Many people have a presence on LinkedIn but are not actively using it. You may only have a few contacts, or you may never update your status. LinkedIn is a great way of ensuring that you stay visible to your past contacts as well as those you have recently met. This article will help you to get started.
Registering on LinkedIn
To register on LinkedIn, use your internet browser (Explorer, Firefox, etc.) to access linkedin.com. Enter your name, email address, and chosen password. You will need to confirm your registration by clicking on the email that is sent to you. The next stage is to upload contacts.
Uploading Contacts
Contacts can be uploaded from either a web-based account (Gmail, Yahoo, Windows Live Mail) or your Outlook address book. You may also upload a list of contacts that you have exported from your customer contact database. Once you have uploaded your contacts, you can choose which ones you invite to join you on LinkedIn. Note: The Outlook link does not always work - sometimes you need to export from Outlook to a CSV file and import it into LinkedIn.
Networking on the internet is similar to face-to-face networking. The contacts that you have in LinkedIn are on display to the world.
Therefore, it is a good idea to spend a few minutes checking that the contacts are appropriate to be included in your LinkedIn list. I use LinkedIn for those business people I know, and I would recommend it to others.
Send an invite to the contacts you want to invite by ticking the box next to their name. To send the invitation, click Invite Selected Contacts. An email will be sent to each contact to invite them to link to you. If you want to get more interesting details about linkedIn connections, you may go with
lix-it.com.
Using LinkedIn for business isn't hard, but like many things, it requires effort. So now that you know who you want to contact, what should you say? When you send someone a message, take a moment to think about what you should include in the message to get the reader's attention:
• Make the Subject interesting, so the email gets opened and not just sent into the trash.
• Make the body brief and to the point, but provide context and actions. We all get too much email and tend to skim, so stay on point.
• Context: tell the person how you came to know them (I am in the xxx group with you on LinkedIn; I heard you speak at xxx, etc.).
• Action: tell them what you want to talk about, and provide the next steps. It's great to provide contact options of phone or email right inside the message. You don't want them to have to go hunting to find you (because they won't) if the reply field in the email doesn't work for some reason.
Building your contact list and relationships with those contacts is a great way to grow your business. Leverage LinkedIn contacts for business development; it works if you work at it.
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