A guide for getting the most out of LinkedIn

1.
1
HOW
TO
MAKE
THE
MOST
OF
LinkedIn
Introduction
The
primary
role
of
LinkedIn
has
shifted
in
the
past
few
years
from
a
recruitment
site
–
that
you
would
visit
only
very
occasionally
-­‐
to
a
means
of
building
and
sustaining
a
contact
network,
sharing
useful
and
relevant
information
and
demonstrating
expertise
and
thought
leadership.
This
shift
has
made
LinkedIn
far
more
useful
and
relevant
to
the
majority
of
business
users
and
not
surprisingly
has
resulted
in
a
significant
increase
in
the
number
of
people
using
the
site
on
a
regular
basis.
The
number
of
LinkedIn
users
active
for
at
least
two
hours
a
week
has
increased
from
48%
to
58%
in
the
past
year,
whilst
those
active
for
at
least
seven
hours
has
increased
from
11
to
18%.
The
number
of
people
with
at
least
500
LinkedIn
followers
has
also
increased
from
30%
to
41%
during
this
period1
,
suggesting
that
people
are
investing
more
time
in
building
their
personal
networks.
This
growing
utility
of
LinkedIn
means
that
all
of
us
need
to
start
taking
the
site
more
seriously
and
invest
a
bit
more
time
in
ensuring
that
we
make
the
most
of
what
it
can
offer.
The
following
short
and
hopefully
practical
guide
has
been
put
together
by
Martin
Thomas,
Dissident
consultant
and
the
Institute
of
Directors’
Course
Leader
on
Digital
and
Social
media,
to
help
you
use
LinkedIn
more
effectively.
How
to
manage
your
personal
profile
In
a
sense
you
are
your
own
brand
manager
on
LinkedIn.
Even
the
most
amateurish
of
designers
will
find
the
‘edit
profile’
settings
on
the
site
easy
to
navigate.
It
is
amazing
how
many
bad
photos
continue
to
populate
LinkedIn:
making
it
appear
like
the
world’s
dullest
dating
site.
It
is
worth
taking
the
time
to
choose
an
interesting
photo
that
ideally
says
something
about
your
style
and
personality,
albeit
in
an
appropriate
business
context:
so
you
would
be
well
advised
not
to
use
that
drunken
‘selfie’
from
the
recent
conference.
I
am
not
suggesting
that
my
profile
photo
is
perfect,
but
as
you
can
see
from
the
picture
below,
I
have
attempted
to
use
an
image
that
captures
me
in
action
…
talking
as
per
usual.
1
Forbes
Entrepreneurs
LinkedIn
study
(May
2014)

2.
2
It
is
also
worth
spending
a
bit
of
time
creating
an
appropriate
background
for
your
profile
page.
As
you
can
see
from
the
above,
I
have
used
one
of
our
Dissident
company
images.
The
format
requires
a
somewhat
elongated
photograph,
so
you
might
find
that
some
of
your
preferred
images
don’t
look
right,
but
it
is
worth
persevering.
Here
is
another
example
of
a
background
produced
by
a
contact
of
mine
who
is
a
keen
music
fan,
hence
the
mixer
image:
You
will
notice
that
Matt’s
Professional
Headline
describes
what
he
does
–
‘Helping
organisations
where
people,
content
and
technology
collide’
–
rather
than
simply
providing
a
job
description.
There
is
plenty
of
room
in
your
profile
to
talk
about
your
current
role,
so
why
don’t
you
use
the
Professional
Headline
to
grab
people’s
attention
and
say
something
interesting
about
yourself?

3.
3
Tell
your
personal
story
LinkedIn
has
recently
produced
a
list
of
the
top
10
buzzwords
or
clichés
used
by
people
in
their
profile
pages.
You
may
be
‘motivated’,
‘passionate’
or
‘creative’
but
unless
you
want
to
sound
like
everyone
else,
it
would
be
worth
finding
some
more
interesting
adjectives.
Manage
your
settings
There
are
times
when
you
may
want
to
be
anonymous,
perhaps
when
researching
potential
connections,
or
you
don’t
want
to
inform
all
of
your
followers
when
making
minor
changes
to
your
profile
or
simply
want
to
hide
your
personal
connections
from
other
users.
On
these
occasions,
a
simple
adjustment
to
your
LinkedIn
settings
can
change
what
other
people
see.
Apparently,
25%
of
LinkedIn
users
don’t
know
about
the
setting
that
allows
them
to
hide
their
connections2
:
make
sure
you
are
not
one
of
them,
especially
if
you
are
in
process
of
(discretely)
looking
for
a
new
job.
2
Forbes
Entrepreneurs
LinkedIn
study
(May
2014)

