Archive for linkedin group

How to Network Using LinkedIn Groups

Are you a member of a LinkedIn Group? Do you spend time networking in LinkedIn Groups? LinkedIn Groups are great way to build credibility and make new connections that can ultimately help grow your business. With over 1.5 million LinkedIn Groups, it can be difficult to find relevant Groups and determine which ones might be [...]

4 Tips For Leading a LinkedIn Group

The name, or title, of your group is essential in drawing members to it. Be as specific as possible in the 48 characters you’re allotted. Don’t worry too much about being eye-catching. People are on LinkedIn for professional reasons, not to be entertained. When users are scanning the Directory for groups to join they’ll pass over all those that don’t seem relevant.

7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement

Is your company’s social media as stale as last month’s bread? Would you like to get more people-to-people interaction and begin a real conversation with your audience on social media? No matter your company’s industry or size, you can encourage these deeper connections and improve your social media engagement. Here are some tips to help [...]

7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement

Is your company’s social media as stale as last month’s bread? Would you like to get more people-to-people interaction and begin a real conversation with your audience on social media? No matter your company’s industry or size, you can encourage these deeper connections and improve your social media engagement. Here are some tips to help [...]

How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page

Are you leveraging your LinkedIn Company Page as best you can? In a recent LinkedIn study, 50% of current company followers stated they are more likely to purchase products and services from a business they engage with on LinkedIn. This means that an active LinkedIn presence could help your business. And you’ll likely want to [...]

How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page

Are you leveraging your LinkedIn Company Page as best you can? In a recent LinkedIn study, 50% of current company followers stated they are more likely to purchase products and services from a business they engage with on LinkedIn. This means that an active LinkedIn presence could help your business. And you’ll likely want to [...]

How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page

Are you leveraging your LinkedIn Company Page as best you can? In a recent LinkedIn study, 50% of current company followers stated they are more likely to purchase products and services from a business they engage with on LinkedIn. This means that an active LinkedIn presence could help your business. And you’ll likely want to [...]

8 Ways to Get More Leads for Your Business on LinkedIn

social media how toDo you want to acquire more traffic and leads from LinkedIn?

According to Experian Marketing Services, LinkedIn received 94M total U.S. visits in December 2012, an increase of 40% in traffic compared to December 2011.

So, whether you’re a B2B and/or B2C company, now is a great time to start leveraging LinkedIn to find and attract your target market.

Here are 8 ways to attract high-quality leads with LinkedIn.

#1: Add a Strong Call to Action and Link

Did you know you can add custom banners to your company page for free? And did you know each of these banners can link back to your site?

You can add up to three different linkable product banners (646 pixels x 222 pixels) to the Products & Services section of your company profile. This is a great way to funnel LinkedIn traffic to a webinar, case study or other type of targeted landing page.

product banner

HubSpot product banner with Request Demo button driving traffic to a landing page.

Many businesses are missing this opportunity. If prospective clients make an effort to visit your Products & Services section, you should provide a simple way for them to contact you by linking to your site or targeted landing page with your banner.

Here are some ways to use these product banners:

  • Highlight customer testimonials and link to a page on your site with more positive reviews.
  • Promote and link to an upcoming webinar.
  • Share a new case study.
  • Highlight and link to a popular blog post you’ve written to help your target market.
  • Showcase and link to a SlideShare deck that would interest your target market.
  • Promote a video about your business.
  • Drive traffic to a squeeze page to collect leads for a new product.
  • Share other social channels where you can be reached.

#2: Add Pictures or Files

LinkedIn has been making it easier for companies to reach their target audience. Last year, they started allowing companies to tailor status updates to specific LinkedIn connections (based on industry, seniority, job function, etc.).

target connections

Companies can target connections with specific status updates based on job function, seniority level, industry, company size and geography.

And now, companies can attach files or pictures (along with links) to their status updates. This helps company status updates “pop” out of the stream, which increases visibility and click-throughs with each post.

email study

Experian promoted a new email marketing case study with a large picture and two links.

