6 Things You Aren’t Doing On LinkedIn
Are you In? LinkedIn is a great networking tool and powerful career resource, and many professionals and bloggers aren’t using LinkedIn to it’s full potential.
Maybe you’re perfectly happy exactly where you are in your career or with your current blog activity. If you are, good for you! Work-life balance and career satisfaction are not measured by job title, page rank or status. Then again, very few of us find happiness and success standing still. If you want to grow your blog or your career, LinkedIn can be a great resource!
Here are 6 ways LinkedIn has empowered my professional development:
1. Reconnect with old contacts.
Did you cringe when your old high school nemesis friended you on Facebook? LinkedIn can be used to reconnect with former professional contacts that are far less cringe-worthy.
I have used LinkedIn to reconnect with former classmates & teachers, co-workers & supervisors, and business partners. I’ve found valuable contacts I lost track of, and I can maintain my professional network as colleagues and classmates move, change jobs, phone numbers and email addresses.
2. Get personal recommendations.
Ask for personal recommendations from your network for job opportunities, promotions, business opportunities and more.
When I was job hunting, my LinkedIn network provided the opportunity to request a personal referral to a company I wanted to work. After an interview with a great company, I found my interviewer on LinkedIn and discovered we shared a connection. I contacted our shared connection, a former service provider, and he was glad to contact my interviewer to provide a personal recommendation on my behalf.
3. Build credibility around your expertise.
If you want to be known as an expert in your field, LinkedIn Answers can help you build your reputation.
LinkedIn Answers shaped my blog niche. When you answer questions on LinkedIn Answers, the questioner can rate one answer as the “best answer”. I was repeatedly rated “best answer” on the topics of work-life balance, career management, and related topics and thus my niche was born!
4. Find your audience.
Use LinkedIn Answers to gain insight into your professional industry and to stay informed and knowledgeable on your career path.
LinkedIn Answers helps me tune into my audience. I have written several blog entries based on questions other professionals are asking on LinkedIn.
5. Learn from the experts.
Asking questions on LinkedIn Answers allows you tap into a huge network of experts.
When I wanted to create business networking cards, experts from LinkedIn responded to my question and I was able to create a killer networking card that have consistently impressed at networking events.
Don’t forget to rate the “Best Answer” when your question closes.
6. Interact with your professional peers.
LinkedIn Groups provides a venue for valuable discussion and information sharing on your professional interests.
LinkedIn Groups provided tips, tricks and support when I started my blog. I’m a member of The Blog Zone group on LinkedIn and I participated in discussions for months before and during the creation of my blog.
There’s a lot of great information being shared on LinkedIn Groups!
Where to get started on LinkedIn:
If you’re not already on LinkedIn, or signed up ages ago and don’t know what to do next, please check out these awesome videos from my good friend, Adrienne Smith at adriennesmith.net!
How To Make Your Links Stand Out On LinkedIn.
I love your comments! How are or aren’t you using LinkedIn? Did you learn something new from this post?
Image courtesy of Jerry Luk
Join the ConversationThis is how I define success.
Lately I’ve been thinking about why I blog and there are many reasons. It’s far too easy to allow myself to become distracted and overwhelmed by the ever-changing challenges of life. I could leave this blog dormant and move on with my life in a positive direction, without regret for the blog I left behind. So why do I blog?
When it comes down to it I blog for me. A little for you, and a lot for me. It is my intention and my hope that my blog offers insight, awareness, tips & tricks and experience, strength and hope to other professionals juggling their work and their life. In the end I find, however, that this blog helps me focus my own efforts to not merely live and work but to love myself, and my work and my life. To fully experience the joy and peace that comes with mindful awareness, productive activity and an abundance of gratitude.
My blog is a fledgling blog, a little bird just learning to fly. I don’t yet have many regular readers and I receive few comments still I consider my blog a success. I share the tools that create success in my life and for me success is emotional health, unburdened happiness, discovering choices and embracing opportunity. I am grateful for this space to share my journey in loving my work-life. I hope you’ve found something here, too.
Join the ConversationHello world!
Hello world, indeed! Welcome to Live Love Work: a blog about loving your work-life. Through this blog I hope to energize, engage and inspire professionals, office-dwellers, free-thinkers and you!
When I decided to write a public blog, I started with a bit of research. I found some great resources, and so I will share them with you.
Because this blog is all about sharing. I learned all about sharing from Big Bird and his pals. Can’t you feel the shared love?
So, right- resources! From me to you, here’s my top resources on starting your own blog:
1) My favorite- Penelope Trunk: The easiest instructions for how to start a blog. Penelope has humor and wit, with great advice that keeps it simple.
2) ProBlogger: 23 Questions for Prospective Bloggers- Is a Blog Right For You? affirmed my decision to write a blog.
3) Last, but not least, I enjoyed ProBlogger: Starting a New Blog? Start With a Mind Map. Working on Live Love Work‘s Mind Map was challenging and fun, and hopefully directs energizing, engaging and inspiring topics.
So there you have it. Live Love Work‘s inaugural blog entry. May this blog live long and prosper!
Join the ConversationLet's Connect!
Chrysta Bairre
