5 Simple LinkedIn Actions that Make a Difference

I’ve talked about some big things you can do in the past to more effectively utilize LinkedIn. Today we discuss 5 little things you can do that can make a difference.

1.  Making URL’s Hyperlinked

When people respond to questions in answers or posts in a group discussion board they often include a URL.  Many of these are done wrong so that if someone wants to visit the link they have to copy it and post it in the browser address bar.  These URLs usually look like www.linkedintuition.com.  If you want it to be hyperlinked simply add the http:// so that the format is http://www.linkedintuition.com.

Get this right and your click thru rates will increase.

2.  Properly Size Photo’s

LinkedIn photo’s are 80 x 80 in size.  Before posting your picture make sure it is a square picture so that when it is resized by LinkedIn it retains the proper proportion.  Add a rectangle picture and you’ll look like someone is squeezing your head.

Use a graphics editor to crop your picture to a square and resize to 80×80 or 160×60, etc.  It doesn’t matter as long as its square.

3.  Change Your Group digests to Weekly (instead of daily)

Let’s say you took my advice in previous posts to join 50 groups.  When you join a group you can tell the group how often you are open to receiving activity alerts.  The default setting is daily.  During the week you’ll get 250 digest alerts…one from each group each day.  Change it to weekly and it will be more manageable.  If you have groups that you don’t want a digest from you can choose to not receive updates.

You can also choose to not receive group announcements which the manager can send once every seven days.  I would recommend allowing the periodic announcements.

Reclaim your message Inbox.

4.  Send a Personal Message When Connecting

When you accept an invitation request it takes you to a subsequent page that allows you to type a message.  This is a great opportunity to thank the person for the connection invitation and to communicate a message.  It won’t make a difference in every case but it can have an impact.  I customize each so that my response is relevant.

Does it help?  Not with everyone but it certainly doesn’t do any harm.  Stand out by taking the 20 seconds it takes to send a follow up message.

5.  When You Ask a Question Choose a “Best Answer” or Multiple “Good Answers”

This is a common courtesy.  You’ve asked a question and others have taken their time to answer it.  You should make it a habit to read all answers provided and provide feedback on the quality.  Often a single answer will stand out in which case you designate the answer as the “Best Answer” provided.  Sometime one answer will not stand out but several will provide value.  Simply choose several as “Good Answers”.

Return the favor by answering other’s questions and by recognizing answers to your question that provided value.

Wrap Up

Compared to some of the tricks and tips in some recent posts these seem relatively modest.  They are important and can make a difference.  They’re all simple and require little extra effort to do.  These and others are included in the LinkedIn MBA available for $4.97 at http://www.linkedintuition.com/book.html.

What are some other simple things you can do that make a difference?

SONARconnects is a full service advertising and marketing agency.  We help our clients by showing them how to develop strategies and tactics to build communities of people, communicate their message, and monetize their social networking/media presence.  Our clients include Lenny’s Sub Shop, Copeland’s New Orleans Style Restaurant (ATL), Action Business Coaching (ATL), Aussie Pet Mobile (ATL), The Frederick Group, and MyCustomDay.

If you’re struggling to understand how to use social networking/media to build brand awareness and drive new business call us for a Free consultation at (404) 663-3997 or visit our site:  http://www.sonarconnects.com.

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