To do this, first attach your image. This is an important first step because if you type in your status update and add a link, you will no longer be able to add an image.

paper clip

Click on the paperclip icon to attach your image.

After attaching your image, you’ll have an opportunity to edit the title of the image and description, which can serve as a teaser to get people to click.

Second, choose your targeted audience for your offer. You must have at least 200 connections in the audience list in order to target them with your update.

For example, you may only want to target non-employees with offers.

targeted audience

Click on the Targeted Audience drop-down to choose your target.

Last, type in your status update and append your URL. By following this sequence, you’ll ensure that both an image and URL will appear twice in your status update.

share url

Add your status update and link last so that both an image and URL will appear.

Think about all of the different ways you can leverage these expanded status updates that include an image and two links. You can feature an image of a webinar. You could show off a white paper. You could give a preview image of a YouTube video you want people to watch.

Most companies are not utilizing this new feature, so take advantage of this opportunity to get expanded status updates and more relevant traffic to your website.

Here are some tips to help you provide engaging status updates on LinkedIn:

  • Use the Targeted Audience feature to craft custom content for them.
  • Share a variety of different types of content (images, links, polls, slides, videos, questions).
  • Test long vs. short text updates to see which gets more engagement.
  • Post during high-conversion times on your website; especially in the mornings when LinkedIn engagement activity is the highest.
  • If you’re linking to your website, remember to optimize it for mobile device traffic.
  • Comment on your own post to help boost engagement, and respond quickly to those who engage with your company post.
  • Get employees involved and invite them to share your posts to maximize your visibility on important announcements.

#3: Use the LinkedIn Lead Collection Widget

If you decide to test an ad campaign budget on LinkedIn, you owe it to yourself to add the Lead Collection widget to your landing page.

This little box sits at the top of your website and allows people to easily submit their email address to you with one simple click.

uci contact form

UCI can easily accept email leads with one click of a button.

The Lead Collection widget allows you to acquire leads faster, especially for the increasing number of mobile device LinkedIn visitors who don’t want to bother typing into your website’s contact form.

#4: Create Custom Calls to Action and Content

LinkedIn Products & Services pages can serve up different content based on the profile of the user.

Not only does this allow you to use the right language (based on geography), but also feature only the products and services that might interest certain types of people (based on their job function, company size, industry and seniority). It then allows you to provide the right messaging and links.

dashboard

Dashboard for creating multiple versions of LinkedIn company product pages based on audience types.

Creating custom content for specific LinkedIn members helps you drive them to appropriate landing pages and/or specific phone numbers to reach specific departments in your organization. Creating unique pages only takes minutes, so the time investment to test this out is minimal.

#5: Post LinkedIn Company Status Updates in the Morning

Aside from posting company status updates during high-conversion periods on your own website, you should also post updates during the times of day you get the most impressions on LinkedIn.

Lana Khavinson, senior product marketing manager at LinkedIn, says, “We find that companies get the greatest engagement from morning posts. That said, we are seeing engagement rates increasing in the evening as our mobile and iPad apps keep gaining massive traction. We encourage companies to test posting at different times of day so that they can find what works for them and their target audience.”

The way you’ll find the best times to post is by watching the post impression numbers in your posts.

engagement

Engagement metrics on posts can be seen by admins of company pages. The above illustration is an example of how data appears, but does not show real results.

These LinkedIn post engagement numbers (impressions, clicks and shares) can be seen by anyone who manages your company page, and should be analyzed to figure out what types of posts are driving the most relevant traffic and/or leads to your site.

Also pay attention to what type of content gets the most shares, since number of shares means even more visibility for your business in other people’s LinkedIn streams.

#6: Treat LinkedIn Products & Services Pages Like Landing Pages

Sure you can link to your landing page, but why not also allow LinkedIn members a quick way to ask a question or message you without leaving LinkedIn? This is a killer way to make it easy for customers to contact you for a product or service they are interested in.

jay baer

Jay Baer allows you to message him directly from each of his LinkedIn product pages.

