Special edition: 9 #LinkedIn ideas for staying in touch with your network while working from home (and instructions how to use them)

{A special edition article today containing opportunities for you and instructions on how to use them. Thanks to master of networking Rob Thomas for suggesting I post my ideas on this suddenly-important topic.}

I remember 19 years ago when I left Big Corporate and started working from home I was stunned by the isolation and silence that I suddenly had to adapt to. That I did not get contacted unless I initiated the contact. That I had to make my contact details easy to find, in any of the then-used methods of communication, and that I was in charge of my own destiny by nurturing those who might lose touch with me for lack of my initiating and continuing it.

Fast forward, with coronavirus scares breathing down our collective necks, many are in the throes of similar adaptation, with the distractions and lures of being home while trying to do your work. Noise from children, from open windows, from anywhere would belie your working from home when you want to maintain the patina of a professional working from a downtown office under our ussual situation, but no more.

Over time we have adapted to:

• PO boxes as addresses,
• background noise during cell phone calls,
• collaborating remotely,
• breaking country boundaries and time zone in a podcast with an Australian host in my afternoon being his next day morning yet in real time, and
• the biggest change of all, of being int he moment 24x7x366 because client expects that.

Wow how the world changes daily!

You already know are able to use LinkedIn from your cell phone or roving laptop access to Wi-Fi, making it an ideal tool for you to use, but now I want to focus you on using LInkedIn under these new at-home work circumstances. I want to call your attention to the communications tools you can use LinkedIn as the conduit for business collaboration. 

Your colleagues, prospects and customers/clients use LinkedIn routinely and they will do so more now that we are working from home, so this is your opportunity to make the most of LinkedIn as a business communication powertool in this disruptive time despite the inconveniences:

First, be sure you have every method of communicating covered in your contact details on LinkedIn. I strongly suggest you show your cell phone number to receive texts. Check all links to be sure they still work properly. Remove your birthday, huh? See https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/34987.

Then, examine your communication settings on LinkedIn: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/92056.

Next, familiarize yourself with the powerful messaging function: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/61106. (Did you know that looking at their profile headshot and if there is a green dot on it, they are on LinkedIn, so you can seize the moment and message in real time?)

Learn about different media for messaging on LinkedIn:

• prerecorded video: on the LinkedIn app on your mobile phone: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/83106 and https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/95276
• live video on LinkedIn Live that not everyone has but you can sign up for as it rolls out: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/118724
• sending a screenshot on LinkedIn from your computer for illustration: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/223
• copying multiple recipients of your message: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/62003
• sending a message to members of a LinkedIn group: https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin/answer/202

I am sure I left some things out. If so, let me know and I will add to this.

Or you can query LinkedIn Help https://www.dhirubhai.net/help/linkedin and in most every case find a cogent step-by-step answer to find what you are looking for.

Feel free to share this. We’re all in this together.

Here’s wishing you health, quiet, and efficiency in your new office space at home.

______________________________

About Marc W. Halpert, LinkedIn Trainer and Evangelist

I am a “multi-preneur,” (www.dhirubhai.net/in/marchalpert) having started 3 companies, all of which I continue to operate. My latest business, connect2collaborate, spreads my LinkedIn and networking evangelism worldwide to train and coach others to better explain their brand and positioning on their LinkedIn profile pages:

• as an “evangelist” to help nonprofits cultivate talent pool, volunteers, boards, and corporate sponsors.
• as a corporate trainer for departments needing to know how to optimize LinkedIn for their responsible areas.
• as a coach helping professional practitioners in all industries use LinkedIn to better achieve their goals.
• as a high-energy speaker at conferences.
• as a volunteer coaching and teaching underemployed baby boomers to master new better career objectives.

I blog daily on LinkedIn topics to encourage readers towards a more beneficial use of this amazing tool. I speak about LinkedIn at public events and private corporate sessions too.

Each year I “niche out” a population to teach LinkedIn best practices. In past years I have served lawyers and professional practitioners, and nonprofit professionals. I have authored two books on LinkedIn: the first one was published by the American Bar Association “LinkedIn Marketing Techniques for Law and Professional Practices” was released June 2017 and "You, Us, Them, LinkedIn Marketing Concepts for Nonprofit Professionals Who Really Want to Make A Difference" in June 2018. Both are on Amazon in paper and e-book. The second book also has a companion online e-course to complement it, available here. Soon I will start working on the second edition of the ABA book!

If this appeals to you, see my "LinkedIn for Baby Boomers and Other Encore Career Seekers" online e-course--it's available here!

I encourage my fellow professionals, of all stripes, to make LinkedIn a central part of telling their career story, their “why,” and find their voice to offer their rich expertise earned over years (or decades), embrace new professional friendships, and nurture collaboration.