Archive for linkedin group
How to Network Using LinkedIn Groups
4 Tips For Leading a LinkedIn Group
7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement
7 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Engagement
How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page
How to Boost Engagement on Your LinkedIn Company Page
5 LinkedIn Marketing Tips to Grow Your Business
Are 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 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Is your LinkedIn profile picture outdated?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If it’s been a couple of years, your picture is most likely outdated.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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

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.

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.

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
Are 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'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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.



