Jay Baer has made it easy for prospects to learn more about his services by linking to his website and allowing people to message him directly from LinkedIn. This is a smart way to pull in prospects and lead information (without people needing to visit your website and complete a form).

Besides, getting a message through LinkedIn and connecting gives you access to prospects’ email addresses. This means they’ll start seeing updates from you, which can help nurture relationships and increase the likelihood of turning prospects into clients.

You can add up to three different people in your organization to receive messages from product pages. To do this, simply go to the Products & Services tab and click on Edit.

edit any page

As a company page admin, you can edit any page by clicking on the blue Edit button.

Next, you’ll find a Contact Us section on the right-hand side of the page. This is where you can add the people in your organization who are equipped to handle questions from prospects.

add contacts

Add the names of up to three different employees to be contacts for a particular product or service.

You might feature someone on your sales team, products team and/or a senior manager (depending the product or service offered). Just make sure the person you assign will be frequently checking LinkedIn for any messages.

And make sure he or she regularly posts about your company to keep any potential leads aware of upcoming webinars, case studies or new products/services.

#7: Send Custom Messages to Your Target Market’s Inbox

LinkedIn Sponsored Inmail is like email marketing on steroids. You don’t need your own list because you just work directly with LinkedIn to identify exactly whom you want to email. Craft your message, add your URLs and then let LinkedIn do the rest.

It’s a great way to build your leads and targeted traffic to your website. Yes, this costs money, but the ability to target specific people in organizations can be worth it.

When you launch a Sponsored Inmail campaign (formerly referred to as Partner Messages), the person you’re trying to reach gets a notification about an important message in their inbox. The alert is also visible on certain pages of your LinkedIn account.

google wildfire message

Google Wildfire sent messages to social media managers about one of their products. This is how it appeared in the inbox.

In these Sponsored Inmails, businesses can share their message and link to their website with buttons and images. In the message below, the yellow buttons and Wildfire logo are linked and tracked.

google wildfire message clicked

Google Wildfire sent messages to social media managers about one of their products. This is how the message appeared when clicked.

A Sponsored Inmail campaign can be just what your organization needs to get eyeballs on a new product or service you want to promote.

#8: Promote a LinkedIn Group Your Target Market Would Be Interested in Joining

If you want to grow your network and leads, you need to provide your insights and thought leadership in relevant LinkedIn Groups where your target market is talking. This doesn’t mean bombarding groups with redundant content and links back to your website. That just makes you look like a spammer (and desperate for attention).

Instead, use these groups as opportunities to learn more about your target market and share insights. Strive to become a valuable resource and contributor to the community.

Companies can showcase favorite groups on their LinkedIn profile, and it’s a great opportunity to guide your target market into a community you’ll be participating in.

Dell promotes their Business Solutions Exchange group to help build a community around services they provide, which is a great avenue for them to show thought leadership, build relationships and earn new business. And this a perfect example of what more companies should be doing.

dell group

Dell promotes their Business Solutions Exchange group to help build community.

As always, never use groups to spam or share irrelevant, self-promotional blog posts. Be useful and provide insights that will help others. This is how you build relationships, and over time you will earn credibility, new business and more referrals.

So what are you doing on LinkedIn? How are you building relationships, creating new business opportunities and earning referrals? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

5 LinkedIn Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business

social media how toAre you looking for ways to expand your business with LinkedIn?

With a recent homepage redesign, profile and company page redesigns, new mobile apps and the introduction of notifications and endorsements, engagement on LinkedIn is growing.

Understanding a few simple strategies that can help you become a smarter and more effective marketer can really boost your results over time.

Here are 5 high-impact strategies to boost your marketing results on LinkedIn.

#1: Review and Reboot Your LinkedIn Profile… Frequently

Most recently, LinkedIn made some major changes both to personal profiles and company pages. For a comprehensive review of the most recent updates, visit this post to learn more about how to optimize your LinkedIn profile and company page.

