For a year now I have been working on my LinkedIn presence. And I now have over 1000 connections – I started a year ago with just 100.
So is it worth the effort? I would have to say definitely YES. I now have a stream of new contacts and opportunities flowing my way – which just did not exist before.
Now that I am able to look back to where I was I can see the mistake that most people make with LinkedIn. The average member on LinkedIn has about 130 contacts and this is not enough to gain the “critical mass” so that you start seeing results. So when you fail to see any positive results, then you don’t put the effort in – a catch 22.
And this is an interesting number I learnt recently – that it takes about 300 views of your profile to generate an opportunity eg job offer, deal etc. So if you are only getting one or two visits a week to your profile, you can see it is going to take years (on average) before you achieve any success with LinkedIn.
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My breakthrough with LinkedIn came when I realised that LinkedIn is like a giant search engine for people AND that I could influence the search results by optimising my profile and so attract more visitors to my profile. Here are 4 key steps to linkedIn success.
1 Connections – you need 500+. Easy to do – every time you meet or speak to someone that you just met, ask to connect on LinkedIn. Put links to your LinkedIn profile on your email signature and blog/website.
2 Optimise your keywords in your profile. Determine your keywords and sprinkle them throughout your profile, especially in titles.
3 Join Groups related to your business /career. A great way to increase your visibility and you will receive invites to connect.
4 Participate in Groups discussions. In the Answers section on LinkedIn answer question on your area of expertise and position yourself as the expert in your area.
Make a regular commitment to working on your LinkedIn presence and you will see positive results, and you will find this encourages you to invest more time in LinkedIn. It can actually be fun – like Facebook, but with the difference that with LinkedIn you are building a valuable personal asset, that money cannot buy and it can create opportunities that can change your career and life.
Good luck with LinkedIn.
