Linkedin is great social network for growing your business, below are a few tips help you get the best out of your profile.

Fill in your profile

Yeah this one is obvious but important, if you have lots of experience then fill it in, did you know that nearly 73% of companies use social networking to aide them in recruitment ? by filling out your profile you will increase you visibility in searches, list all of your skills in your summary, You could create a email just for Linkedin and add it in the copy of your profile so you an measure your responses.

Add a photograph of yourself

Studies have show that by adding images to either product or services offerings increase conversion rates, so why not add a photograph of yourself on your profile. people are much more responsive when they can see who they are dealing with.

Join and be active in groups

By joining group and being active you achieve two goals.

1. By actively contributing to groups, by answering peoples questions and helping people with problems you increase your visibility and establish yourself as an authority in your chosen field.
2. When you join a group you will be emailed a daily digest of what has been happening in the group, if anyone post a job request you will know about it and you can react, this can be tedious as you will get a lot of emails, ( Which is another good reason to have a email address just for Linkedin ) but it is worth it.

Did you know that Linkedin will not allow you add someone to your network if you don’t know then? It can seen a bit rude to try and link up with people you don’t know, A good way to add people you haven’t met or done business with is by using group membership. If you are both from the same group linkedin allows you hook up by adding a new option ‘groups’ option. But do try to have some sort of dialog before you start adding to your network.

Add applications

Did you can add applications to your profile? WordPress or Bloglink both allow you to link your blog to your Linkedin profile, they will display your latest blog posts on your profile helping you to establish yourself as an authority on your chosen subject and driving traffic to your website.

Network

Well it is social networking! you have to be active, trawl through your address book and your email inbox, get active in groups and add as many people as possible, you never know where the next job offer will come from.

Events

Old school networking! Meeting people face to face is still as valuable today as it was 10 or 20 years ago. You can search Linkedin in for networking events in your local area, some cost and some don’t. Make sure you have plenty of business cards and get yourself signed up !

Final thoughts

Try to remember that networking it about building relationships, don’t expect the work to start flowing in overnight, It will take time and you will get out if what you put in.

I’m always looking to make new connections, why not say hi