In addition to making sure that you adjust to the changes in your profile layout and features, it’s a good idea to “reboot” your profile from time to time. I tend to reboot my profile every couple of months or so to keep it fresh, relevant and interesting.

Each time you update your profile, the update is shared to your network as long as you have this feature enabled in your settings.

adjust profile settings

Adjust your profile settings to show profile updates in your activity feed.

Is your LinkedIn profile picture outdated?

It may be time for a new one, especially if you’ve changed your look. Do you have a new hairstyle or color? Have you updated your wardrobe?

If it’s been a couple of years, your picture is most likely outdated. If you want to be recognizable in person at meetings, conferences and events with your LinkedIn connections, make sure your picture really does look like you today!

current profile image

Keep your LinkedIn profile image current and update your headline with relevant keywords.

Refresh your LinkedIn headline

I’ve found that when I update my primary profile headline every few months, my profile views jump. Also, when you add new keyword phrases to your profile summary and new relevant skills it may help you show up in more LinkedIn searches due to the search value of these key areas on your profile.

You can review your LinkedIn profile stats provided in the sidebar of your homepage to keep an eye on the number of times your profile has been viewed, as well as how many times you appear in LinkedIn searches.

Remember you won’t be able to determine who’s viewed your profile without a premium account, but you can still access the number of views you are receiving.

profile views

Review your profile stats frequently from the sidebar of your homepage.

The more people who view your profile, the more likely a percentage of those visitors will click through to your website or blog and learn more about you!

Keeping your profiles fresh and active will not only enable you to grow your visibility within the network, it will also allow you to potentially drive relevant traffic to your blog or website.

Remember, your profiles are the foundation of your presence on LinkedIn. Don’t let them get outdated and rusty!

#2: Build a Deep and Wide Network

One of the best ways to get found on LinkedIn is to build up your network of connections. Certainly you will want to focus on having a quality network, but don’t be afraid to expand your connections.

LinkedIn does value both the depth and breadth of a member’s network, especially when showcasing search results. Every new connection you make is an opportunity to enhance your visibility.

Typically my rule of thumb is to review each invitation request received and make sure that the person has a completed LinkedIn profile with a picture.

Also make sure there is some relevant reason why it would make sense to connect.

  • Do they live in my community?
  • Do we belong to the same group(s)?
  • Are they connected to someone I know?
  • Do we or have we worked in the same industry?
  • Do we share common hobbies, interests or causes?
  • Have they read or spread my content?
  • Have they included a personal note with the invitation?

I’m much more likely to connect with people if they provide a good reason why they would like to connect, rather than sending a generic invitation.

By the way, you should use these same suggestions when identifying and reaching out to others to connect with you! Personalize your invitations when possible and provide a compelling reason why someone should connect with you.

What you will find is that as you grow the quality and quantity of your LinkedIn connections, there will eventually be a tipping point. This means you won’t have to proactively seek out new connections all the time, because they will come to you. Doors will open and more opportunities will come your way if you are more open to growing your connections!

It’s also perfectly fine to remove a connection, especially if over time you find that there really isn’t a good reason to be connected with a particular individual. If you do so, the person whom you remove will not receive any kind of notification of this action.

Another simple and effective way to build your connections is to invite other group members to connect with you. Hopefully by now, you’ve joined some groups that are relevant to your industry, community, alma mater or even your targeted prospects. If so, LinkedIn allows you to send invitations to connect with other members within the group.

group invitation

Connect with mutual LinkedIn group members who share common interests.

Be cautious not to send too many invitations to people whom you don’t know and may have never seen you before. For example, it makes sense to be consistently active within a group before reaching out to other members to connect.

To grow your network deep and wide, always be connecting! Connect with clients, prospects, partners, vendors, colleagues, community leaders, fellow alumni and anyone you meet face to face at networking events or conferences. Let those people you meet know that you’re going to be reaching out on LinkedIn to connect with them.

