2020 Top 10 Tips for using LinkedIn as a business tool

#10 - Grammar & Spelling are important. No one wants to read a poorly written LinkedIn Profile, Post, or Article. Poorly written content can also diminish your professional brand. Use a tool like Grammarly to help you write better. Slow down when typing and posting content. If you are part of a team of business professionals ask a peer to review your content, just for another set of eyeballs.
#9 - Focus & Relevance in your LinkedIn Profile Don’t let your Most Important Viewer get confused, mislead or sent down a rabbit hole of irrelevant information because your LinkedIn Profile is not focused. Keep the content on your LinkedIn Profile focused on who you are and what you do today, or what you want to be doing. Being clear and writing your content with relevant and focused keywords is critical when your Most Important Viewer is viewing your LinkedIn Profile. Otherwise, yeah, you are wasting their time and losing opportunities to connect and engage with the right people.
#8 - Focus & Relevance in your LinkedIn Posts. Just because you find it interesting, cute, funny, enlightening, etc, does not mean you should post it on LinkedIn. Keep all of the content you share on LinkedIn focused and relevant to your Most Important Viewer and in context to what you do for them. This is Branding 101 - focused & relevant content your Most Important Viewer can benefit from. I often call it TRUHE (Transparent, Relevant, Useful, Honest & Engaging)
#7 - Control what is in your Newsfeed yourself. As with every other social media platform, what you touch is what the app will show you in your Newsfeed. If you are liking and commenting on cat videos, you’ll see more cat videos. If you are liking and commenting on leadership posts, in time you’ll begin seeing way more leadership related posts. If you want more control over your LinkedIn Newsfeed, start searching for content, even #Hashtag(ed) content and review, comment or like that material.
#6 - Do not connect with every Tom, Dick & Harry Just because someone sends you an invite to connect, does not mean you have to hit Accept. Vet the connection first. Engage with them, ask relevant questions, discover why they want to connect. This only takes a few moments to do but is worth every second. It’ll keep your network smaller and far more relevant.
#5 - Experiment with LinkedIn Search Tools Keep experimenting with LinkedIn Search and Saved Searches. Knowing who you want to connect with can help you be more purposeful in your LinkedIn Searches and research. Don’t build huge search results, rather, search for the smallest viable number of LinkedIn Members you want to research and/or connect with. Tighten down the results with all of the relevant search filters. Save your searches and let LinkedIn email you new results each week.
#4 - Using LinkedIn is a journey, not a race. If your goal is to connect with the maximum number of LinkedIn Members, as fast as you can, and then hit them up with your sales pitch as quickly as possible, LinkedIn may not provide you long term value. Integrate the use of this business tool into other relevant business processes for long term value. LinkedIn is a business social networking site. Not an eCommerce site for you to sell your widget on. Think mutually beneficial networking, this is the best long term strategy.
#3 - #PSA to the new LinkedIn Features #PSA (Pay Serious Attention). LinkedIn is adding new features regularly. Some could be important and very useful to you. Some could be more important to LinkedIn for data aggregation and marketing purposes (calendar sync and teammates, salary insights, etc). Decide what features are beneficial to you, ignore the others. Note - I do not use calendar sync, teammates or salary insights myself.
#2 - Commit to using LinkedIn as a business tool. If you consider LinkedIn as a sideline tool, using it now and then with no consistency, the results will be lackluster. However, if you integrate the use of LinkedIn into your relevant daily business processes, you’ll create far greater results using this business tool. You’ll become disappointed with the results of your use of LinkedIn if you are not using it every day in appropriate ways. You’ll master the use of LinkedIn and create better results if you commit to using it routinely every day, again, alongside relevant business processes.
#1 - Know your clear Purpose & Goals Having a clear purpose and goal(s) for your use of LinkedIn is critical to get the results you are working towards. The more focused you are on a goal and the more deliberate your Profile, Networking and Engagement activities are on LinkedIn and beyond, the more likely you’ll create real business value using LinkedIn as a business tool. We don’t plan to fail, yet we often fail to plan. Have a plan, know your goal(s), your purpose, your Most Important Viewer and get committed to executing your plan. Yeah, this creates the best results.