Basic Uses For LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a networking site where you can connect with current or past business associates, find contacts you know inside a business where you want a job, or build some other business relationship. Another thing you can do here is ask your peers for advice about some problem or situation. LinkedIn first attracted my attention a year ago while reviewing Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, a book about branding yourself in order to become a person of knowledge and trust in your particular field of expertise. The book suggested making your LinkedIn information public and up-to-date.

To join from the home page, click “Join.” This is all free, though they do offer some other services for various fees. After providing a few very simple bits of information, you will need to verify your e-mail address. From there you can begin finding former associates, classmates, and begin building your own network. There are many things you can do, and all will help establish your professional brand. It’s a very good tool. Frankly, I had no idea what to do with LinkedIn for a long time, and I suspect most new members feel the same way. The purpose of this article, and several others to follow, is to help anyone who is interested see just how useful this site can be. From my research, I particularly like the emphasis on the idea that using LinkedIn isn’t just about building connections, but about actually doing business with it. As LinkedIn expands its functions, you can expect to see more reinforcement of this concept.



It may appear I’m going about this backwards; you could say the discussion is about how the actual Website works using information available from within the site itself. However, seeing how users are actually using LinkedIn to reach various objectives will show just how versatile it is, and once you see what people are really doing, the information on the Website will seem much easier to understand. Trying to wade through all the instructions they give is just too overwhelming for a new user to learn very much about how to use this powerful career tool. So, let’s look at what people really do with LinkedIn.

There is a Website, Linked Intelligence, that has served as an unofficial purveyor of instruction for LinkedIn for several years. A lot of the information here comes from sources within Linked Intelligence; unfortunately the people responsible for the site have had some differences with LinkedIn and have decided not to update it anymore, though they say it will stay up indefinitely. Maybe this will be long enough to help us new users for a few years.

LinkedIn can be a useful selling tool. Everyone knows the best sales campaigns involve existing customers, and much more business can be done if you can get these satisfied people to tell their friends and others about your products and services. This is commonly known as word-of-mouth or referral selling. The problem confronting salespeople trying to pursue such a campaign is in identifying possible targets for your satisfied people to contact. Ideally these contacts would be close associates of your people at work or in social settings. LinkedIn is the perfect way to locate likely targets of this nature; by using the advanced search feature on LinkedIn, you can find who your customers are linked with in their present companies, former companies, and other ways people among their contact circle are related. The campaign manager can easily use this information to identify potential buyers for referral by existing customers. Sometimes these connections will lead directly to CEOs and others who have complete authority to make purchases. For additional discussion of how this works, go here.

LinkedIn is not advertised as a money-making Website, but it can be made to produce remarkable money under certain circumstances. At the very least, it is a powerful way to build business relationships which often lead to business income. One way to build business is through updates to your profile. Whenever you launch a new product, make a significant change to some part of your business, or when you enter some new relationship like a joint venture, make a note of these innovations right in your profile so everyone can see what you are doing. LinkedIn notifies your entire network with a note about your new business doings which is updated instantly. In addition to this publicity you can send e-mail to your connections referring to your new business features and benefits where you invite people to contact you by telephone, e-mail, or in some other way. Whatever you do, it will tend to build stronger relationships with often increased wealth opportunities. These relationships may generate mutually beneficial discussions leading to new prospects, partnerships, and other business.

One of the strongest benefits from LinkedIn is the ability to use close contacts to build a relationship with people you would like to know but don’t have a way to do this outside your LinkedIn connection group. For example, while you are researching possible leads for a marketing campaign, you may realize your old buddy from several years back, at a company you left long ago, is now the administrative assistant to a high-powered executive you really need to meet. This executive could hold the key to a business relationship that will make or break your company. So, you get yourself introduced and connected to Mr. High Executive through your old buddy. How much value can you put on such a relationship? This is how LinkedIn works. Through your new relationship you may be able to turn up more high-placed prospects as well as unknown desires and needs of your new friends—even more business. You may find more ways to monetize LinkedIn here in Liz Ryan;s blog post called “Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business.”


