Being on LinkedIn is no more a matter of choice, it’s now vital for those who want to exist in the world of professionals and among people who know where they’re heading.
However, in order to get the best out of this professional networking platform, we need to know how to optimise the networking platform.
Below is a list of tips that will sure get you on the right track:
Send customized invitations
When initiating a connection with someone on LinkedIn, it is always appropriate to include a reason why you are connecting with them.
Tell them about what interested you in their profile and how the things you have in common will lead you to somewhere fruitful.
Have a consistent professional profile
LinkedIn is a super tool to build your personal brand. Personal branding, however, depends on consistency.
List your professional experience in a coherent way that shows the viewer how you are going through a unified career path and avoid being the “person who knows about everything”!
Build rapport
While it’s true that connecting with people on LinkedIn is great for generating leads, getting hired and other benefits – before achieving that, there is a special kind of trust that has to be earned between you and the person whose help you are seeking.
When you appear so desperate in asking for something, the chances you’ll get ignored are very high.
Choose your connections wisely
It is so tempting to have a large network on LinkedIn but it’s not really about quantity.
Build a network of quality connections with whom you share interests or with whom you plan to work within the future.
Before sending or accepting a connection request, ask yourself about the benefits of having that person in your network.
Post updates regularly
Using LinkedIn only when you are in immediate need of a job or desperately looking for leads is not really the right way of using it.
For people to want to connect with you there must be the value they attach to that connection. So, regularly post updates related to your professional experience to attract people in interested in such messages.
This will help you appear as an expert and will get you to be remembered by others who will resort to you when they are in need of expertise such as yours.
