Have you done a LinkedIn Checkup lately?
If not, now is the time.
It won’t take long and it’s not hard.
Over the last few weeks I have written a series of posts about Mastering LinkedIn. The topics were purposely short and consumable. I created short videos for each of them and posted the written steps in each post too.
This post is about putting them all together to keep your LinkedIn profile up to date and to insure you have a few tips & tricks to insure you are getting the most out of LinkedIn.
Some of these are fairly obvious and you might already be doing them on a regular basis. If so, good on ya!
Others are not as obvious and may not have crossed your mind. One of the most common gaffes I see (no thanks to LinkedIn) is the Over-Share of LinkedIn postings. This is an easy fix and takes just a few seconds. But, as mentioned, LinkedIn by default has it turned on. In the Mastering the Under-Share on LinkedIn post I talk about this and show you how to Share Wisely.
Starting at the Start
When you are new to LinkedIn it’s not always easy to decide who to make connections with and how. I’m not a fan of the generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” invitation. I think it’s lazy and doesn’t let the person you are trying to connect with know who you are, why you are trying to connect and to be honest … What’s In It For Them.
This is why I wrote the Mastering the LinkedIn Connection post. The idea is to stamp out that generic connection request.
Exceptions: As with all things there are exceptions. If you know the person you want to connect with on LinkedIn then sending a generic request is sort of OK.
Asking someone to connect on LinkedIn is very easy. The LinkedIn app makes sure it’s easy. However, that doesn’t mean it needs to be lazy. Take a moment to read the Mastering the LinkedIn Connection post and watch the video. Then, start making personalized requests.
Personalizing a LinkedIn request does (at least) two things:
- Let’s the person know you are real and asking from a genuine position.
- Allows (forces) you to think about the request and why you want to connect with them.
Ooops, I didn’t mean to send that
If you sent a LinkedIn request and realized later that you didn’t mean to send it to that person. Or that you want to pull the request back and add a personalized note. Not to worry … it’s easy.
This is why I wrote the Mastering the LinkedIn Unvite post. To make it easy to Unvite someone.
This is not meant to be mean spirited. As mentioned in the post and on the video there are times where things change with you, with your work, with your thinking and you want to adjust and perhaps recall a LinkedIn connection request.
It’s not the end of the world and it’s not even likely going to be noticed by the person whom you have retracted your request.
I’m Looking for Something … it’s kind of a secret
Another often overlooked feature of LinkedIn is the ability to search for things across the LinkedIn networks in Stealth Mode. As mentioned in the Mastering the LinkedIn Private View post there are times when you want to protect your privacy on LinkedIn. Sometimes it’s for a job search and sometimes it’s for investigating and evaluating candidates for roles you are looking to hire and fill. Other times it’s so you can have a little privacy while you are looking at competitive offerings or even checking on how your own companies information appears without having your team know it’s you.
This is why I wrote the Mastering the LinkedIn Private View post. For when you need to be a little more Stealthy.
Again, this is not a tricky or sneaky way of getting around anything. It’s just a way to allow you to search for things with varying degrees of privacy. I give kudos to LinkedIn for allowing this capability within the LinkedIn network. Clearly they understand that there are times when a little privacy is needed to do what you need to do.
Good Hygiene is Easy
It’s all just good LinkedIn hygiene. It’s never been easier to do and sometimes it just takes a few simple tips & tricks to insure you are getting:
- The visibility you deserve
- That you are sharing what you want, and
- That you can view in private when desired or
- Pull back a LinkedIn connection request
I hope these tips helped you manage your LinkedIn profile and presence. If you have tips and ideas or requests for posts on how to use LinkedIn more effectively I’d like to hear about them. Please drop a comment here or connect with me on LinkedIn and share your thoughts.
My next post will be a refresh of one I wrote a few years ago about creating a LinkedIn profile that people will read. It was very popular post that continues to get a lot of attention. LinkedIn has changed a little since that post and it deserves a refresh.
