3 ways to show appreciation on LinkedIn during the holidays

Undisputedly, the 2020 holiday season will be the most untraditional one in over a hundred years. The continued precautions that have to be taken due to COVID19 and the financial constraints many are enduring make it challenging to do what is normally done this time of year. The day after Thanksgiving is the unofficial day Christmas decorations are put up. This year, the decorating started much earlier.

With the exception of essential workers, working from home is the norm now and will continue to be the case for the foreseeable future. This means no holiday office parties or exchanging of gifts. Some dread the ugly sweater Christmas parties. This may be the first year that the occasions will be missed.

Although this is an unprecedented holiday season, there are still ways in which we can spread joy and appreciation amongst our professional and business networks. LinkedIn offers tools that are ideal for this time of year. Here are a few that can be used at anytime, especially now:

Kudos - Give a colleague a LinkedIn Kudos to show your appreciation and put a spotlight on them. The pre-designed posts provide you an assortment of options to select from: Thank You, Going Above and Beyond, Inspirational Leader, Team Player, Great Job, Making Work Fun, Amazing Mentor, Outside the Box Thinker, Great Presentation and Making an Impact.

Steps to give Kudos:

• Go to the person's LinkedIn Profile
• Select the More Button
• Select the Kudos subject you want
• You can Send in a post or Send in a message
• Hit the Next option
• You can customize the message or use the templated one
• Select Post or Send (arrow)

Keep in mind, LinkedIn rotates the templated designs.

Voice message - Many people send direct messages via LinkedIn. Doing so now is a great way to successfully communicate with someone when they may be bombarded by emails. You can make the messaging process unique and more personal by sending a voice message. This process is very similar to voicemail messaging. This option is only available via smart devices. Here are the steps:

• Go to the the person's LinkedIn Profile
• Select the Message button
• Select the Microphone ??on the far right
• Hold the Microphone button as you record your message
• Once you let the button go, a window will pop up asking you if you want to 'Send voice message?' Select Send or Cancel

Video message - The process for sending video messages is very similar to the voice messages. This option is only available via smart devices. Here are the steps:

• Go to the the person's LinkedIn Profile
• Select the Message button
• Select the ? button on the far left
• Select the Video button ??
• Flip your camera so it is facing you
• Hit the Red record button. You will be given the option to review your video or re-do if you want. Be sure to keep the message short.
• Hit the Blue ? button and the video goes to the person

The holidays are different this year, but you can still stay connected with colleagues by using the LinkedIn tools detailed above. You just may be on the receiving end of a Kudos, voice message or video as well.

For ongoing LinkedIn related information, join Clarene's private Facebook group, LinkedIn Power Moves w/ Clarene. She goes Live in the group every Thursday at 7 pm CST with a different LinkedIn topic.