How to Use LinkedIn Like a Pro: 10 Tips

How to Use LinkedIn Like a Pro: 10 Tips

Users who are still learning the art of using LinkedIn, must follow these tips religiously for a toe out of line can jeopardize your very existence in the professional social networking world.

By Rakesh Raman

LinkedIn claims it connects more than 850 million members worldwide. LinkedIn claims it’s the world’s largest professional network on the Internet. LinkedIn claims it connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.

OMG! Tall claims!

Assuming that there’s no gap between this rhetoric and reality, all of you must take this online thing seriously. Shouldn’t you?

As it’s a worldwide network of professionals, whatever you do on LinkedIn is openly seen by professionals across the world. Obviously, you must act here as a pro, as your reputation is at stake.

But what exactly should you do on LinkedIn? Here are these 10 tips only for you.

1. Presence

Continuity of your presence on LinkedIn is very important. It should preferably be from dawn to dusk if not around the clock. No, don’t misunderstand me. You don’t have to do anything there. Just keep lurking like a leech on the site without sharing anything meaningful for others. Your simple screen presence will take you to enviable professional heights. Believe me.

2. Sharing

It’s just not required to share anything useful about yourself in the Updates or Feed area of LinkedIn. Still, if you’re really eager to use this area, you can share your e-mail or mobile number when somebody promises to give you a job or something. Don’t worry if others are trying to secretly collect e-mail and mobile data of users like you with such a bait. Just swallow it.

3. Updates

If you’re adequately educated and can write, you must write something new, something fresh in your updates. Hmm! Don’t know how to write? Nothing to worry. You can just lift the quotations of famous people from the Web and paste them under your name. This method should work for you, as it’s working for millions of other users (assuming that there are millions of LinkedIn users).

4. Interaction

Yes, you thought it right. It’s always good to interact with the updates of others. The best way being tried by almost everybody on LinkedIn is to write your response when others challenge your competence by asking you the answer for 2 + 3 = ? if 1 + 4 = 6 or some humbug like this. You must grab such opportunities to show your professional acumen. Yes, why not!

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5. Liking

If you think there are not enough opportunities to display the real thing in you, you can still express your feelings. It’s simple. Just press the Like link under others’ updates. No, you need not write anything to further express your feelings. LinkedIn has specially created this option for all those who can’t write despite their willingness to write. Try it.

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6. Attention

Photo is the best tool for you to grab the attention of others on LinkedIn. Keep changing your profile photos frequently. You’ll feel surprised to know that some users are sitting there like predators just to hit the Like link when a user posts a new profile photo. The chances of getting more Likes (and even crude comments) increase exponentially if you’ve a good-looking face. Hope you understand what I’m trying to say.

7. Groups

Keep joining LinkedIn groups left, right, and center. There’s no restriction. There are plenty of such groups that don’t have any real utility. But there’s always a chance that someone will post a new job there. Obviously, it’s good for you because your only objective here is to find a job for you, always.

8. Invites

Call others to endorse you, join your groups, or take part in your utterly useless surveys. There’s a great probability that all your unsolicited messages to others with such desperate request will be marked as “Spam.” But you must not lose heart. Keep trying. Okay? And yes, you must keep posting in the Jobs section even if you don’t plan to hire a donkey or a monkey. It will at least give you some visibility among the jobseekers.

9. Network

Expand your network by calling every Tom, Dick, and Harry. At this stage, don’t even think what you will do with all these connections. You need not interact with them throughout your life on LinkedIn. But at least your network should be big enough for others to take you seriously. You can even add the number of your connections with your name – something like Arnold 2000+ or Angelina 2100+. That will look good.

10. Profile

After doing all that is described here, now it’s time to decorate your LinkedIn profile. Now you’re fully eligible to add social media in your skills for now you’re a social media expert – at least on LinkedIn.

This is the real way to use LinkedIn like a pro. Those who are already following the 10 tips given here need not do anything extra to learn more of LinkedIn. Perhaps, LinkedIn must honor you with some kinda “LinkedIn Star” award because it exists just for professionals like you.

But others who are still learning the art of using LinkedIn, must follow these tips religiously for a toe out of line can jeopardize your very existence in the professional social networking world. Do you agree? You should.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of the humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. Earlier, he had been associated with the United Nations (UN) through United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as a digital media expert to help businesses use technology for brand marketing and business development.