I had some great comments and emails come in regarding my post last Tuesday about “What percentage of time do you spend on the big 3 social media sites?” Many of my blogging friends and followers asked me:
1. Why do you spend 60% of your time on LinkedIn?
2. How do you use LinkedIn
3. How do you find new connections?
4. Any tips and / or tricks on using LinkedIn?
Why do you spend 60% of your time on LinkedIn?
I honestly enjoy the layout, even though in some areas LI could use improvements, it’s fairly easy to use. For me, it’s very easy to meet new connections and I find I can post questions and help others by posting answers and it works well. I’ve also noticed that if I post a question on Twitter, I sometimes don’t get a response, so I may have to repeat the question later in the day or on another day. When I post a question on LI, I usually get some great answers back.
How do you use LinkedIn?
I’ve found LinkedIn to be one of my best networking tools. I’ve met a ton of helpful people that I can bounce questions, ideas, etc off of. The great thing about using LinkedIN, is that people are located around the world, so your not limited to just your city.
I would say part of my time is spent reading the groups discussion areas and helping answer questions, asking a question or checking out new data that I can use for my job or clients’ projects. I’ve really learned a lot and since I work directly at home, I feel that I’m working in an office with 1 million co-workers. I’ve found LinkedIn very helpful in growing my network and bandwidth of experts around the world. The rest of the time I spend on introducing myself to new connections and following up with current connections. I really enjoy networking using LinkedIn.
Before LinkedIn, I would say my networking skills were very low, but now I’m much more comfortable meeting new people and I enjoy going to networking events. As a business owner in this economy, that’s one thing that separates the great one’s from the rest, how much does the CEO / business owner, VP’s, etc network with others? Many people say in order to find a job, you need to network but I also believe it’s important to network even if you have a job. Many employers realize that in order for their employees to learn and grow for the company, they must attend networking events and network themselves. If you’re looking for some great networking ideas and help, check out the book “Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-how for Business And Career Success” by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon.
It came recommended by one of my contacts and now friends that I met through using LinkedIn, Sue Schnorr. I highly recommend this book. I’ll try posting a book review in the coming weeks.
How do you find new connections?
One of the things that works for me and will probably work for you, is to join a few groups and introduce yourself to others. Message people that have similar backgrounds, jobs, etc and find out if you can “connect” with them. I found this to work about 99% of the time for me and I’ve met some really awesome people in the process.
If you have the time, create a group or two, join a few groups and ask to be a manager and help out with the group. The groups can be something that you specialize in or even a hobby or something you enjoy doing in your spare time. I help out with three groups and have met some really great people. One of the groups that I created, The Original Steelers Nation, is a fun group of guys and gals that enjoys talking about football and other things. This group that I created has helped us build some great friendships but also a few of them have turned into new business leads as well.
Any tips and / or tricks on using LinkedIn?
Sure, I have a few tips and tricks for using LinkedIN.
1. Read this book to help you better understand and improve how you can use LinkedIn. I highly recommend it. “I’m on LinkedIn–Now What??? (Second Edition): A Guide to Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn” by Jason Alba
Yeah, I know I know, two books recommendations in one blog post, what is this a summer reading list. HAHA. No but I highly recommend these two books.
2. Spend time searching out groups of topics that interest you. It could be something that you already do, something that you want to find out more information about, or a hobby that you really find passionate about.
3. Don’t be scared to ask or answer people questions in the group discussion area or in the “Answers” area on the top of the page. You will help many other people out by answering questions or asking questions that I’m sure somebody else was thinking of as well.
4. Don’t be afraid to send out messages to people in the same group to connect with. You will meet some truly great people this way and down the road or even that day, it could be somebody that needs your expertise. Just ask, it can’t hurt.
I hope that this posting helps you on ways that you can start using LinkedIN. Reading those two books should really help you on your way to successfully networking on LinkedIN.
In what ways are you using LinkedIN? How do you use it for business? Any suggestions for newbies out there that you’ve learned along the way?
As I’ve said earlier in this posting, one of my weaknesses was networking, but I feel it is now one of my strengths. Here’s a great quote that to this day I live by – “Build up your weaknesses until they become your strong points. “
Knute Rockne
I truly believe in those words, spoken by a great man.
Coming up in the next blog, I’ll talk about some interesting metrics that I’ve found on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Doug! If it makes sense, and if your readers are largely local, we could get everyone together and have a “class” of sorts. Or there are plenty of free classes around Rochester that get into the nuts and bolts of using LinkedIn.
Yeah that makes sense. We’ll see how much interest the posting brings but sounds like a great idea.