While those new to social networks always find them confusing, few confuse people like LinkedIn. Allow us to unlock some of this professional networking site’s secrets.

Even those who have been using LinkedIn for years often find themselves wondering why they are using it, and whether it is of any real benefit. It is because LinkedIn kind of looks and functions like Facebook. But its focus on professional networking is mostly where people come unstuck. Even face-to-face networking has a tendency to baffle.

But LinkedIn is great for:

  • reconnecting with people
  • keeping in touch with your contacts
  • expanding your professional network.

It is also great for finding employees, building your brand, and finding more work.

Professional etiquette is important

Unlike the greater informality of other social networks, LinkedIn calls for a more professional approach. This is particularly the case when you are sending invitations to people to connect with you.

While you can use the standard, or ‘canned’ invitation that LinkedIn provides, it is better to write your own. Think of it as though you were sending an invitation to reconnect with someone in your regular marketing work. What you need to do is greet them professionally, provide some context, invite them to your network, and then find a way of offering to take the working relationship further.

Gain recommendations

Once you’ve added current or former colleagues and clients to your LinkedIn network, find out if they will write a recommendation for you. Everyone else in your network sees your recommendations. While they appear on the LinkedIn site on your profile, your being recommended goes out to your network in the Network Updates emailed out by the LinkedIn system, weekly.

It’s an alternative way of gaining and using testimonials, and it can be very valuable to you – especially as your network expands.

Set yourself up as an expert

As with all social networking, and web site popularity, the best thing you can do is to set yourself up as an expert.

LinkedIn provides a few ways in which you can do this: through status updates, if you provide links; through blog applications that pull your articles to your LinkedIn profile; and through the Question & Answers section of the site.

To use the Question & Answers section, search for unanswered questions in your field of expertise. All you have to do is submit good, well-thought-out answers. The more you do this, the more people see your responses, and the quicker your status as an expert in the field will rise.

The key thing you want to remember, though, is that simply dumping an answer isn’t enough. LinkedIn is a network, and, as with every other social network, interaction is important. Commenting and running isn’t the most social thing you can do.

This also comes back to the basic tenet of social networks: helpfulness. LinkedIn isn’t just about what you offer; it is also about how you can help others. Responding to questions is one way in which you can share your expertise and help out your network.

Join groups

There are multitudes of professional groups on LinkedIn. Finding a handful of relevant groups can be useful to you, however. Not only can you gain information out of the experience of others in your field, the groups allow you to share your expertise too.

As with posting responses to LinkedIn’s questions, adding content to, and starting conversations within, groups, can be beneficial for your ‘expert’ standing, and for the growth of your network.

Connect your social networks

If you are set up on Twitter, and you use your Twitter feed as a professional network, you can set it up to update your LinkedIn status. This saves you the effort of manually updating all of your networks individually.

Here is how to set this up:

  • log in to LinkedIn
  • Click ‘settings’ in the very top right-hand corner of your home page
  • Find ‘Twitter Settings’, which is under ‘Profile Settings’. Click this link.
  • Click ‘Add Your Twitter Account’. If you have multiple Twitter accounts, remember to log out of them before you allow access. Otherwise you run the risk of adding the wrong one.
  • Go through the settings, tweak it where necessary, and hit save.

Now your Twitter feed will appear in your status, and on your LinkedIn profile.

Use your network effectively: headhunting, job-hunting, staying visible

One of the great things about LinkedIn is that it allows you to view people’s employment histories and, if they are active, assess their knowledge. If you are scouting for employees, hitting up your network for suggestions or recommendations is an incredibly valuable way to go. Once you have a good network on LinkedIn, you have a ready pool from which you can potentially headhunt employees.

The same thing goes for finding employment, jobs, clients, or contracts. If you’re on good terms with your network, you will be in a position to ‘crowd-source’ this information – just as you would on Twitter or Facebook. The difference here, though, is you have greater access to others’ professional lives.

Because it is easy to set up your LinkedIn profile and forget about it, set aside some time each week to work on expanding your network. Some of key ways of doing this are to:

  • Read the weekly LinkedIn network updates
  • Keep your profile up-to-date, because all changes are sent in the weekly emails to your network
  • Source recommendations from people to whom you are connected

It is easy to become lost or ‘hidden’ on LinkedIn. Being active – even minimally so – in the network keeps you visible, and in the minds of your connections. There is little point in networking if nobody knows you are there.

Key tip: You get out of it what you put in!

As with other online marketing strategies, whether that is blogging, or using Facebook or Twitter, you will only get out of LinkedIn what you put into it. It takes a bit of effort, as all interaction does, it but it can be very valuable for building your brand.