What I Learnt On My Linkedin Course

Well, I attended the Linkedin Training on Friday with Andy Gwynn. There were about 25 other attendees. Here are the top five things that I took away from the course:

1. Linkedin is not a passive networking tool. Like many other social media sites, Linkedin can be more of a distraction than a useful tool in business. The reason is that people create a profile which is often very poorly written, with poor examples of work, poor photographs and minimal descriptions on your capabilities.

Once created, they sit back and wait for the enquiries to come in. But they never arrive. And then the whining about how rubbish Linkedin is, starts. You have to work at Linkedin for it to work for you.

2. Like an advert, the headline and the image are important. First impressions last and given that Linkedin is a very search friendly tool, it is important that whatever content you place on Linkedin is well thought out for Search engines – i.e understand what your potential customers look for before you start writing your profile.

3. Be clear on how you help people, be clear on who you can help specifically and make an effort to niche your profile so that you get found for a specific purpose. If you do this and are still not found, then you can broaden your niche.

4. While endorsements are fine, recommendations are better. They are even better when linked to specific roles that you make have had or specific projects that you may have worked on. You have to request the recommendation so get working on that.

5. Welcome invitations to connect but always reply with an offer to help or an attempt to start a communication. Why else would someone want to connect. Aim to help first. Your rewards will come later. Also, use your own language on Linkedin – get rid of the standard messages.

It takes time to master but Linkedin is here for the present. Get good at it, as fast as you can. There is business out there for you.