There are a number of questions people have about using LinkedIn.
What are yours?
LinkedIn is a valuable resource for most people, but many still consider it the “ugly stepchild” compared to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social networking sites.
Why? Because they don’t understand how to best use it to achieve their business goals.
Lets make this post a place to ask your questions and get them answered. Post your biggest questions on how to use LinkedIn below, and I’ll respond there or create a detailed video response for those that need more explanation.
And please chime in and give your own answer to questions becasue I would love to hear your point of view.
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Is there anything I should do to my profile? I'm to the point where I think I have done all I can do but I'm always looking to make it better. Thanks for your help.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/walkerphotography
How to approach relevant contacts for new business development in your group without seeming too pushy?
Hi – me again! How is it some questions posted for discussion become a raging success long after the questions have been answered, and others – also really valid and integral to the group – get ignored..?
Thanks!
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for all the great advice on LinkedIn. I've been on LinkedIn for over 5 years; my profile is 100% complete. Which of your two books (LinkedIn Marketing Strategies or
LinkedWorking) is better for fine tuning my LinkedIn strategy so that I can attract paying clients (target market is competitive athletes and teams).
hello. great website! lots of interesting facts about Linkedin. we have a job board for life science post graduates. of course, we have a group on Linkedin. how can we increase the number of the members in our group? should we invite targeted people through Inmail? are there any other strategies? I noticed we can also send group invitations by uploading csv files, but the number of messages is limited.
Hi,
I have to admit that wathcing your video interview on socialmediaexaminer was pretty inspiring … i've just spend quite some time in answering (and posting) some questions, however i would like to know wehther there is a way to get notified on posted quesitons in particular domains, because several domains are pertinent to me and I find brwosing through the questiosn a bit long and time consuming. Any tip there?
Thanks
My question is how do I link to twitter from linkedin?
Hi Gregg, great question
If you want to learn more about the strategy behind connecting with professionals on LinkedIn, and how to make sure you don't “mess up” on LinkedIn, then go with LinkedWorking… however, if you want more advanced LinkedIn marketing strategies and you have already been using LinkedIn for a while then definitely grab LinkedIn Master Strategies. thanks for asking!
Hi Marina, thanks for your question:
How can you increase the members in your group?
1. Send an invite to all relevant people you are connected to on LinkedIn to join the group (this will get some early traction).
2. Add the group link/logo to you company/personal website and drive people back to your LinkedIn group
3. Tweet about it, post it on Facebook, add it to your email signature.
4. Promote it in your weekly newsletter.
These are a few things you can do to get that rolling (although there are more things after that)
Should you invite targeted people though Inmail?
I'm not a fan of Inmail that much. My advice is to join a number of niche related groups and send messages to targeted members of those groups. when you join a group you are able to send a message to someone without it being an Inmail. Just make sure you personalize every message and add value to them (don't ask for anything up front).
Hi Lewis,
I just saw your interview on Social Media Examiner and I had to stop by! That was a great interview. And your home page could not have asked me a better question! What's my biggest LinkedIn question? How do I set up an account??? I don't mean the easy stuff like filling out a registration form to open an account. I mean setting it up so that I can get word of my new fitness blog out to the world. I just launched it on Wednesday. Since you are a LinkedIn expert and are offering to answer one question, how to best set up my account is the one I want an answer to! Thank you in advance for your help. ;0)
Thanks Lewis! I'll be ordering LinkedIn Master Strategies today
Hi!! I read about you on social media examiner and then found my way here! I am the social media specialist for a university. One of our admissions reps for one of our adult campuses wants to use LinkedIn for recruiting/connecting with potential students. Since these are adult students I understand her point. My question is, what are some ways admissions reps for adult and online universities can use LinkedIn effectively? (We are using Facebook for our traditional campus it is wonderful) Thank you so much!
Can You please suggest the best way to write a Linkedin Recommendation?
How to get targeted traffic to our LinkedIn profile and then to our website? Mahalo (thank you) for asking.
Aloha,
Kellie
Chiara,
good question. On the bottom right hand side of your home profile there will be an “add an application” button. Click on that and then click on the “answers” tab.
From there you can select a category that best suites your niche/industry and the latest questions will be posted every day in that category on your home profile. This will make it much easier for you to find those question that best work for you to answer in a timely fashion.
Hi Laura, make sure to watch the video I did on this in a previous post here: http://www.lewishowes.com/featured-articles/lin...
That should walk you through what you need, and if not, just let me know and Ill give you more detail. Thanks!
Hi Vanessa,
Great Question! However, there is a very long answer to your question and it would take me a while to write exactly how to set up your account efficiently to market your fitness blog.
