Category: LinkedIn

We all know that LinkedIn is a virtual ocean of potential leads for your business, and that if you find the right contacts, you can transform your company.

But how do you find those new, useful contacts? Today I’m going to take you through some of the less obvious ways (plus a couple of basic ones which many people miss anyway).

1. Ask for them. Are you looking to connect to recruiters who specialise in pharmaceutical reps in the north of England? Or perhaps you need to reach marketing directors at companies with over 1,000 employees in the electronics industry? Spell it out on your profile, and make it clear that you will welcome people getting in touch!
2. Follow up with people who have viewed your profile. LinkedIn now tells you who has visited your profile. Some will clearly be of no interest to your business. Others might be, but didn’t ask to connect with you.

How easy do you find it to use LinkedIn? Is it as intuitive to use as Facebook and Twitter, for example, or do you struggle with some of its features?

I spend a lot of my life on LinkedIn, both building my own business and showing clients how to generate new leads, and new custom, for their own companies. And there is no question that it is one of the most unbelievable tools for executives who want to grow their companies faster, faster, faster.

But I spend a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter as well, and when it comes to ease-of-use, LinkedIn just feels clunkier than its social media siblings.

Inspired by this post, here are the features I’d love to see LinkedIn bring in (or in several cases, restore). These little fixes would make such a difference!

I’d love to hear whether these things bother you too, and what suggestions you have to make LinkedIn even better!

The good news for women on the recent Pew survey on social media use was that women dominate every single major social media channel – contrary to what you might think, they actually use social media more than men!

With one exception: LinkedIn. While 24% of male internet users say they use the site, only 19% of women do.

Is this because LinkedIn is business-oriented by definition, and thus perceived as ‘male territory’ – an extension of the workplace, which is still, at its upper echelons, often dominated by men? Or is there something about the way it’s built or used which is offputting to women? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.