#3: Be Consistently Visible, Valuable and Timely

If you have a great LinkedIn profile and lots of connections, it’s not going to do you much good unless you become more active on the network. You can’t position yourself as a go-to resource unless you are visible, valuable and timely with your participation on LinkedIn.

Additionally, your most recent activity on LinkedIn now shows up toward the top of your profile. If you haven’t been sharing, commenting or interacting, nothing will show. Take advantage of this real estate and post a status update to your profile once or twice daily.

profile activity

Your most recent status updates now show near the top of your LinkedIn profile.

The great news is, you don’t have to spend a significant amount of time to truly be visible and valuable on LinkedIn. By focusing on critical activities, you will be able to stay top of mind with your connections with ease.

What are critical activities on LinkedIn?

There are activities that have the potential to grab the most attention from your connections. These include media-rich status updates (links that showcase images) with compelling headlines; thought-provoking questions; comments on the status updates of your connections; and overall the sharing of reputable, relevant and interesting content with your network. You should engage in these critical activities on LinkedIn 2-3 times daily.

Need some ideas for what to share with your network? Tap into LinkedIn Today for popular and trending news topics, as well as the LinkedIn INfluencer program to share and comment on insights from well-known thought leaders!

Although it’s impossible to keep up with every single update from your network of connections (and beyond), LinkedIn now provides some nifty tools to make sure your interactions are more timely and relevant.

Check out your Notifications at the top of your profile. This is a new feature that LinkedIn recently added to make it easy for you to review the most recent interactions from your network.

Now you can easily scroll through these notifications and respond accordingly, in a timely fashion. This feature makes LinkedIn more of a true online networking destination.

notifications

Notifications can be found at the top of your LinkedIn profile.

Another timely networking option for being visible and valuable is to filter the updates on your LinkedIn homepage by Shares. There you will find what’s trending in your network and you can jump right in to contribute to the conversation!

network shares

Filter your homepage updates by Shares and participate in trending conversations.

LinkedIn status updates are by far the most powerful opportunity to be visible and valuable with your network. Many of the inbound inquiries I receive in my business are a direct result of being consistently visible, valuable and timely through my LinkedIn status updates.

#4: Leverage LinkedIn Endorsements

Whether you love or hate the new LinkedIn endorsements feature, it’s probably here to stay. LinkedIn recently reported that over 200 million endorsements had been given by members since the launch of this feature! Therefore, you should consider taking advantage of endorsements to boost your visibility and credibility.

LinkedIn endorsements can provide a powerful “thumbs-up” visual bulletin board from your network for the specialty skills that you list in your profile.

Anytime you give or receive an endorsement, it will show up in the LinkedIn news feed for your network, which means more visibility. Although endorsements aren’t currently weighted in LinkedIn search results, it is expected that they will be.

How can you receive more endorsements? Make sure to list all of the skills and experience that you have on your profile first, and then go out and endorse your connections based on your evaluation of the particular skills they are showcasing in their profiles.

In many cases, the people you endorse will come back and endorse you for at least one skill. Don’t be afraid to endorse colleagues or competitors as well!

As you grow your endorsements, you might consider moving that section of your LinkedIn profile up toward the top for enhanced social proof, and to showcase your top skills.

endorsements

Give endorsements to your connections and showcase the endorsements you receive prominently on your profile.

#5: Participate Strategically in LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups still present a great opportunity to develop rapport with the members of your target markets and industry peers. There are over 1 million groups on LinkedIn and many of them are both active and well-managed.

Look for the quality groups to join and participate in those that have genuine discussions going on and have a visible group leader. Join up to the 50 groups that LinkedIn allows, but spend time focusing on 3-5 quality groups, rather than all 50, for the best results.

Recently LinkedIn reduced the automated weekly emails that highlight discussions from all of the groups you belong to but are not active in. In order to stay current with your groups, you are going to need to proactively visit them on LinkedIn to review and participate in LinkedIn discussions.

