LinkedIn is officially the world’s largest professional network with over 433 million members in 200 countries. Their mission is to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful. The network provides access to people, jobs, news, updates and insights, all designed to help you be better at what you do. As well as setting up your own account you can also set up company pages to attract followers, post company updates (news, opinion pieces, videos, podcasts, infographics etc.) and drive engagement.
With so many of your colleagues, customers, suppliers and competitors on LinkedIn, getting the basic etiquette right is as important as turning up to a business meeting on time.
Dos
- Do upload a professional photo, a company PR shot or staff pass photo.
- Do fill in your personal details.
- Do personalise connection requests – tell people why you want to connect with them and you are more likely to get a response. Let them know how they would benefit from the connection and you are more likely to get an acceptance.
- Do keep communications professional at all times. If it is not business-related then don’t post it.
- Do turn off notifications when updating your profile as not to flood your connections with minor profile changes.
- Do nurture relationships – congratulate contacts on promotions, wish them luck in new positions to keep relationships alive and to understand how you can support each other in the new positions. Comment on interesting articles and download useful guides.
- Do introduce new connections where they could mutually benefit with their permission.
- Do respond promptly to messages, the same way you would to a customer email.
Don’ts
- Don’t spam your contacts. Trying to mass mail contacts doesn’t work well on LinkedIn especially if you can see you are part of a bulk mailer.
- Don’t post self-serving content. The goal of any content must be to provide value.
- Don’t post negative comments.
- Don’t ask people to like your Facebook page – instead promote the value of the site to individuals who may benefit from the content.
- Don’t treat LinkedIn like Facebook or Twitter. Company news is fine but updates on what you had for lunch, or sharing the latest viral pet video, is not.
It is not about you it is about them
According to LinkedIn, one of the biggest mistakes users make is thinking that people care about what they have to say. LinkedIn is a business network set up for the purpose of solving problems, updating people with your career, evaluating a new technology or offering tips on how to be more productive.
Last few tips
Be careful what you like and share. The same dos and don’ts apply. Take care when you post to be sure your audience gets a chance to read it. Don’t continually pitch your products and services, this can get old, fast. Prospects can be reluctant to accept invitations to connect with you so when they do, nurture them. Don’t send them a sales pitch immediately after they have clicked the accept button.
The Jola team have been working in the voice and data channel for many years. We share sales and marketing resources with our partners to help them grow hosted voice and connectivity revenue streams. If this is of interest to you….
