Dr Helen Dixon

Information Services

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhelendixon

What is LinkedIn?

Professional social networking tool

• Officially launched 2003

Over 300 million members

• 15 million UK members

Available in over 200 countries

• 20 languages

3 million businesses

• 2.1 million groups

To find a new job

To stay in touch with past colleagues

To research companies/industries

To network with other professionals

To collaborate on projects

To introduce students to networking

To enhance your online profile

Why would I want to use it?

Queen’s University on LinkedIn

Sign up at LinkedIn.com

Free version is sufficient for most users

Can link to your Twitter account

Can add email contacts

• Caution – LinkedIn may use your contacts to send connection requests!

Getting started

Information about your education, skills and experience

Can control how you appear in public search results

Can share your profile or updates on other social networks

Can customise your public profile URL or create a profile badge

You can often see who views your profile

Your profile

Include as much relevant detail as possible• Industry and postal code

• A summary

• Where you have studied/worked

• Education - qualifications and expertise

• Current position with description

• An appropriate profile photo

• Previous positions if relevant

• At least five skills

• Publications or projects – can add files or links

• Volunteer experience

What should you include?

Editing your profile

Tip!

Include a link to your School or Department’s

website

Click here to edit your

profile URL

Add a skill to your LinkedIn Profile

Try it out!

Tip!

Focus on your core strengths

Start by searching for colleagues/classmates

Use the ‘People you may know’ feature

Can upload your contacts list (use with care!)

• LinkedIn will tell you if they are members

•You can choose to send invitations to selected individuals (LinkedIn automatically selects contacts for you; if you don’t want to invite everyone, make sure you deselect the “Select All” option)

Making connections

Use the ‘People you may know’ feature

Making connections

View mutual connections

Click Connect to send connection request

You1st

2nd

2nd

1st 2nd

Connections

Can send a direct message

Need upgraded account to send

an InMail

Try to find 5 friends/colleagues and send a connection request

Feel free to use me!

Try it out!

Tip!

Use the search box

Tip!

Use the Relationship and

Contact Info tabs to add details for a connection

Can endorse connections for skills you recognise

Your endorsement will appear on their profile

You will receive a notification if a connection endorses one of your skills

Endorsements

Can turn off endorsements if you don’t want to be endorsed

Go to Profile / Edit Profile

Click Edit in the Skills & Endorsements section

Turning off endorsements

Join and participate in groups relevant to your expertise

• Share content

• Ask questions

• Post/search for jobs

Open groups are public

• Anyone can join discussions

Private group discussions are only viewable by group members

• Need to request to join the group

Consider setting up a group, if appropriate

Groups

Search for groups related to your area

If you want, view the group (open groups)

Or request to join(private groups)

Try it out!

Businesses/organisations can have profiles

Allows company to present overview of business, profile employees, highlight press mentions and post jobs

Can follow companies to view updates from them

Companies

Search for a company that interests you

If you want to, follow the company

Try it out!

Tip!

Use the dropdown list on the

search box

Can follow universities to receive updates

Join in conversations with campus community

Network with staff, students and alumni

Find out where alumni work

Queen’s University

http://www.linkedin.com/edu/

University pages

Search for Queen’s University or another University that you have attended or worked for

If you want to, follow the University

Try it out!

Tip!

Use the dropdown list on the

search box

Your Home Page

Updates from your connections, groups you have joined or pages/influencers that you follow

Connection suggestions

Viewing history

Can like, comment on or share updates

Updates

Stick to professional updates

Focus on being informative or sharing your expertise

Encourage participation by asking open-ended questions

Can choose to share with connections or public

Posting updates

Like or share an update on your feed

If you are feeling brave, comment on an update or even post your own!

Try it out!

Tip!

Share with Connections if

you don’t want to go public straight

away!

Many websites allow you to share their articles directly to LinkedIn

Sharing articles

Find an article on a website, e.g. bbc.co.uk/news and share it to your LinkedIn profile

If you want to, add a comment

Don’t forget to choose Connections or Public and whether or not you wish to share it on Twitter!

Try it out!

Tip!

Share articles related to your work or area of

expertise!

Can’t directly contact someone you have no connection to

• (Unless you pay for a premium account)

Can ask a mutual connection to forward an introduction

Free account limited to 5 introductions per month

Introductions

Locate the person you want to connect with on LinkedIn

Click the down arrow and select Get introduced

Look through the list of shared second degree connections

Choose one of these connections to request an introduction

Write your message and hit send

How to do it

Limit introduction requests to 2nd

degree connections

Use a catchy subject line

Explain how you know each other

Explain why you want to be introduced

Give your connection an easy way to decline

Be polite and don’t be pushy!

Introduction tips!

Recommendations

Only recommend people you have actually worked

with

Remember, recommendations

may reflect on you!

Can ask connections to

recommend you

When you visit someone’s profile you can make a recommendation or view the recommendations they have made for others

Jobs

Use the Jobs tab to search for jobs

Premium account

Job Seeker account

Recruiter Lite account

Privacy & settings - Profile

Click on your profile image and select Privacy & Settings

If you don’t want others to know that you’ve viewed their profile, click here

If you browse publically you can see who has viewed your profile

Privacy & settings –Communications/Account

Change these settings if you are receiving too many emails

Change your password regularly!

Only invite people you actually know to connect

Be clear about your intentions

Reciprocate favours and be grateful

Pass requests along quickly or explain why you would prefer not to

Be careful not to over self-promote

Remember networking is about relationships

LinkedIn Etiquette

How to lose friends and alienate people

Spamming connections

Being unprofessional

Blatant self-promotion

Stalking!

Include all relevant detail in your profile

• Think about keywords that people may use in searches

Personalise invitations to connect

Don’t restrict connections to people in your field

Login regularly to keep your account active

Keep your profile up-to-date

Check out the LinkedIn Blog

Final tips

Feel free to connect with me:

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/drhelendixon

Questions?

socialmedia@qub.ac.uk @SocialMediaQUB SocialMediaQUB