How to Make LinkedIn Work for You in 20 Minutes or Less

May 19, 2010 By 17 Comments

I have a long-standing love-hate relationship with LinkedIn.

Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

Friendly Faceless LinkedIn Logo Guy

There are days when I think it’s the most awesome thing ever. Those days are rare, though: most often, I find it to be the 5th Beatle. An afterthought in my social media marketing time. It doesn’t have to be that way – and, for you, here are the 20 minutes you should invest to make it suck less.

Set the Egg Timer to 20 Minutes. And…

5 Minutes: Answers. Go there, now. (You will have to go where it says “More” on the navigation bar.) Look for something interesting that has been asked and answer it with your expertise. Seriously: you don’t have to be right. You just have to be there.

Be sure to “Browse” the categories on the right hand side to see if anything strikes your fancy — imagine your ideal prospect and think about what they want to know about. Niche, baby, niche.

5 Minutes: Check your contacts. Pick a couple, reach back out to them to say hi. No reason, other than checking in and saying hi.

What is currently wrong with LinkedIn? It’s not SOCIAL. It’s networking, but it’s not SOCIAL NETWORKING. And, other than craptastic “hey recommend me” lame-ohs who do this for SEO purposes, it’s not really SOCIAL MEDIA.

1 Minute: Get off your soap box.

8 Minutes: Prune. That’s right, get rid of those who you cannot see a reason for having connected with. I’m serious: if you don’t know why you connected with them, and you cannot help them, exit stage left and don’t look back.

Their name should spark a memory. “Hey, it’s that guy in Melbourne who does tech recruiting.” Or, “it’s that woman who graduated from my alma mater and was looking for a job last year.” Keep ‘em.

1 Minute: Recommend someone. Look at your list of contacts. Don’t over-recommend. But do the unsolicited recommendation.

Beep Beep. Timer’s Up.

BTW, have we connected yet?

Dave on LinkedIn.

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Filed Under: LinkedIn
  • http://www.garyunger.com gary unger

    Excellent advise. I might disagree with who gets pruned. I would only prune those who end up spamming you or ask you for a recommendation and you don’t know them. I’d keep those who may not have a seemingly obvious connection. You never know how that connection might connect you to someone you wanting to connect with.

    Cheers!

  • http://www.pa-dutch-travel.com Wendy Aston

    Thanks for the great article! I had the exact same love hate relationship. I thought it was just me. LinkedIn was always a afterthought for me. You helped me come up with some new ideas of using my time on their wisely.

  • http://www.pa-dutch-travel.com Wendy Aston

    I love it when I hit send and see that I made a spelling error. So after I saw their instead there. I went on to read your article http://area224.com/top-3-grammar-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/
    I think my mistake may have fallen under what you called mistaken identity.

  • http://area224.com Dave

    Thanks, Wendy…appreciate the comment.

  • http://www.ToyotaEquipment.com Kyle Thill

    Great stuff. The harder challenge for us hasn’t been convincing our sales staff the value if they’re shown. It honestly has been getting them further along in the learning curve on … well first PC use, then search techniques. A great tool for prospecting, and building a personal community to draw upon.

  • http://www.mkelive.com Katie Felten

    Dave, A great article and I have to say that you share some great tips here for people the biggest one is set the timer, take 20 mins and DO IT!!! It may not be the cool new thing but my LinkedIn connections have been my biggest support system over the years.

  • http://spinsucks.com Gini Dietrich

    LinkedIn is always the step-child to other social media platforms, yet the data you can get out of there is better than any other network.

    I use LinkedIn for two reasons:
    1. Prospect for new business
    2. Find potential employee candidates

    If you are opening a new location, have a new product or service, or are simply trying to grow your business, using LinkedIn to do that is bar none. You can use the advanced search to find your perfect demographic, target five to 10 people, see who you know in common, and ask for an introduction.

    I like to use LinkedIn for checking references on candidates….you get much more accurate feedback that way than relying on the references you’re given.

    http://twitter.com/ginidietrich

  • http://area224.com Dave Van de Walle

    News Flash! – Have y’all noticed the “Follow a company” thing? It appears to have started very recently. Not sure what I think about it…what say the peanut gallery?

  • http://area224.com Dave

    Thanks as always…and appreciate the Tweet efforts, too. Cheers!

  • http://www.actionbag.com Jaimey Wilman

    I have to agree with Gary – you may never know what life brings and some of those connections could come in handy. Great article!

  • http://area224.com Dave

    Gary is a smart guy…maybe what I should propose is a quick “shout out” to folks where you can’t remember why you connected.

    Also, Christopher Penn (@cspenn on Twitter) does a REALLY good job of telling people up front that “hey, if you connect with me, you’ll get emails from me. don’t like it, don’t connect.”

  • http://www.bikestylespokane.com BarbChamberlain

    I’d drop a couple of minutes from the pruning activity (do you really want to disconnect from people when you never know where you need to connect next?) in order to spend time in a Group. More focused than the wide-open Answers section, Groups add in the social element you’re looking for.

    As with Answers you can think “niche, baby, niche” or you can find a group that relates to a more personal interest; I’m in a Bike Commuters list, for example, in addition to Groups like Social Media for Nonprofits.

    You’ll build relationships through the give and take of discussions within the Group. I don’t connect to anyone who asks–I have to know the person in some direct way even if that’s via a series of online interactions. Participation in Groups has expanded my network in a way that lets me feel I do know the people whose invitations I’ve accepted, and Groups can provide a great environment for professional development, learning and mentoring.

    @BarbChamberlain

  • http://twitter.com/barbchamberlain Barb Chamberlain

    I’d drop a couple of minutes from the pruning activity (do you really want to disconnect from people when you never know where you need to connect next?) in order to spend time in a Group. More focused than the wide-open Answers section, Groups add in the social element you’re looking for.

    As with Answers you can think “niche, baby, niche” or you can find a group that relates to a more personal interest; I’m in a Bike Commuters list, for example, in addition to Groups like Social Media for Nonprofits.

    You’ll build relationships through the give and take of discussions within the Group. I don’t connect to anyone who asks–I have to know the person in some direct way even if that’s via a series of online interactions. Participation in Groups has expanded my network in a way that lets me feel I do know the people whose invitations I’ve accepted, and Groups can provide a great environment for professional development, learning and mentoring.

    @BarbChamberlain

  • http://area224.com Dave

    Great thoughts, Barb…Groups are really untapped, too.

    Thanks for weighing in.

  • Carlcooperjr

    You say that we don’t necessarily have to be “right” in Answers section responses- wouldn’t a wrong answer work against me?

  • Carlcooperjr

    You say that we don’t necessarily have to be “right” in Answers section responses- wouldn’t a wrong answer work against me?

  • http://area224.com Dave

    Yes, wrong answer might work against you. But I espouse the “umpire” theory — believe in your call, right or wrong, and back yourself up.