You will want to start with my ebook that answers that exact question, and shows you how to market your blog/ company online using LinkedIn. You can get it at http://www.lewishowes.com/linkedin-marketing
Or I have a TON of articles on here as well that help wish some of those strategies as well. Hope this is a good start for your site
Good question Annie,
Firs off you would want to start connecting with potential students. You will want to read this article to learn about the best ways to do that:
http://www.lewishowes.com/featured-articles/6-r...
Next you will want to create a group for people who you could offer content/value to in the specific niche of those students interests. If they are business students, then create a group that has great business advice, resources, articles, tips, and more. that will be a lead funnel for you to tap into from time to time. Read more about LinkedIn groups here:
http://www.lewishowes.com/linkedin/top-10-reaso...
Answering questions is always a good way to generate more leads as well. Whichever questions your potential students would be asking, make sure you answer their question in the Q&A section on LinkedIn.
Hope that is a good start, and let me know if you have any more questions.
Thanks Tedd,
The best way to write LinkedIn recommendations is to first only write them for people you can vouch for (don't just recommend anyone, but someone who has really helped you/ your company)
These recommendations want to be as genuine as possible. The more detail you give about the results that person helped you achieve, how it impacted your business, and what it has allowed you to do in the future is crucial.
You want to let others considering to hire/work with that individual you recommend know if they can trust that person, and how their life/business will look when working with that person.
The more genuine and detail oriented in the recommendation, the better.
Hope that helps my friend.
Great question Kellie.
I wrote a guest article about how to drive traffic back to your site using LinkedIn over at http://www.problogger.net.
Check it out here:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/02/18/t...
Let me know if that answers your question for you. Thanks
Hi Chris, there is always something you can do better to your profile or your LinkedIn strategy. If I were you, I would ask myself these 7 questions about LinkedIn… then you can figure out where you want to go from there:
http://www.lewishowes.com/linkedin/7-questions-...
Hi Sally,
Some questions are successful because those people asking them first ask compelling questions, second they usually send the question to some of their contacts to see if they will answer them… and once a few people answer a question, they move up in the discussion forum to the top because people are active on them. So just get a few to reply initially, and you should get more after that. Sometimes they get lost in the shuffle because so many people are asking questions in big groups.
Hey Lewis,
How would you recommend marketing a webinar through LinkedIn? Should we use a topic specific group, a webinar specific group, or maybe a little bit of both? Would love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Tedd,
You've come to the right place for advice, Lewis is the man when it comes to Linked In. I've learnt loads from him.
I've written a blog article about the use of Linked In recommendations and the benefits and pitfalls you should avoid. There's lots of things that can tip the balance between your readers being impressed by you or worse case scenario damage your professional reputation. You're welcome to check out my suggestions in more detail. To be or not to be… recommended on Linked In.
http://blog.giraffejobs.co.uk/shakespeare-does-...
It's not the biggest question per say: but how many hours a day do you spend on linked in? vs twitter and facebook?
Thanks very much for the pointers. Of course the questions are compelling!! I think I need to grow my audience and get individuals involved in my discussions – possibly dangle a carrot that they can relate to their services at the same time!
Hope you receive this.
Thanks again and hope the FB session goes well. Never liked the idea of using FB for business – much prefer LinkedIn as a platform. Unsure though so if you post supporting info I'd love to see!
Keep up the sterling work!
Sally
Sally Danbury
Cake Business Matching
t: 0845 626 2200
m: 07890 268 392
e: sdanbury@cakenewbusiness.com
w: http://www.cakenewbusiness.com
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Yes you can market a webinar through LinkedIn. It depends on when you start promoting it though. You can use LinkedIn ads and capture leads for the webinar about a week or two prior, or you can create an event and promote through niche groups and your network
I'm not spending as much time on LinkedIn as I am others because I have a system down at this point. However when I'm promoting events I'm on there more to respond to peoples questions.
Hi Lewis,
I have a relatively small network on LinkedIn, but am involved in a few different groups with my targeted market demographic. What is the best way to connect with the many members of these groups without using the generic, impersonal message that LinkedIn sends?
Thanks,
Greg
What are your thoughts on publishing your e-mail address on Linked In profiles?
I know I'm late to the party but I was wondering if there is a way to find mutual connections between your established connections. That is, find a person who is a first level connection to more than one of your connections but not a connection of yours.
FB sort of does this by recommending people for you to friend who is friends with several of your already established friends.
It would be interesting to know if someone is connected to say five of my LinkedIn connections but not me.
Thanks.
Question – What if you are searching for a position in two cities. I have two locations that I have an apartmnt to accomodate. However, you can only place the Zip code and City that you reside in. How can you get around this so it does not indicate your location?
Question 2 – For making comments – Does LinkedIn have a spelling check – as I always have to export into word for spell check before sending out.
many thanks,
John