re a fabulous business tool – a combination of push marketing, with relationship building and search engine marketing all in one nice little bundle. A key component in the social media as well as the internet marketing mix.

One place where all the information from your blog is going to be particularly valuable is over on your LinkedIn profile. It’s the perfect place to display things you’ve written that demonstrate your experience and expertise or show off the services / products you provide. A perfect (more…)

Article Categories: LinkedIn Advice, LinkedIn Applications, LinkedIn Tips
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Follow Company button from LinkedIn

February 28, 2012 by ,

Company Followers on LinkedInLinkedIn announced yesterday that they were launching a ‘Follow Company’ button – essentially a graphic button that organisations could place, for example, on their own websites to encourage people to ‘follow’ their company on LinkedIn. Just to clarify, following a company in LinkedIn’s terms simply means that you receive news automatically from the company either via email or as an update on your LinkedIn homepage, according to your preferences.

You’ve been able to follow companies from the LinkedIn site for a couple of years now, but this is the logical extension to that by facilitating it away from just the Company pages on LinkedIn. It also ties nicely in with the other feature that LinkedIn added to the Company pages at the end of last year which allows organisations to post updates and hence opens up the opportunity for them to start to use their Company Page more proactively as a company mouthpiece and marketing tool. (more…)

Article Categories: Businesses using LinkedIn, LinkedIn Course, LinkedIn News, LinkedIn Site Changes, LinkedIn Training, LinkedIn Workshop
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Dissecting your LinkedIn Groups page

February 9, 2012 by ,

LinkedIn Groups pageWhile I’d be the first to admit that this might not be the most exciting page on LinkedIn, nevertheless the Groups page – the one that lists all of the groups that you are a member of – does in fact contain a lot of good information and provides a great summary or overview of the latest activity going on in the Groups you have joined. And after all, the Groups are places which are likely to be a key element of your LinkedIn activity.

It’s true that you can never really hope to keep on top of all the discussions that go on in the groups but this summary or ‘homepage’ for the Groups will give us a great overview of where the latest activity is happening and so where we should perhaps be focusing our attention. After all, we might be able to join up to 50 groups but, with the best will in the world, you’re only going to be able to participate in 4 to 5 of them at best.

Why might this me of use

It may be particularly helpful if (more…)

Article Categories: Groups on LinkedIn, LinkedIn Advice
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