One LinkedIn feature easily overlooked is the Answers link at the top of your home page. Using this device, you can ask any question of your entire network. You will have no idea what kind of response will come until you ask. Some people have sparked deep debates over how to do things and you may receive answers beyond belief if you use this resource. Your network will have a number of opinion leaders in it, and you can get the benefit of all this knowledge. Not only that, but you will be building the brand of yourself or whatever you ask about. Answers gives you several benefits. See more about how someone else used Answers here.
Now, let’s address something that turns more people away from fulfilling their dreams of entrepreneurship than anything else. It’s that awful word selling which almost nobody enjoys. One reason for this is fear of rejection powered by the need for making cold calls to people you do not know and when there is no relationship with your prospect. LinkedIn does not entirely remove this obstacle, but it certainly reduces it by replacing the ubiquitous Rolodex with a network of known relationships. Even if you don’t know the person you wish to contact, there probably is someone in your contact circle who can introduce you; it restores confidence to be introduced by someone who knows your prospect. Even if you can’t find a mutual connection, you may want to make your communication with a prospect using LinkedIn’s e-mail resource, because it implies a measure of trust even if you don’t directly have a connection with your lead. Be careful how you use this so you don’t become an accused spammer; your message should contain a lot of reassuring words to make the recipient get over any anger they may have when getting unsolicited messages. However you use LinkedIn to communicate a sales message, it is much warmer than a cold call you might make outside your connections. Here is more about warm calling with LinkedIn from author Alex Iskold.

You can use LinkedIn to establish your reputation as an expert in your area of greatest knowledge. To do this you must be careful about invitations you get to join LinkedIn as well as those you extend for others to join you. If you don’t consider an invitation to be from within the target group you want to reach, just turn it down. Don’t send invitations to people who won’t fit your own criteria for contacts. When you accept an invitation, be sure to reply including information about what you do and ways to stay in touch with you like your blog or a forum you frequently visit.

Another thing you can do to promote yourself is use your profile to show yourself to the world. Include links to your best biographical information, top articles and publications you have written, and other news about you that you would like for people to see. You can use the Website section to do many of these things.
The Answers tab offers yet another way to show your knowledge of a subject. First, ask deep, probing questions about subjects or projects you are developing. Indicate your intention to include the best answers in a white paper or report you will make available on LinkedIn. Answers has a way for readers to rate things people say. You can increase your image as an expert by submitting high ranking answers to other questions asked in the Answers section. Talk about these answers and your LinkedIn activities on your blog, mention LinkedIn activities in your communications, and include your public profile link on all your e-mails.

Ask those of your contacts who value your views to recommend you as an expert resource; ask your people to give themselves a recommendation at the same time. This will benefit you both. Direct all these comments back to your personal group of contacts and your blog or Websites so as to continue a dialog among all the parties to your recommendation. Read more from Barbara Rozgonyi about using LinkedIn to promote your expert status here.

LinkedIn, in these times of severe economic stress and job losses, has become a serious avenue to look for a job. Just last week one of my contacts announced he is looking for another job; he is currently in real estate which has taken a severe hit. So, people are using LinkedIn to find all kinds of jobs. Today’s job hunters require an unlimited number of contacts, not always easy to acquire. LinkedIn solves the contact problem to a great extent. It does better than that, though, because the contacts you find are often trusted employees of the very company where you wish to work. Why is this such an advantage? Because, according to CareerXroads, 70% to 80% of new hires come from referrals by existing employees. Companies seem more comfortable getting new people who are known by their own trusted workers.
LinkedIn connections can help job seekers in another way, as well. By cultivating relationships within a target company prospective employees often can find out about job openings well before they have been released to the public. This is sometimes mentioned as the “hidden job market.” Knowing employees within a company where you have applied for a job is also like having a mole within the company, because you can keep up with what is happening to your personal job quest. This can be significant in our present world where so many resumés are being submitting that automatic readers are often used; in such a situation, every individual submission has a very high probability of quickly landing in the trash can.

