LinkedIn tricks

Get Found on LinkedIn with these LinkedIn Tricks

LinkedIn is a great social networking sites for professionals looking to connect.  As is the case with other top social networking sites, LinkedIn is always looking to improve itself.  While other sites seek cosmetic changes to their look, LinkedIn has focused on functional changes.  LinkedIn has made to updates recently, and if you follow these LinkedIn tricks, then your profile will be found by others easier than in the past.

The first improvement has to do with putting more emphasis on Skills and Expertise. This update means you can now better showcase your areas of expertise to easily connect with people that have similar skills or with companies looking for subject matter experts.

The second one of the LinkedIn updates has to do with recalculating profile completeness scores.  The new calculation gives you more control of your score by emphasizing things you have direct control over, like Skills, and putting less weight on areas you may have less control over, like Recommendations. According to the recent changes, here are some of the LinkedIn tricks you should follow in order to achieve the completeness goal:

LinkedIn Tricks for Getting Your Profile Found | Completeness

1)       Add a profile photo – Personalizing any social networking account is paramount and this LinkedIn trick can be the difference between someone taking you seriously or not.  Having a profile picture makes the profile seven times more likely to be found by those searching for you.  An empty profile photo is a sign of a lack of attention to detail and fewer people will want to connect with you.
2)       List all jobs and professions– Adding a minimum of two jobs  makes finding your profile twelve times more likely than not listing jobs and professions.
3)       Include a description of the jobs– Add descriptions for your jobs as these descriptions will go along way to validating your skills.  Some company names are so nondescript that is you don’t add a description of the job, then the company name will hold no value to networkers.
4)       Have 5 or more skills on the profile – The more skills listed, the more targeted the results of people with whom you will have something in common and this is one of the more important LinkedIn tricks that will help you get found.  Sales skills is great, but if you are a business to business sales person rather than a telemarketer, this type of information will help you connect with the right type of people.
5)       Write a summary about yourself– This summary should answer the question of who you are and should attract the type of people that you are seeking to network.
6)       Fill out their industry and postal code– Part of being found by other colleagues or employers is that they need to know where to find you.  If someone has a job in Austin, Texas and is reading your profile, they’ll want to know where you are located.  Therefore, one of the LinkedIn tricks to being found is to let people know what industry you are in and where in the world you are located.
7)       Have 50 or more connections– A connection does show some credibility on social networking sites.  Also, the more connections you have, the more likely people are to find you through your connections.  Therefore, go out and get at least 50 colleagues.  Also, continue posting multiple times a week to show activity.  One of the LinkedIn tricks to getting found is to be active.  If someone goes to your site and you’ve never posted and only have 5 connections, they will think that you don’t check your LinkedIn account and may not bother sending you a message or connection request.

LinkedIn Tricks Conclusion

Many of the above listed LinkedIn tips are pretty much common sense.  As is the case with any social networking site, the more effort you put into it, the more results that you will get out of it.