From Clueless to Connected

May 21, 2009

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What LinkedIn Is? LinkedIn is a business-oriented

social networking site that was launched in May 2003 and is used mainly for professional networking.

As of Dec 2008, it’s site traffic was 4.5 million visitors a month, growing at an annual rate of 450%. As of Feb 2009, it had 35 million registered users in 150 industries.

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What LinkedIn is?

It’s a way for business people to form online connections that can build and extend relationships.

These relationships are in the form of connections which vary by degree: A direct connection is a first degree A 2nd degree connection is a person that is

connected to one of your connections but not to you.

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What LinkedIn is?

LinkedIn is a resource that requires action.

If you signed up and are waiting for something to happen, you’ll have a long wait.

Just like attending a networking meeting, you have to be active to initiate contact.

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What LinkedIn is Not?

It is not a personal social network. It is not the place to post your favorite band or a political rant.

A contact manager. It is not the place to store and manage your phone numbers and addresses.

A replacement for face to face networking.

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The Sections of Linked In

Signing Up: There are 2 types of accounts, personal and

premium. Most people have a personal or free account

and there are variety of paid accounts. I have a paid account that allows me to:

InMails Easier introductions Expanded profile searchs

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The Parts of Linked In: Your Profile

The profile is the section where you update your records. The more information you put in your profile, the more likely you will be found.

Think of your profile as an interactive billboard. The billboard has been erected but you are waiting for traffic to drive by.

You wait and hope that someone takes a wrong turn and sees you or you can try to detour traffic past your billboard.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Design the billboard: its words and pictures should present a cohesive effort. You need to make sure when someone sees your billboard that it tells you story.

Try to update what you are doing at least three times a week. Applications take you from a two dimensional profile to a three dimensional one.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Answers. Asking questions allows you to tap into the knowledge resources of other users. Answering questions allows you to share your knowledge.

Both answering and asking are part of the credibility building process. Both result in a link to your profile and will drive traffic to your billboard.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Answers. Usually before I answer a question I review the profile of the questioner. It may lead to a new connection.

Try to answer 3 questions a week and ask one question a week.

Every time your answer is selected as the best one, you get one expertise point. The more points you have, the higher you rank on the list. It’s a great way to build credibility.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Recommendations. Recommendations given are a way to provide value to someone who has helped you or someone you think highly of.

Recommendations received are a way for your network to provide value to you. In both cases, a link is created back to the giver and the receiver.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Recommendations. Recommendations from a client go a step further. It gets you a listing in the LinkedIn Service Providers Directory.

This is one of the least used features. Your should strive for a least 10

recommendations and provide at least 15.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Groups. Within your personal network, reaching out to 2nd and 3rd degree connections is cumbersome unless you have a paying account. With groups, the barriers to communicating with anyone are removed.

When you update your profile, your 1st level connections get an email. With groups, when you participate in a discussion or post something, everyone in the group gets the email.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Groups. If you choose a group, you can target a specific market. You can also create a group to develop a target market.

Starting a group is easy. Getting people to join the group is not.

There are many types of groups: Professional Alumni Industry

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Applications. Google presentations. Embed a presentation in

your profile Box.net files. Let’s you share content of your

files with colleagues. My travel. See where your network is traveling

to and from. WordPress. Link your blogs and the blogs of

others Slide Share Presentations. Share presentations

you have made with your connections.

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Some ways to drive traffic to your billboard

Applications. Blog Link. Connect your blog or the blogs of

connections to your profile. Huddle Workspaces. Project collaboration and

sharing tools. Company Buzz. What are people saying about

your company. Similar to Google Alerts. Reading List by Amazon. Share the books you

read or are reading with your connections.

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Connections The contacts page is your gateway to

connections. Connections can be former classmates,

colleagues from former employers, business clients, prospects, almost anyone that you have a relationship with.

You can use your Outlook file, Yahoo address book or Vcard file as well as other tools to invite people to be a connection.

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Inbox

This is where messages from connections are delivered to you and stored for access.

Messages Introductions Invitations Action Items Recommendation requests

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Ways to Use LinkedIn

Introduce connections. Similar to a networking group, you use it to connect yourself and others.

Find partners and resources. You can prescreen connection requests, view profiles and recommendations, do a search.

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Ways to Use LinkedIn

Research companies and prospects. It’s like looking at the wall of there office, where they have the diplomas and awards.

Enhance and expand networking. You can’t remember everything about everyone but LinkedIn has lots of info about everyone.

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Ways to Use LinkedIn

To be Found. It’s a snapshot of who you are and what you do and, more importantly, what you’ve done for someone.

Provide advice and guidance. Share your knowledge and demonstrate your expertise.

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Ways to Use LinkedIn Re-establish past connections. Helps you

deal with the awkwardness of not having talked to someone for a long time.

Target prospects. If you know who they are or where they are likely to be, linkedin can help you find them.

Build credibility. Create an interesting profile; get recommendations; answer questions.

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Summary The average age of LinkedIn

subscribers is 39. The average income of LinkedIn

subscribers is $150,000 per year. www.linkedintelligence.com. Scott

Allen’s blog. http://blog.linkedin.com. The

official LinkedIn blog.

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