To connect properly with this hidden job market, approach your project with caution and don’t immediately reveal what you want. Look among your closest contacts for present or former company employees, then search for people who are connected to company employees and try to go through them to begin a relationship by being introduced. Tell your new contact you desire to exchange information and quietly do this for a while before mentioning any possible job openings. Your ultimate objective is to be introduced to a person with the power to hire you; if you can get to this stage, just think how far ahead of other applicants you will be. If possible, offer some kind of favor to your contacts in return for their information; they may want similar knowledge from you. These ideas are discussed here in an article by Debra Feldman.
Here are several points to remember about using LinkedIn for your job search:

1. Work on increasing your contacts well before you need them to help you find a job. Waiting too long will lead to a large number of useless connections because they have no relationships that can help you. When you are in a hurry it is also possible you may be accused of spamming and even asked to leave LinkedIn.

2. Determine specific goals for the types of contacts you seek. One method might be a group of people you know well, plus a group you don’t know but you have mutual interests, and a final group you choose for their ability to keep you visible because of your expertise or some other trait you wish to promote. With these goals you will be better positioned to take advantage of opportunities as they arise because this design can produce millions of contacts.

3. Get as many recommendations as you can and be sure to post them on your profile for all to see immediately. This is an advantage over just mentioning statements from others on a resumé. Items in your profile area immediately get the attention of potential hiring personnel.

4. Make frequent posts showing your opinions and what you stand for in the LinkedIn Q & A section. People can find out a lot about you when they look through the things you have said in Q & A.

5. When you issue an invitation, be sure to customize your message; don’t just use the one furnished by LinkedIn. Be sure to tell your prospect exactly why you would like them to join you. This is also a way to avoid a spam accusation if you do not know the person. With people you do know who are not expecting your invite, a special courtesy is to call them directly (or e-mail them) asking if they will be interested in joining you.

6. For more discussion from Eric Mariacher about inviting connections read this and this. Remember, “It’s not what you know” so much as “who you know.” Just as true today as a hundred years ago.
You can even use LinkedIn as a way to build a kind of cult around yourself, if that’s what you’re after. You can be very selective and invite only those who tend to think like you, who are interested in the same things you are, and those you enjoy contacting. The only problem here is a lack of diversity. So if a cult is what you want, have at it as discussed here in a post by Matthew Reinbold ().

Once you have built your LinkedIn relationships to the level you want, there is really nothing more you need to do, unless you are working on projects or have questions for your group. This makes it a virtual encyclopedia of potential knowledge just waiting for you to need it. For example, suppose you want to use some obscure feature of MSWord or MSExcel but can’t find how to do it. Pose the question to your latent LinkedIn connections and see what answers come in. This is not unlike the way a forum works, but the group is more sophisticated and should know about more things than a forum which focuses on several specific areas. LinkedIn is a perpetual address book which keeps intact all your contacts from every company where you worked. Other things you can do are discussed in this article by Eric Eggerston.
The things people are doing with LinkedIn go on and on. Uses seem to be limited only by the creativity of users; this article points to many of them, but there are a lot more to discuss which we will do in the next article about things people do with LinkedIn. Stay tuned, because, after that, we will finally explore all the goodies available on the LinkedIn Website. That could turn out to be several articles as well.

Do try using LinkedIn for some of the purposes discussed here, or for anything else your creativity may indicate. I’m not interested in a job, but I am going to try and determine how to build my connections. The ultimate use of LinkedIn for me is to answer wide ranging questions as a basis for future articles and to ask for help in developing several projects. All of this is directed toward building my brand on the Internet.
You can pick and choose things you want to do and make LinkedIn your virtual helper to accomplish all your objectives.