Post discussions that involve asking and answering questions in groups to position yourself as a resource. Point to reputable sources of information that are relevant to group members and to specific discussions in order to build relationships and credibility within the group.

linkedin groups

Win favor with fellow group members by posting relevant, reputable and informative content.

If you can’t find the right groups for your target markets or your industry, you can always start your own LinkedIn Group. My LinkedIn group has been one of the most valuable business resources that I’ve ever invested my time in. It’s allowed me to cultivate an engaged niche following and build stronger relationships with members of my target market.

Ultimately people do business with people, so make sure that you always have a relationship-focused mindset on LinkedIn. LinkedIn members are there to develop and grow their professional network and gain valuable insights.

Don’t ever spam or make public sales pitches on LinkedIn. Always be professional and you will be very successful in marketing your business.

These 5 simple strategies should help you focus on the most critical LinkedIn marketing activities.

What do you think? What have you done to boost your LinkedIn marketing? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

6 Ways to Use the New LinkedIn Features to Get More Business

social media how toAre you looking to get more business using LinkedIn?

Have you had a look at the new features LinkedIn has to offer?

LinkedIn recently released its new user interface to its entire membership.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can use LinkedIn for your business to make better connections, engage and create more business.

linkedin new look

LinkedIn's cleaner, streamlined look.

Let’s take a look at how LinkedIn’s new look and features can help you get more business!

#1: LinkedIn Becomes More Image-Centric

The new look is clean and image-centric. LinkedIn itself has added a lot of new images and logos to its look, as well as increasing photo size for company and group.

The new look on LinkedIn aligns with the new Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest branding, while maintaining its business edge.

Because of the focus on images, it’s now very important that you create a Company page and add your own photo and your logo. This will also enhance your branding and visibility.

LinkedIn also added the new Rich Media tool that allows you to easily add video, presentations, your blog and other media to your Summary, Experience and Education sections.

We all know how important video is to marketing, and with this new media link, LinkedIn acknowledges its importance. So make sure you add video to your profile. (But remember, this is a business tool. No dancing cat videos, please.)

add rich media

Add rich media to your profile.

#2: Cool, Clean New Look

So how does having a clean look get you more business? LinkedIn’s new look gives you a fast snapshot of the member you are looking at (and who is looking at you). You can quickly decide if this is someone you want to do business with, saving you time and effort as you prospect potential clients, employees, partners, vendors, etc.

If the profile you are looking at is a first-level connection, you can easily add notes to the profile that show up front and center (and are therefore much easier to see and remember). This can help spark engagement with a member and prospect whom you have lost touch with.

Consider this a very basic but effective CRM (customer relationship management) tool.

The cleaner profile highlights a more complete portfolio of your prospect—focusing on features like volunteer work, organizational involvement and publications, as well as the more traditional education and experience.

Speaking of experience, even though recommendations have been attached to the Experience section all along, the new look really highlights not only the recommendation, but also the “recommender.”

LinkedIn also makes it easier to message a first-level recommender by simply holding your cursor over his or her photo until the Send a Message and View Profile buttons pop up. And this means better engagement with people who are already your fans (also known as your unpaid sales force!). Drop in on them once in a while to keep your visibility and relationships strong.

Of course, it works both ways. If you have been slack on getting recommendations, now is the time to reach out to those influential connections who might be willing to give you a glowing testimonial.

linkedin recommendations

See the highlighted recommendations.

#3: Get Introduced and Get More Business

LinkedIn has always had the Get Introduced feature, but now you can search your connections’ connections by keyword. Why is this so important? You can choose people you know, like and trust and then search their networks for people they know, like and trust. This allows you to be extremely strategic in your engagement.

For example, I could use the LinkedIn Advanced Search to try to find a graphic artist in my area. LinkedIn will do the search and find some folks. Then I have to go through each individual member to see who I want to introduce me.

Or I can go to the profile page of someone I know is connected into the type of person or industry I am looking for (someone who knows their network), do a search within their network and ask them to introduce me. This will save me time and is likely to help me find a more suitable candidate.

