There are things you can do on LinkedIn and things you should not do in regards to LinkedIn. Today let’s evaluate what you should not do. When you know all the no-no’s then all that is left are the yes’s.
1. Do not leave an unfinished profile. “And then from 1999 to 2006 I worked at….” That just begs for people to avoid your profile and not connect with you. If you can not finish a LinkedIn profile then how can you finish my…
2. Shoot for at least 100 connections within the first 3 months on LinkedIn. Numbers do not mean anything, but there is a psychological effect when people see you have 100 connections. It indicates that the relationship is not one sided. It also means that you are active enough on LinkedIn to actually have built up that large of a network.
3. No spice! Your profile should not have gigantic stamp that says this LinkedIn profile is not for public consumption! Add some flavor into your language. Maybe some LinkedIn apps will help. Please put me to sleep, because I will buy your product is a misnomer.
4. Do not bash people! Well, this is not LinkedIn advice, but advice in general. However, do your best not to take that negativity to LinkedIn. “Gosh that was a stupid comment.” Uh, excuse me, but the only person who looks stupid when that is said is the commenter.
5. Do NOT sell. LinkedIn is a place of business. It is not a place to be sold. If I wanted to be sold I would go to a classified ad. Please stop selling. Maybe you could build a relationship instead. What is that?
In the end, help your cause by being a dynamic person. If you would not do something in real life, why would it be acceptable to do it on LinkedIn?
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Hello Andy,
I have to admit, I have been on a few social networks, more than I care to mention, and have forgotten to go back and finish up my profile.
I can see how that can make you come across as unprofessional.
Linked in seems to be a serious community, i have made a few connections there and unlike FB, I don’t seem to get all the solictions as I get from many other networking sites.
I better get abck over to linked in to make sure I have applied all that you mention here.
Thanks for sharing sir.
Cheers
Willie,
Definitely go back to LinkedIn when you get a chance to fill out your profile. You will get sold less on LinkedIn than Facebook, but every once in a while be prepared for the sales pitch from someone who does not know how to use the site.
Thanks!
Andy
Willie,
Definitely fill out your profile as soon as possible!
Andy
Thanks for the advice Nathan.
I just uploaded my resume to my profile, yeah I know I am slow 🙂
Peter
Peter,
That is fine! At least you have your profile updated!
Andy
Hi Andy!
Thanks for the short and sweet list!
We don’t spend too much time on LinkedIn, but we have heard it is a real place for business. We had never heard of apps for LinkedIn either! We’d love to read a post (hint, hint) with recommendations on what apps to use for our profile in that network.
Thanks for sharing!
Tim & Sole,
I heard your hint! I will take a look into doing a post about LinkedIn apps. Thought I had talked about them in the past on the blog. Must have been elsewhere, so I will get on that.
Andy
I would add a sixth and seventh:
6. Do not connect Twitter to your LI status updates if you actually use Twitter in any meaningful way. There is no faster way to make sure people hide all of your updates than to tweet more than a few times into LI.
7. It really falls under complete profiles, but absolutely have a profile pic.
Ed,
Thanks for the great additions to my list!
Andy
Hey Andy,
Now that is some great advice. I am been a member of Linkedin since 2008. I never really saw the advantage of this site until recently. I need to go back and fill out the blank spaces and add some more things about myself. I do have a questions. What if you don’t want to link with someone? What are your thoughts.
Joyce
Joyce,
It took me a long time to see the benefits of the site as well.
If you do not want to link with someone then do not link with them. You can always hit ignore.
Andy
Hey Buddy,
Thank you for posting these few nuggets for LinkedIn. Advice from people like you is awesome, who deals with this topic on a daily basis. Myself I still have to get my teeth into LinkedIn to start maximizing my efforts. Will return often to pick up more nuggets.
Thx, Alex
Alexander,
Glad you enjoyed the nuggets!
Andy
Sounds like great advice Andy. I confess I’ve yet to find my comfort zone at Linkedin, but from your list it seems at least I’m doing ok as far as what I’ve done so far. Thanks for the tips!
Marquita,
Great! Sounds like you are on the right track! If you ever need help let me know.
Andy
Hi Andy:
I am still learning the benefits of LinkedIn. So far I have only used it to connect with other people (mostly people I have met online). I haven’t done much with it yet. I am going to have to spend some time tweaking my profile a bit.
