TIPS AND TOOLS TO USE LINKEDIN
FOR SUCCESS
August 2012

AGENDA
 Why is LinkedIn Important?
 Optimize your Profile
 4 Quick Power User Tips
 Using Advanced Search
 Viewing Profiles to Make Connections
 Sharing Content
 Using Industry Groups
 Events
 Using LinkedIn Answers
 Using LinkedIn Premium
 Using Inmail
 Using OpenLink
 LinkedIn Etiquette
 Resources, Webinars and Help

WHY IS LINKEDIN IMPORTANT?
 LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 120 million
members and growing rapidly.
 Your LinkedIn profile is discoverable through the millions of searches on search
engines and on LinkedIn.
 You are in complete control over what others see on your profile, so leverage this to
showcase your skills and talents so the right people and opportunities find you.
 You can stay in touch with colleagues and friends
 You can explore opportunities and find experts, ideas, customers and clients

BENEFITS FOR SALES PERSONNEL
 Find information about prospects to prepare for your meeting
 Maintain relationships with prospects or customers
 Receive recommendations which are visible for everyone and in particular for prospects
and customers.
 Visibility, reputation and online branding of yourself and of the organization you work
for
 Receive notifications when someone changes jobs. In this way you can ask to be
introduced to the person who replaces them.
 Hear about trends in the market place from customers, prospects and other sales people
 Make sure that customers and prospects regard you as an expert (and as a consequence
trust you and are happy to refer you and work with you)

OPTIMIZE YOUR PROFILE
A completed profile is the best way to:
●Earn online trust and credibility
●Show off your professional achievements
●Providea good track record with future clients
customers
●Increase visibility for you as an individual and your
company

OPTIMIZE YOUR PROFILE – FILL IT IN
 Fill out your profile to at least 85%
 Upload a professional-looking image of yourself.
 Add relevant keywords to your profile.
 Edit profile to claim vanity URL
e.g. www.linkedincom/yourname
 Make your profile publicly available and allow anyone to add you.
 Add connections: colleagues, clients, industry contacts, friends, etc.
Complete the summary section of your profile – this is your chance to describe who
you are.

OPTIMIZE YOUR PROFILE – PUT IN YOUR
WEBSITE
 Fill in the name of your website---do not leave it as “Company Website”.
 This will improve SEO results for your company
 Go into Edit Profile/Websites/Dropdown-Other not Company Website and fill in the
name of your Website.

POWER USER TIPS
 Make it a habit to send a LinkedIn connection invitation to customers,
prospects, partners, colleagues after every meeting
 Your prospects LinkedIn connections are likely to include other people
working in the same company and colleagues working in similar roles
in other companies.
 Regularly deliver value to your first degree connections
 If you plan on asking them for favours and to introduce to important
sales connections then you need to stay in touch with your first
connections and deliver value to them

POWER USER TIPS
● Get introduced to “Super Connectors”
● “Super connectors” are people with hundreds of first connections. Your
goal should always be to be introduced and ultimately connected to these
people. Even if they do not fit your profile, they can help you expand your
extended LinkedIn network.
● Be active in groups – this helps to raise your credibility and visibility

THE POWER OF CONNECTIONS
 The real power of LinkedIn is the network. Not your connections but your
connections’ connections. You need to be introduced to your connections
networks. This broadens the number of potential customers and clients
you have access to and creates a larger pool of people for you to get in
contact with.

FINDING CUSTOMERS AND
PARTNERS
 LinkedIn makes it easy to find your decision-maker. You can look up people in a
specific position in a company in the industry that you’re clients are in.
 You can do advanced searches to find those companies and people in a specific
geographic area – e.g New York (See example below). Know your target audience well -
know your decision-maker’s job title, industry their company is in, and the size of their
company.
 A premium paid account adds another layer of filter in search – seniority level

ADVANCED SEARCH RESULTS
 The advanced search on the previous page lead to Dana Marie, the
Principal Consultant/Engagement Manager at Century Link:

ADVANCED SEARCH USING A
PREMIUM ACCOUNT
 Having a premium account allows you to filter your advanced search even
further. You can use it to figure out hierarchies of companies and
specifically target your customers.
 You can target according to seniority level within a certain company. You
can search asking for “deal-making contacts” and you can search according
to company wealth.

VIEWING PROFILES TO MAKE
CONNECTIONS
 This can work for you in two ways:
 The fact that someone looked at your profile is a good excuse to reach out with a connection
request
 If you look at other people’s profiles, a certain proportion will always look back
 Even when you get visitors described as “Sales Manager from the Telecom Industry”
you can still click on them. LinkedIn will then give you a list which will include the
actual visitor.

SHARING
 Share content to promote your knowledge and engage.
 Post content (e.g. an industry article) to your status or
to a group, or share with individuals.
 Share the updates from the your group and company
page
 Add value by including your thoughts or why you’re
posting it.
 Once posted, you can easily click to share with other
groups, individuals, or on your status.

