AMiable Solution #50: LinkedIn to Get Hooked Up

Not all social media sites are created equal, and not all of them are exactly “social.” LinkedIn, the “world's largest professional network with 200 million members in 200 countries and territories around the globe” is all business.


According to the social site itself, 64% of LinkedIn users say the site helps them develop professional relationships and grow their business.

How? LinkedIn is the professional's version of Facebook, but with more information. It allows members to post professional qualifications and educational history, recommend other members, join groups and make connections, and have real-time conversations with other members.

The advantage of LinkedIn is the format: it allows you to create a living, real-time resume/portfolio/reference list of your capabilities, experience, and successes that your contacts, and contacts of contacts, can see. It’s a constant presence with solid, visual evidence, not a business card and a handshake shared at a happy hour or conference luncheon.

The best way to tap into LinkedIn’s power—once your and your company’s pages are created and completed—networking, in all available opportunities:

• post regular status updates and encourage responses

• invite people to connect with you

• join groups or create your own group of industry professionals

• participate in discussions through your own account or through your group

• answer questions in the “Answers” section

• ask for recommendations to establish/build credibility

• browse the networks of colleagues and friends, looking for potential prospects to contact directly or through an introduction by the colleague or friend

Pam Dyer, a marketing manager and blogger, also recommends encouraging every employee to have a profile on LinkedIn and to have them all network/connect with one another. This, she says, extends your network and provides your company with greater exposure.

As with any social relationship, commitment to a network is the biggest requirement for success. No matter which social network or networks you engage in, be sure to visit them--and participate--frequently and often.