LinkedIn is the premier social media site for developing and engaging with your professional network. Are you using it to your best advantage?

 

This post is the second and final in a two-part series on the effective use of LinkedIn. Last week’s post focused on your personal profile. This one addresses the LinkedIn feature used to communicate with your LinkedIn connections.

Use the Profiles Filter in Your News Feed to Reach Out to Connections

You may not realize it, but you can filter all those entries in your LinkedIn News Feed and then use that same filter to “reach out and touch someone.”

You find this filter by clicking on the All Updates button just below the box where you enter a status update.

Just click on Profiles, which is one of the drop-down options and use it to:

1. Congratulate a connection on an anniversary: This might be a work anniversary, the anniversary of the creation of their business, or the anniversary of their tenure in a volunteer or service organization. Simply click on “like” and your connection will be notified that you have “liked” their anniversary. Or, better yet, click on the “congrats” option and write a short comment. Wouldn’t this be a nice way to brighten someone’s day?
2. Congratulate a connection when they get a new position: This could be a new position within their company, a new job, or perhaps a new leadership position in a volunteer or service organization. Use the same approach as outlined above, and, since this is a new role, it probably merits a comment and not just a “like”.
3. Acknowledge a connection’s new photo: Here it can be a little tricky in terms of what to say, so it might be easiest to simply “like” their new photo. But if you think this is a terrific photo of them, say so in a comment.
4. Acknowledge an addition to your connection’s profile: For example, a connection of mine recently posted a link to a short clip from YouTube to the professional gallery section of LinkedIn. I watched the clip, which consisted of the VP of Programs for an association where my connection had spoken giving a glowing recommendation of my connection’s presentation to their group. This gave me a good chance to give a shout out to my connection for doing such a great job and being publicly acknowledged for it.

One other benefit of regularly using the Profiles filter is that you see the skills your connections are adding and the companies they are following. There could be skills they list that you also have but have neglected to list. So seeing those skills serves as a reminder for you to add them to your own profile. Or the companies they follow might be ones that you would benefit from following.

 

How About You?

Have you used the Profiles filter to find out what your connections are up to? What has happened when you have taken the time to comment on such changes as a new job or a promotion?

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 50 and up, to become more comfortable using social media, especially Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter.

She works with business owners, nonprofit organizations, retired people, consultants, and many others. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.