LinkedIn is a powerful tool for building your professional network. Here’s a checklist of things you can do to make sure that you are getting the full benefit from your LinkedIn account.

• Before You Start: You have a LinkedIn profile and connections (people in your network)
• Learning Level: 3 | Building Skills
• Article Last Updated: Friday, February 24, 2012

Your LinkedIn Profile

Here are simple things you can do to maximize the benefit of having a LinkedIn profile.

• Focus on your accomplishments, not your responsibilities, in your job descriptions. People are interested in what you have accomplished and what you can accomplish for them. Use statistics and give examples. Often, you can rewrite a responsibility into a accomplishment with just a little thought and effort.
• Ask for recommendations. People are busy, and it probably won’t occur to anyone that they should write a recommendation for you. When you finish a client project, ask your client to post a recommendation on LinkedIn for you.
• Give recommendations. Be generous and give recommendations to the people in your network that you can recommend. Your recommendations can be as short as a couple sentences, but should be specific and focused.
• Post a professional picture on your profile. If you don’t have one, hire a photographer to take a headshot or a portrait that you can use for your online presence. It’s worth the money it costs! You can use the same photo on every social media outpost.
• Customize the link to your public profile. It’s much friendlier for other people use when it is customized.
• Complete your profile to 100%. You don’t have to fill it out completely the first day, but set a deadline to complete it. You’ll be glad when the details are all there.
• If you have a business topic blog, use the Blog Link or WordPress applications to pull your latest blog posts into your profile. This showcases your blog to the people who check out your profile.
• Update your profile as you accomplish more things. Keep your profile current, and add details about professional events you attend them. Review your profile every month to make sure you have the most current information posted.
• Share your LinkedIn public profile web address. Put it on your website, your blog, and include it in your social media passport.
• Check the LinkedIn blog for new features and smart strategies. They provide tips and information about new features added to LinkedIn. Check it regularly.

Your LinkedIn Network

Here are a few ideas about expanding your LinkedIn network to include people you already know.

• Decide your connection policy. LinkedIn recommends that you only link to people you know. That’s a good policy for many people. You can also decide to create an open network where you connect with people that you don’t know. Decide how much interaction you want to have with a person online before you connect with them on LinkedIn.
• Join groups to find people you already know. Most colleges have alumni groups, cities and regions have groups, and professional organizations have groups. Invite old friends and former co-workers to join your network.
• Check for people you know in each of your connection’s networks. Most likely, you have one or more people in common with each of your connections. Take a little time each month to review their networks looking for mutual connections.
• Backup your connection information. Use the export connections feature to pull your connection data out of LinkedIn and import it into your contact management or address book program.

Your turn: What did you learn as you completed your LinkedIn profile? What do you do to keep your profile up-to-date? Share your insights.

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