Achieving results on LinkedIn

What results?

The first thing is to understand what you are using LinkedIn for:

• As notes on friends and contacts. LinkedIn is a handy way to keep information on friends and ex-colleagues. It has the added advantage that the other person probably keeps their status, contacts and whereabouts up-to-date. You can contact them to say "Hi" or "happy birthday"
• To lay out your stall as a job seeker. You can say what you do, what you can do, that you are available, show what you can do and interact with like-minded professionals to demonstrate your expertise in a given area.
• To find candidates for a job.
• To sell something to other members. The other members conveniently categorise themselves and (to some extent) make themselves available to your communication.
• To be a thought leader or influencer.

The process to achieve these results is much the same but of course there are differences.

The effort involved varies according to the results you want. Keeping contact with acquaintances does need much effort. If you have more ambitious goals, the effort needs to be greater. Your profile, any messages and content you produce have to be tailored to your aims.

How?

Profile

The first thing that LinkedIn asks you to do is to generate your profile. This isn't a resume but tells people what you want to tell them. What should and shouldn't be in you profile is a subject in itself.

Building your network

The network you build is important.

To keep track of friends this is self-explanatory. You just need to invite your friends to connect with you, if they haven't asked you already.

Job-seekers may ask people they know at target employers, target hiring managers and relevant recruiters. Your network may also be interesting to potential employers, especially if you're looking for a customer-facing role.

Recruiters may ask candidates to connect to keep track of them; to have access to their contact information, and to be able to contact them over LinkedIn messaging. But a recruiter sells his services. So he may reach out to hiring managers, and HR professionals.

If you're selling something, you probably reach out to the sort of people who may buy your product or service. The more connections the better!

Engaging

Whatever you want to achieve, engaging with your network is important. It may be just messaging someone you know to say "happy birthday" or "hi". It may be a case of having a private conversation on the messaging service, but there are other way too:

1. Engaging on a group. If you have joined a group, there is an opportunity to participate in existing conversations or start a new discussion.
2. Writing an article
3. Posting (a short text-based update, a photo or video)

Messages

What you say is important.

Consistency

Whatever your aim, it works best if you follow up on your messaging..

If you'd like to talk about using linkedIn, please book a free 15 minute slot here.