Using LinkedIn (carefully) for Marketing Yourself

Whether you’re looking for a job or starting a new company, LinkedIn can be a powerful marketing tool. Because its culture is very different from other social media sites, it’s important to respect the rules and tread lightly.

The best analogy would be successful in-person networking. You would never barge into someone’s desk and raid their address book or Blackberry. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn’s culture wants you know actually know the people who are your connections. Don’t try to connect with someone you’ve never met; instead, ask someone in your connection list to introduce you, or meet the person outside of LinkedIn before contacting them. Just because someone is your Facebook friend doesn’t connect you enough for LinkedIn. Make sure you have a real, personal connection (although it doesn’t have to be face-to-face).

It can be tempting to want to take short-cuts when you see a person you’ve been dying to meet among one of your friends’ first-level connections. It’s OK to ask your friend to make an introduction, but ethical networkers don’t pretend to be referred by someone who hasn’t given permission to use them as a referral.

LinkedIn is valuable for entrepreneurs, too. While it’s easy to see the job hunting benefits of LinkedIn, the connection value is high for business owners who know how to get the most from the system. What can you do to market yourself or your new company on LinkedIn?

• Create a profile that shows you and your experience at its best and most credible.
• Use your Update box to let your contacts know about speaking engagements, new projects, or job-related news.
• Use the My Travel app to share where you’ll be traveling if it’s important to you to make the best use of your travel time by fitting in extra lunches, coffee and dinner with out-of-town contacts when you visit the area.
• Use the Events app to invite your connections and increase your event visibility.
• Be generous in giving (truthful) recommendations, and ask your contacts to write recommendations for you. Give first, and others will reciprocate.
• Use caution in deciding who to add and whose invitations to accept so you protect the integrity of your connections. Only add people you would know well enough to refer or to ask for them to refer you.
• Use the “six degrees of separation” indicator to ask your connections to refer you to others in their networks.
• Use the WordPress, Tweets and BlogLink apps to have your blog, podcasts, videos and Tweets automatically update your LinkedIn page to keep it fresh.
• Fill out your profile completely, and use a good, recent, professional photo.
• Offer to give referrals to your contacts, and introduce people you think might benefit from the connection.
• Use polls to get snapshots of what your customers and prospects think about key issues. Polls can also help you gather statistics for reports and presentations.
• Join groups and participate to add value. Virtual chapters of professional, industry and alumni associations where you’re already a member are especially valuable.
• Reconnect with mentors, colleagues, and subordinates whom you’d lost track of from prior companies. (The company and industry search functions are very helpful for this.) You expand your active network with people you already know.
• Start a group if your key membership organizations aren’t represented. If you remain active as a group leader, it can be a great visibility tool.
• Let your contacts know what kinds of new projects you’re interested in, so they know if you’re open to be approached.

LinkedIn is a powerful tool to extend your professional network, leverage the power of “six degrees of separation” and rekindle profitable business relationships. Make the most of your connections and watch your business grow.

Excerpted with permission from 30 Days to Social Media Success, by Gail Martin, new from Career Press in September, 2010.

About the Author:
Gail Z. Martin owns DreamSpinner Communications and helps companies and solo professionals in the U.S. and Canada improve their marketing in 30 days. Gail has an MBA in marketing and over 20 years of corporate and non-profit experience at senior executive levels. Gail hosts the Shared Dreams Marketing Podcast. She’s the author of The Thrifty Author’s Guide to Launching Your Book and 30 Days to Social Media Success. Find her online at http://www.GailMartinMarketing.com and on Twitter @GailMartinPR.

Gail is also the author of the Solopreneur Survival Guide home study course and suite of products for start-up and small businesses, coaches, consultants and speaker/authors. http://www.SolopreneurSurvivalGuide.com.

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