Karl Kasca

Find the power of LinkedIn for yourself, your company, and your website. What's all the fuss about LinkedIn? LinkedIn is showing up everywhere now, in articles and on the web, just like Twitter. Find out why everyone's connecting in LinkedIn and you should too.

• Google Juice
• LinkedIn - Areas/pages of the site and why they're important.
  • Home
  • Groups
  • Profile
  • Contacts
  • Inbox
  • Applications
  • People
  • Jobs
  • Answers
  • Companies
  • Account & Settings
• Video: Overview of LinkedIn and the Power of LinkedIn
• Resources

Google Juice

• Overall Power of LinkedIn: You, your company, and your website get "Google juice" by using LinkedIn.





• This means you, your company, and your website can be placed higher in the search engine results by using LinkedIn.

LinkedIn - Areas/pages of the site and why they're important.

Home

• Description: Home is where you do your status updates.



• Power of Home: Let people know what great things you're doing, but in a factual and professsional way.



• This is similar to Twitter: "What are you doing now?", but for your LinkedIn network: "What are you working on now?".



• Why would you want to do this? - It's usually a different network of people than your Twitter Followers. Plus LinkedIn is considered to be more professional than personal, so your status updates will be more professional/business related news and information.



• Left side of page: Navigational links for LinkedIn site - great for getting around.



• Center: Your Inbox and Network Updates



• Quick way to see what's up with people in your network.



• Right side of page: Applications. Everything from your Blog posts (e.g., Wordpress application) to Twitter tweets about your company (Company Buzz) to Presentations you've uploaded to the web (Slideshare), etc. See Video below.

Groups

• Description: Groups you are a member of.



• Power of Groups:



• Join groups to find other people with similar interests.



• Once you join a group you can send messages to members of the groups.



• You can also create a group and become known as "the" expert in that area, e.g., you could start a "solopreneur" group.

Profile

• Description: Your premier personal/professional bio and resume online.



• Power of Profile:



• LinkedIn is considered to be "the" resource for professional profiles.



• Create a killer profile with great keywords and it can help your business and website be found so others can do more business with you.



• More Power: Recommendations (Testimonials/Reviews) - Give recommendations and request recommendations.

Contacts

• Description: Connections tab lists contacts you are connected to, Imported Contacts tab allows you to import Contacts, Network Statistics tab shows your own personal Six degrees of ...you!



• Power of Contacts:



• Search your contacts under Connections,



• Import more contacts (but be sure you really know them and that they'll remember you if you invite them!),


• See how many connections you have and the power of your personal network under Network Statistics.

Inbox

• Description: Messages you've received, sent, and archived via LinkedIn.



• Power of Inbox:



• Act on Invitations to Connect and write insightful/professional messages back to those you decide to connect with.



• Act on these requests quickly while the requesters are interested in you and your business.

Applications

• Description: Shows Featured Applications.



• Power of Applications:



• Check Applications from time to time to see if new ones are available.



• Once added they are visible from your Home and Profile pages.



• Add applications to: "enrich your profile, share and collaborate with your network, and get the key insights that help you be more effective."

People

• Description: Search for People.



• Power of People:



• Click on "People" tab (top left of screen) to go to Advanced Search where you can search for other people.



• But the real "Power of People" is:



• Keeping in mind all of the things others can search for here:



• Keywords, Location, Title, Company, School, Interested in, Industries, Groups, and



• Assuring that you've placed the best possible descriptions of these in your Profile so you and your company can be found better/more easily.

Jobs

• Descriptions: Search for Jobs.



• Power of Jobs:



• Click on "Jobs" down-arrow and select Advanced Job Search.



• Using the same power strategy as in People (above):



• Search for jobs, positions, or companies like yours and see how others have written their descriptions to see if you can enhance your Profile with killer words/concepts from their profiles.



• And yes, you can search for jobs too, but we're assuming you have one already.

Answers

• Description: Ask questions and Answer others' questions.



• Power of Answers:



• Become known as a knowledgeable expert in your field of expertise.



• Ask well-phrased questions to so others become aware of you and your business.



• Answer questions for the same reasons.



• The person asking the question selects the "Best Answer" for the question asked.



• Then "Best Answer" is shown under your name when you answer questions in Linkedin given you and your business more prominence and visibility.

Companies

• Description: Search for companies by name, keyword, or location. Find Service Providers in the Service Provider directory. Recommend a service provider and/or Request a recommendation.



• Power of Companies:



• As mentioned in People and Jobs (above) think of how people might search for your company and make sure those keywords are in our profile.



• Give and request recommendations.

Account & Settings

• Description: Settings for your account.



• Power of Account & Settings: You can change your settings so others can:



• View your Photo and Full Public Profile;



• Make your Status visible to Everyone,



• Receive Introductions, Inmails (messages sent directly to you within LinkedIn), Group invitations;



• Your Connections are allowed to view your connections/contacts list, view everyone's profile photos,



• So you will be listed as a Service Provider if recommended;



• Tell LinkedIn how you wish to use your LinkedIn network, e.g., to "Find professionals interested in my new venture or product".

Video: Overview of LinkedIn and the Power of LinkedIn

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Resources

Webinar/Video (see link below): "Using LinkedIn for Professional and Personal Branding"
- Note: I really believe that this presentation will help you leverage the power of LinkedIn for your business and website.

Presentation by Chuck Hester (Communications Director of iConnect) who has 8,500 contacts on LinkedIn to my New Media Marketing class "virtually" (online) at UCLA Extension on March 18, 2009.

Background: Chuck believes in the "Pay it Forward" approach/philosophy to Marketing and he spoke about that as well, or you can read more about it in his LinkedIn profile:

Chuck Hester's Bio/profile on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckhester <-- Note: This is an example of a personalized LinkedIn profile link, which we'd highly recommend that you do too!

Links to Chuck Hester's Presentation on LinkedIn:

PowerPoint presentation (PDF file) - 748 KB

Video Webinar (WMV=Windows Media file) - 8.1 MB

Note: There was a lot of feedback on his end during the presentation, so you'll need to turn up your Volume when you view the video.
- Also, the audio gets a little better as the presentation goes on. :)
 


ARTICLE DATE: 03/31/09
REVISED DATE:

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