Found In: Social Networks
Social networking has become more and more popular as the years have progressed, but for a long time it was a phenomenon that was only associated with young people and socialising. However as the years progress many companies as well as private individuals have come to realise that social networking sites are not just about making friends and keeping up to date with gossip. Networking sites such as LinkedIn can be extremely useful in getting your company name well known and in helping you advance yourself and your business endeavours by making useful new contacts with people you would otherwise have never met. The first step is, of course, knowing how to use LinkedIn. The tips below should help you to get started with LinkedIn.
How to sign up LinkedIn
The very first thing that you will need to do is to sign up with LinkedIn. There will be absolutely no cost involved with signing up for LinkedIn. The first thing you will need to do is to go to the LinkedIn homepage. On the homepage there will be a link for you to click on that will allow you to sign up for LinkedIn. This link will be easy to see. It will be located in the same place where people who are already users of LinkedIn can sign in. The link you will have to click on will be called ‘Join Now’. The information you will need to provide for a LinkedIn account is:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
- Password (choose you own password)
Once you have successfully signed in to LinkedIn you will then have to create a profile. Because this is a professional social networking site that you will be using primarily for business purposes you will include all of the information that would usually appear on your resume. You will need to try ad sell yourself as much as possible. The rules that you would use for writing a resume apply here to a certain degree, so make sure that you think about the information that you include and that you make sure that all information is accurate and appealing.
Invitations
Once you have started a LinkedIn account you will then have to invite contacts in order to start the networking process. This is something that may take time, but have some contacts in mind that you would like to add.
Firstly, to get invitations you will have to look at the Inbox section of your LinkedIn page. This will allow you to see who has sent you messages and invitations using the LinkedIn system. Under the Inbox heading there is an ‘Invitations’ option that you can click on for this purpose. Use the drop down menu that you will get when you hover over the “Send Invitation” key. You will be presented with 3 categories. To get started it is suggested that you select the “Fast” category. This will allow you to get started on LinkedIn a little faster by inviting people more quickly. You should then invite the people that you have in mind as useful business contacts or friends. To invite people you will need their name and their email address. There will be a number of boxes for you to fill in, each with very clear instructions. Once you have filled in the required information an invitation will be sent to the person whose name and email address you specified. There is a lot of information that you may need to include at this point, and, because LinkedIn is for making professional contacts that may be useful to you in your professional life, it is suggested that you preview your invitation before sending it to make sure that there are no errors and to ensure that it shows you in the best light possible. Once you are happy with your invitation, click the “Send Invitation(s)” button and your invitations will then be sent.
Introductions
In order to make contacts on LinkedIn you will have to introduce yourself at times. If you want to do this quickly and easily you will have to know how to use the Introductions function on the LinkedIn system. Like with the ‘Invitations’ section this will be found under the Inbox in your LinkedIn account. There will then be a ‘Send Message’ drop down menu. You will then have the option to select “Send Inmail/Introduction” which will then allow you to search for other users of LinkedIn. There are a number of search options that you will be able to use. Again, like with invitations, there will be a number of fields that you will have to fill in in order to try and locate the contact that you are most interested in. it is suggested that you try the basic search options first and only move on to advanced search options if you cannot find you’re the contact you are looking for after trying a number of different permutations of their contact name and information. To search for the person whose information you have entered you will have to click the ‘Search’ button.
You can also look for a new contact by looking at the contacts that your other contacts already have. Look through their list of contacts and when you see someone that you are interested in, click the “Get Introduced” button. This will allow you to make an introduction to the person that you are interested in becoming connected with. You will have to select a category for your introduction and provide a subject heading for it. You will then have to compose messages for both the person you would like to be introduced to and the person who you are requesting the introduction from, in other words, the contact that you already have who you are hoping will connect you with the other person. Again it is very important that you preview this message as it needs to be professional. Once you are happy with the message that you have composed you will be able to click the “Send” option and the message will be sent.
Theses are the basics for using LinkedIn. For more information visit the LinkedIn website.
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