INDUSTRY GROUPS - JOIN &
PARTICIPATE!
● Join groups to network and discuss with others in your market and in your
professional area (sales/marketing/business development, etc.).
● Search for the right groups, try a few. Good ones have more discussion, less
spam.
● Tip: When in the same group, you can send direct messages and
connect with other members. If you have targeted customers are in
the same groups as you then this is an easy way to approach them.

USING LINKEDIN GROUPS -
COLLECTING INSIGHTS FOR
GENERATING LEADS OUTSIDE OF
LINKEDIN
 Group Statistics gives you the ability to leverage LinkedIn's potential in
other sales channels as well. The Statistics break down how many people
are in the group, their demographics, seniority, geography and more.
Think of LinkedIn Group Statistics as free sales data.

LINKEDIN EVENTS
 Events are a great way to find and connect with people in the industry.
 Search for listed events (e.g. MWC) or create your own and invite people in your
network.
 Tell connections which events you are going to, and where by joining and sharing
on your status updates.
 Check suggestions for fellow attendees you might want to meet

LINKEDIN ANSWERS
 Use LinkedIn Answers to:
 Brand yourself as an expert:
 Answer questions to show expertise.
 Ask questions to engage your network.
 http://learn.linkedin.com/answers/
19

USING A LINKEDIN PREMIUM
ACCOUNT
 You can pay to upgrade your LinkedIn account. This allows you to:
 Contact anyone directly using inmail
 Get a complete list of who’s viewed your profile
 Save profiles
 See names of 3rd degree connections
 Get introduced to companies you’re targeting and much more.

HOW DO I KNOW WHO HAS A
PREMIUM ACCOUNT?
 When you have a premium account the LinkedIn symbol next to your name will
turn bronze for all to see:

USING INMAIL – ONLY FOR
PREMIUM ACCOUNTS
 InMails are only available on paid accounts. The higher level the account
you have, the more you get. On the entry-level business account you’ll get
three InMails each month. This means you’ll want to reserve them for
when everything else fails. If you don’t get a response to an InMail within
seven days, your credits are refunded.
 InMail is LinkedIn’s internal email system and allows you to send an
email to any LinkedIn user without requiring an introduction. It ensures
your email gets through to their inbox. LinkedIn claims that an InMail is
30 times more likely to get a response than a cold call.

USING INMAIL
 InMail lets you communicate directly with the person you need to reach:
 Fast and Direct
 Delivered to the user’s email address
 Displayed on the user’s LinkedIn homepage
 Your professional profile gives your recipient the confidence to respond
 Get a trusted introduction to the person you need to reach.
 LinkedIn will tell you who you know in common

USING OPENLINK WITH A PREMIUM
ACCOUNT
 When you have a premium LinkedIn account you get access to the
OpenLink network. This gives you the option to:
 Let any LinkedIn user contact you directly - Great for prospective
customers to get in touch.
 Get information up front - Like all LinkedIn messages, you get
information about senders along with their proposals.
 Protect your inbox - Receive OpenLink messages without revealing
your email address or phone number. And you can easily decline any
message that isn’t valuable to you.
 Build your network - When you join the OpenLink Network, you
can find and be found by premium account holders who want to meet
other professionals.

LINKEDIN ETIQUETTE - SPAMMING
 Use LinkedIn messaging sparingly. Depending on how much mail a
connection receives from LinkedIn, they may see it as spam and
automatically delete. Better to utilize their email address, which is often
visible on the profile page after connecting.
 Make status updates no more than a few times per day – this is not
twitter.

LINKEDIN MISTAKES: TOP 5 WAYS
TO KILL YOUR CREDIBILITY
 Post an unprofessional photo
 Have someone objective (a colleague) help chose the photo
 Solicit fawning recommendations
 Only approve the display of recommendations that describe actions
that you personally took.
 Link to an overly personal web page
 As far as possible, keep your personal life invisible to the business
world.
 Provide a trail to a youthful indiscretion
 Only provide information that’s relevant to where you’re taking your
career
 Any misspellings whatsoever
 Ask a colleague to go through your profile and fix any errors

RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE
 Infographic – How to really use LinkedIn
 Smart ways to use LinkedIn
 Using LinkedIn for Sales
 How To Use LinkedIn to Connect with Your Contacts
 LinkedIn Learning
 LinkedIn Training
 LinkedIn New Users

RESOURCES - LEARNING CENTER
http://learn.linkedin.com/

RESOURCES - WEBINARS
 To help you get started using your account or to learn more about
the features and functionality, LinkedIn offers free online
presentations:
 LinkedIn 101: The basics of LinkedIn: Your Profile, Joining
Groups, Settings, Search and more
When: Wednesdays at 1 pm CST
 LinkedIn Pro: Get the Most Out of Your Premium Account
When: Tuesdays at 1 pm CST