Before putting the Get Introduced link into play, ask your connection if the person you found in their network is the type you’re looking for. Then use the Introduction tool to strategically and proactively reach out to your prospect.

There is no more guessing as to whether your request will go through, or if you have wasted one of your precious introductions. (LinkedIn only gives you 5 introductions at a time with the free account, 15+ with the paid accounts. It would be easy to blow through your introductions and still not contact the person you want.)

Now you can easily ask your connection if he or she is willing to introduce you, so the person will be expecting the introduction request and will be more likely to pass it on through. Or tell you no. In either case, you won’t waste an introduction.

This might be the most powerful new feature on LinkedIn, allowing you to truly connect and engage with trusted individuals.

search connections

Search your connections' connections.

#4: Whom Do You Know?

Previously when viewing a prospect’s profile for people to introduce to you, you would only see a list of the names of your potential “introducers” (people you have in common).

Here’s the thing. Many of us remember faces, not names. So while its good to know whom you have in common, it was time-consuming to go through the list, click on a potential introducer’s name, open a new page to see his/her profile, decide if he/she was the one you wanted to introduce you, go back to the prospect’s profile (if you can even remember his or her name at this point), click on Get Introduced and then write the introduction request using your chosen go-between.

Now LinkedIn will show you whom you have in common. You actually see your introducer’s face and name. By scrolling over their picture, you can even see a snapshot of their profile (just in case you weren’t sure which Mari Smith to choose). Then it’s simply a matter of clicking on Send a Message to send a quick request asking if they would be willing to introduce you to the prospect.

I always say social media works because it gives you a false sense of familiarity with your network. But who cares? I believe any sense of familiarity facilitates communication and engagement.

Similar to the connections’ connection search above, this new feature allows you to easily engage and keep in touch with your network and your prospects.

how you're connected

Who is your best go-between?

#5: Get Active and Get Business

LinkedIn’s new user interface focuses on your activity—so get active! Social media is about active engagement. Even if you are only sharing one post a day.

Personally I am a big fan of LinkedIn’s Sharing Bookmarklet, which allows you to easily share web content with your network as an update, tweet, group discussion or even as a message to a connection.

Get active to stay top of mind and position yourself as a helpful and trusted connection in order to attract more business.

While you don’t want to fill your network’s home page with constant irrelevant dribble, a link to an article or video you think your niche market would like just might spark a response, like, share or comment. And this is an opportunity to engage—and perhaps even invite the individual to connect with you, if you have not done so already.

To help with engagement, keep an eye on your Notifications tab. When people endorse you, thank them. If they commented on your update, respond. If they viewed your profile, send them a message.

If you have an active group discussion, engage. It only takes a few minutes a day. Increased engagement tends to result in increased referrals. Even if connections might not need your services, chances are they know someone who does. Stay top of mind for just that occasion.

Additionally, you can also suggest an update to a connection, and get them more active.

#6: Common Interests for Engagement

Do you hate cold-calling complete strangers? Me too! This is why I love LinkedIn’s new “Common Interests” feature that shows you what skills, causes and groups you have in common with a member.

So make sure you add your causes, skills and interests to your LinkedIn profile. Fortunately, the new profile makes this easy to do.

Join groups that are in your area of expertise, as well as your niche markets. Create as much common ground as you can with your target or niche markets and prospects.

How does this work? If I wanted to connect with a prospect, I simply click on their profile and see what I have in common with them.

In the example below, I can click on Causes, Skills or Groups and LinkedIn will tell me the interests that Jeff and I share. Then when I reach out to Jeff, I can personalize my message (or introduction request) with those shared interests, giving us some common ground and increasing the chances that he will respond to my request, message or introduction.

common interests

LinkedIn shows you your common interests.

In Conclusion

With this new user interface, LinkedIn really has made it easier to find new connections, quickly examine and qualify prospects and then reach out and engage with them.

So take the time to discover people you have in common with your connections, make the most of the interests you have in common with your prospects and reach out and engage.

What do you think? Are you using the new LinkedIn features? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.