1. Optimizing your profile for search results – You want to be at the top, don’t you?
Secret: LinkedIn’s proprietary search algorithm is based on a variety of factors, but one of the most important is keywords and how often and where those keywords appear on your profile.
Action: Make sure you put your most important keywords (mine are “office furniture” and “LinkedIn”) in the following places on your profile: Title, Summary, Specialties, Job Titles, Job Descriptions, and Recommendations. You get extra weight by having these words in your headline and job titles.
2. Save three searches: you want to find them, right?
Secret: You can save three searches if you are on the free account.
Action: Once you’ve found an Advanced People Search that produced a good list of prospects, simply click “Save” at the top right of the search results, and your virtual assistant will be there from then on to find more people to meet. the criteria you have identified as important to you.
3. Join groups with many members: You want to speak to the largest possible audience, don’t you?
Secret: Profiles of members of groups you are in become part of the search population along with your extended network (levels 1, 2 and 3). Also, larger groups have more people listening, watching, interacting, and ultimately buying than smaller ones.
Action: Make sure you make a conscious effort to join the larger groups in your geographic region and industry, as well as groups related to your other interests.
4. Communicate with your network: You want your voice to be heard everywhere, don’t you?
Secret: Updating status is an efficient way to communicate with your connections, not just on LinkedIn but on other platforms, like Ping.fm.
Action: Have a plan to post a business-related status update every day and link that update to your other social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, your blog, Flickr, MySpace, etc. Nothing is more effective at building your brand than your name appearing on someone else’s home page when you share information, events or ideas and ask questions every day.
5. Share Important Website Links – You want your reader to take action, don’t you?
Secret: You are allowed three websites (direct links) on your profile. These are the only positions on your profile where people can click elsewhere on the internet automatically.
Action: Make sure you use all three slots. You should personalize the titles of these websites (avoid “My Company” or “My Blog”) with an advertising flair, using the 26 available characters. Also consider referring to those direct links in the Summary section of your profile, saying something like I say, “Click the link to the details of my next LinkedIn startup class in the website section above.”
Now that you know the top 5 secrets of LinkedIn, start using them today and you should quickly start reaping the benefits that result from increasing your ability to find and be found by others and staying top of mind by sharing useful information through use. of status updates and links to websites.