Developing Relationships With LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the shirt and tie venue of social networking. It is relatively formal and designed to be corporate/business like. It is not for everyone. LinkedIn is a place to cultivate relationships and share information on a professional level. To get a more detailed picture of how LinkedIn fits with other networks see Mapping the Networks and you can also look at the Denver DataMan LinkedIn Dictionary.

LinkedIn is a great way to connect with people in your industry, your school, your Chamber of Commerce, your clubs, Fraternal organizations, etc. it is not the place to connect with people who like the ABC hit Lost. I guess, it would be possible to have the business owners who like Lost group but this type of group lends itself to the more laid back nature of Facebook. Groups give you a way to connect with people who are like yourself or are seeking your service.

LinkedIn Answers is my favorite part of LinkedIn. With LinkedIn answers users post questions that they have about almost any area of business or technology and then get answers from people who just want to help and get their name out there. You can get business by being seen as the expert but don’t write that you sell the answer. The best way to use LinkedIn answers is to write quality answers and get the question asker to mark your answer as the best answer. You can also get valuable answers for yourself using this tool.

Each person who has worked extensively with LinkedIn will have a different view on the quality vs. quantity debate. I put myself squarely in the quality camp and believe that LinkedIn works best as a tool to enhance existing relationships or to start new ones with introductions. LinkedIn does not work well for hard selling at all or for blast messaging; it just does not fit the culture of the network.

If you are someone who is a public figure and you are expected to “link” with everyone, you should do this and you will need to consider your spheres of influences and expectations by others when making your plan of action for using LinkedIn.

The top 10 things you can do with LinkedIn

1. Connect with people who you know like and trust in your business community

2. Fill out enough information in your profile that people finding you can learn new information about you and understand why you are an expert in your field

3. Write recommendations that show that you care

4. Avoid the hard sell

5. Answer questions on LinkedIn answers to share your expertise

6. Join groups that relate to your industry, organizations and passions

7. Only share information that you would share with your most distant clients (content on a social network should be able to be posted on the Interstate)

8. Use applications to enhance your profile like the Amazon application to share books you are reading in your field

9. Add events to the events directory – as the events directory becomes more know it will become more valuable

10. Avoid excessive blast mailings to your connections and groups

Use these tips and you will start to make LinkedIn an effective tool.