4.
4
Be
an
active
participant
As
is
the
case
with
all
social
media
platforms,
LinkedIn
rewards
active
participation.
The
more
you
share,
upload,
publish,
comment
and
like,
the
more
people
are
likely
to
see
your
profile
and
the
stronger
your
network
will
become.
LinkedIn’s
acquisition
of
Pulse
in
2013
has
helped
turn
the
site
into
a
publishing
and
news
platform.
This
has
led
to
a
significant
growth
in
the
number
of
people
using
LinkedIn
as
a
source
of
business
news
and
knowledge.
It
is
worth
spending
a
few
minutes
managing
your
news-­‐feed
to
maximize
your
chances
of
receiving
useful
news
and
information
–
from
people
and
companies
whose
opinions
matter
to
you.
In
simple
terms
this
means
following
companies
and
Influencers
(for
example,
Jack
Welch
has
over
four
million
followers)
–
you’ll
find
recommendations
on
LinkedIn’s
Pulse
tab
–
and
hiding
updates
from
connections
who
tend
to
fill
your
news-­‐feed
with
trivial
or
self-­‐serving
rubbish.
You
can
find
the
hide
function
by
scrolling
on
the
icon
showing
when
a
specific
news
update
was
posted
(see
below):
Click&on&your&photo&icon&to&access&se2ngs&

5.
5
Groups
remain
a
really
useful
part
of
the
LinkedIn
experience.
You
can
find
a
Group
for
every
conceivable
interest.
In
addition
to
providing
you
with
access
to
relevant
topics
and
the
ability
to
debate
and
share
suggestions
with
your
peers,
you
can
send
direct
messages
to
fellow
group
members
even
if
they
are
not
personal
connections.
In
recent
months,
LinkedIn
has
made
it
easier
for
people
to
post
their
own
blogs
on
the
site.
Because
your
posts
appear
automatically
in
the
news-­‐feeds
of
your
connections,
you
can
often
achieve
far
more
views,
likes
and
comments
for
your
LinkedIn
posts
than
you
can
typically
gain
by
posting
on
a
corporate
website.
By
clicking
on
the
‘Your
recent
activity’
link,
you
will
get
a
simple
analysis
of
the
effectiveness
of
your
updates,
posts
and
comments
in
terms
of
views
and
likes.
This
is
particularly
useful
when
measuring
the
relative
performance
of
blog-­‐posts,
helping
you
identify
the
type
of
content
that
generates
the
best
response
from
your
audience.

6.
6
Photographs
and
images
–
graphics,
cartoons,
infographics
–
work
particularly
well
on
LinkedIn.
Society
as
a
whole
is
becoming
more
visually
literate,
with
the
ability
to
spot
the
perfect
image
becoming
as
important,
if
not
more
so,
than
the
ability
to
write
a
great
piece
of
copy.
Be
an
active
networker
LinkedIn
is
clearly
the
world’s
most
potent
business
network,
with
over
350
million
users
worldwide.
Just
about
anyone
worth
talking
to
can
be
found
on
the
site
if
you
take
the
time
to
look:
I
have
come
across
businesses
claiming
to
generate
in
excess
of
£200,000
month
in
sales
leads,
purely
by
identifying
prospects
on
LinkedIn.
Networking
etiquette
is
a
personal
thing:
some
people
will
accept
every
invitation
to
connect,
even
from
complete
strangers,
whilst
others
have
an
in-­‐box
full
of
invitation
requests
from
people
they
don’t
know.
There
is
nothing
wrong
with
reaching-­‐out
to
people
you
don’t
know,
although
my
recommendation
is
to
avoid
generic
or
default
requests
and
instead
make
a
direct
pitch
to
the
recipient:
‘the
reason
why
I
would
like
to
make
a
connection
with
you
is
(add
a
reason
or
describe
how
you
have
a
mutual
connection).’
The
Advanced
People
Search
function
is
very
useful
to
help
find
new
contacts,
especially
friends-­‐of-­‐friends.
The
‘Six
degrees
of
separation’
rule
suggests
that
all
of
us
are
only
six
steps
removed
from
anyone
else
on
the
planet.
In
the
world
of
business
the
degrees
of
separation
are
far
fewer:
you
typically
find
that
someone
you
already
know
is
connected
to
the
person
you
want
to
reach.
Click&here&

7.
7
To
pay
or
not
to
pay?
LinkedIn
operates
a
‘freemium’
commercial
model:
the
core
platform
is
free
to
use,
but
there
are
a
range
of
added-­‐value
services
that
you
can
pay
for.
The
jury
is
out
when
it
comes
to
deciding
whether
it
is
worth
paying
for
LinkedIn’s
Premium
offer.
Around
16%
of
LinkedIn
users
pay
for
an
upgraded
service.
It
does
offer
a
free
trial
so
the
best
way
to
decide
whether
it
is
worth
paying
around
£20
per
month
for
a
Premium
service
is
probably
give
it
a
go.
Analyse
and
learn
All
professional
users
of
social
media
channels
should
be
willing
to
analyse
the
effectiveness
of
their
activities
and
continuously
improve
their
performance.
In
simple
terms
this
self-­‐appraisal
will
help
them
do
more
of
what
works
and
less
of
what
doesn’t.
We
have
already
described
the
value
of
measuring
views,
likes
and
comments
generated
by
posts
or
updates.
The
other
key
diagnostic
favoured
by
LinkedIn
is
the
measurement
of
Profile
Views.
This
will
give
you
an
idea
of
how
effective
you
have
been
in
boosting
your
profile
within
the
LinkedIn
network.
For
further
advice:
please
contact
me
at
martin@dissident.biz
or
find
me
on
LinkedIn
at
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/martinthomasdissident
www.dissident.biz
©
Dissident
Business
Ltd,
May
2015
Click&here&