It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of LinkedIn.

When I co-wrote the LinkedIn book LinkedWorking nearly a year ago with Frank Agin, there were around 30 million users.  It has doubled to 60 million since then and it also has the highest average household income per user over the top social networking sites (currently $109,000 per user).

These stats excite me, and they should excite you as well if you are serious about your personal brand, your career, and your business.

Are you serious about that?

If so, then LinkedIn is THE place to bring your briefcase, build amazing relationships and get down to work.

Whether you are using LinkedIn aggressively, or you don’t even have a profile, there are a number of questions you should be asking yourself Read the full story

There are two main approaches people have when connecting with others on LinkedIn.

1.  Is to connect with only those you know well

2.  Is to connect with everyone

Sure there are cases in between, but for the most part those are the two main strategies people use.

There was some recent discussion about a ProBlogger guest article I did on using LinkedIn to drive traffic back to you website, and the main reason why some only apply #1 is because they don’t want to jeopardize their top connections by having to forward along introductions from those they may not know that well.

However, you don’t have to forward all of your introductions, and you are missing a HUGE opportunity if you don’t connect with those you may not know very well.  Watch as I explain in the video below:

There are 6 main reasons you want to connect with everyone on LinkedIn: Read the full story

It’s a fact that Gary Vaynerchuk is completely dominating almost everything he is involved with.  He is a NY Times Best Selling Author, runs a killer media agency with cool and collected brother A.J., has a unique wine show, and everything he is passionate about seems to crush the competition (except for his NY Jets, lol).

However, Gary made some comments a while back saying he was going to start taking LinkedIn to the next level this year, and in my opinion he hasn’t done it yet.

I know Gary is one of the busiest people on the planet right now so I understand this may not be a top priority.  I do believe Gary could really start taking all of his projects and businesses to the next level if he implements 13 of the things I noticed wrong with his LinkedIn profile.

This video was created (out of pure love) specifically to show Gary what he can do to improve his profile and start helping that playoff beard fulfill its real purpose, but I want the rest of you to pay close attention to some of the slight changes you could be making as well.   These changes I demonstrate may just give you that extra opportunity you need to take things to the next level this year.

I realized I left one BIG point out of this video, and that was using the events section on LinkedIn.  I know Gary has a number of book signings, speaking gigs, and wine events around the country and he has not used the events section to its fullest potential.

I recently helped promote an event he had during his book signing in St. Louis.  I sent out a few messages and was able to get over 400 people to RSVP on LinkedIn, and there was a great turnout during the event (see 413 RSVP numbers in image).

I don’t think he was able to get that many to ever RSVP for an event on Facebook, and we all know Twitter doesn’t have an option for events.  Using the events section on LinkedIn is the 13th point of this post.  Think LinkedIn isn’t worth paying attention to? Look at the numbers and think again.

Do you see anything else Gary should be changing or implementing on LinkedIn?  Better yet, were there things I mentioned that you should be doing to your LinkedIn profile that you didn’t think about before?  If so, please let me know what they are in the comments below and start crushing it on LinkedIn.

Chris Brogan recently said he was thinking about deleting his LinkedIn account.

I was shocked when I first read this, but I also understand that he must be getting overwhelmed by the amount of people reaching out and asking for favors.

Since Chris has given me amazing advice, and I consider him to be a mentor of mine,  I decided to create a video to show you (and Chris) why I think it would be a mistake if he deleted his LinkedIn account.

The message in this video is not only for Chris, but for everyone who isn’t using LinkedIn to its fullest potential yet.  I urge you to start using it more aggressively, as you will see what the benefits are in this video.

Staying On LinkedIn

Here are my 8 main reasons I feel Chris Brogan should stay on LinkedIn:

1.    Google Juice: LinkedIn is one of the top search results for Chris (and most of us)

2.    Recommendations: With 145+ recommendations you create more authority and social proof

3.    Build and Manage a Powerful Database: More powerful than with Facebook and Twitter

4.    Exporting Contacts: No other *top* social networking site does this

5.    Driving Traffic: Your status updates, links, and WP blog app drives organic traffic to your site

6.    More Followers: People will follow you on Twitter, join your newsletter, and subscribe to your blog

7.    Sells Books:  Need I say more?

8.    Decision Makers: Higher net worth of people are on LinkedIn over the other traditional business sites

Do you think Chris should delete his LinkedIn profile?  Are my points compelling enough to keep him (and YOU) on LinkedIn?  I hope Chris decides to give it another chance and think about it differently from here on out, and I hope the rest of you understand how powerful LinkedIn can be for your business.