get linked in

Guide to LinkedIn

19th February 2010

East Lothian Coffee Morning

@ Craigie Law Golf Club

What is LinkedIn?

Social networking site for businesses (i.e. Facebook for professionals)

An Online CV Place to re-connect with old work

colleagues Meeting place for new contacts Source of information and news Part of your marketing mix

www.twitter.com/eastlothiancm

Why should you be LinkedIn?

Get up to date with local or industry news Keep up to date with your contacts and

customers Promote your business, skills and services Find new customers Easily keep in contact with your customers It’s free Everyone else is already LinkedIn


LinkedIn Statistics

2,200 people registered on LinkedIn within 10 miles of Haddington

44,800 people registered within 25 miles 82,000 within 50 miles

If your target market is local businesses or local people then that’s a lot of potential customers


How to get LinkedIn

Register at www.linkedin.com - only requires your basic contact information

Reply to the confirmation email you are sent out and your registration is complete

Don’t be tempted to start connecting with people yet though – you need to set-up your profile


Update your profile

Log in to www.linkedin.co and navigate to Profile>Edit Profile

Update your details which include current role, previous roles, your website(s) etc

You will see a bar on the right of the screen showing you your profile completeness – the nearer to 100% the better


Update your profile II

Think of your profile as your brand – it will be the first thing people come across when they find you on LinkedIn

Write a short and concise summary (your mission statement) – make sure your spelling is correct!

Be sure to click save every time you edit your profile


Get Connected

Now you have built your profile it’s time to get connected

LinkedIn can connect to your Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail account and search your contacts for other LinkedIn members

Enter the email address of someone you know to add them directly


Introductions

Anyone you are connected to is classed as a 1st degree connection

A connection with someone you are connected to is a 2nd degree connection

Whenever you view someone’s profile it will show you how you are connected to you i.e. they are 3 degrees away from you

You can ask your 1st degree connections to introduce you to one of their connections

Simple….!


Network Updates

Great way to stay involved with your 1st degree connections

It can show people what you are working on, any new connections you have, any questions you’ve asked or answered, new recommendations you’ve been given or received etc

You can also see what your connections are up to Group updates also appear showing you what’s

going on within any groups you are a member of


LinkedIn Groups

Groups are a great way of connecting with like-minded people – use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for keywords

Why not join the East Lothian Coffee Morning group!

Once you are a member of a group you can start or join in online conversations, ask questions, promote yourself, share related news with everyone or just build your connections


LinkedIn Q&A

You can post industry specific questions to the entire LinkedIn network and draw on the vast pool of knowledge and expertise

You could answer someone else’s questions and get known for being an industry expert

Asking a questions helps identify people who may be worth connecting with for future collaboration


Recommendations

This function allows you to recommend people you have worked with or allows them to recommend you

You can give and receive recommendations from customers, suppliers, colleagues and associates

Recommendations help you build your online reputation – they show that you are someone to be trusted

Be careful who you recommend – just as you would in real life


Events

You can now post events on LinkedIn Find out when relevant industry or local

business events are being held Register your interest in attending and

see who else is going


What now?

Be pro-active – don’t expect anything to happen unless you make it happen

Schedule in 5 minutes a day to keep on top of it all – update your status regularly

Keep increasing your connections Get involved with some relevant groups Ask for (and give) some recommendations


get linked in

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