Thanks for the tips!
Kevin
Kevin,
Your welcome! Take a look at using it more. Great tool!
Andy
Good piece of advice Andy and really it’s pretty universal for any social network. Let common sense prevail. I guess I do struggle with Linkedin a bit in terms of the interaction since it is more professional than most other networks. But like anything else I guess it’s just a matter of getting involved. And I do find my profile lacking some of that “spice” you talk about so maybe some tweaking is needed 🙂
Laura,
That is exactly it, you just have to get involved and the rest will take care of itself. Let me know if you need some help with the “spice” in your profile!
Andy
Hi Andy,
This is a very helpful article about the proper behavior on LinkedIn. I think working on acquiring 100 connections within the first 3 months is very good idea. I think connections should align with your business. What is the point of just adding people for the sake of numbers? As you said, it’s not the numbers, but the psychological effect. I know you are not saying to just add for the sake of building numbers. I’m sure you would advise to be selective about who you connect with.
I have seen many unfinished profiles, and I understand what you are saying about unfinished profiles. It is unprofessional. Of utmost importance is the fact that LinkedIn is a place of business, not for selling.
Thanks for sharing,
Raena Lynn
Raena,
I agree that you should not just add people for the sake of adding them if they do not help you. At the same time, the old adage that we all know at least 250 in our circle means that having 40% of those people connect with you is possible.
The same goes with a profile. Do not create a LinkedIn account, just to have an account. Do what you need to do to finish the profile and have your account ready for business.
Andy
Thanks for the tips, Andy. I know I’m not even close to tapping the full potential of LinkedIn. It’s one of many things I got started in some time ago, but have not had the time to develop. Some day…..
Willena Flewelling
Willena,
Do your best to get back to LinkedIn as soon as possible! Let me know if you need some help.
Andy
Hey Andy,
You know, I can’t say that as active on linkedin as I am on other social media sites, bit I must admit, these 5 things should be considered the standard on all of them.
It’s about connecting and adding value rather than a pitch fest.
So many people out there doing it wrong and when you do it on a professional networking site, it could kill and or all credibility you may have.
Thanks for posting, I know it will help a great deal of people to get it right on Linkedin the first time.
-D
Dereck,
Definitely! These would go great on other social networks as well!
The reason why I have a job is that a lot of people are learning how to do it correctly. That is where we come in as professionals to help them.
Andy
How is LinkedIn different than other social media sites?
Here is an often used analogy: Consider the formerly popular site MySpace like a bar. What would you do and say there? How would you interact with people you knew and people you wanted to meet . . . at a bar. That was MySpace.
Now there is the giant Facebook with its 600 million users. Think of your Facebook Friends coming to your home for an outdoor BarBQ. What stories would you tell? How would you engage with the guests?
Finally, there is LinkedIn. This is like your Virtual Office. You wouldn’t say the same things in a business setting as you would at home or in the bar, right? Furthermore, you wouldn’t expect the same business value either. LinkedIn is where you can present your professional self, demonstrate your expertise, and build solid professional relationships.
Shari,
That might just be the best analogy I have seen written! Completely describes those sites how I would view them. Cool comment.
Andy
Let common sense prevail. What is the point of just adding people for the sake of numbers? Thanks for sharing sir.
Erna,
I agree! Especially on LinkedIn you want to focus on quality.
Andy
Andy,
Thanks so much for the post. Everything that follows is meant to be constructive and respectful. I hope that comes through, although constructive criticism is often seen as negative. For starters my sense is these 5 things are your personal pet peeves, and there is no data supporting the statement that this things are not helpful. Is this something you researched, or your opinion. While opinions are often very valuable, I tend to prefer research. 2nd the “don’t bash people” item. It stuck me that this one may apply to the post itself. It seems like it is bashing the violators “The only ones who look stupid…”. Now maybe you mean it is not good to bash specific people, but collectivley it is ok. I would be curious to hear how you would clarify, and/or explain how this is not “bashing”. Finally, a few other commentors touched on this but the idea that getting 100 connections in 3 months is a positive thing. Again is there any data or is 100 the psychological threshold for you personally or something in between. Well for me personally (no data), having big numbers “cuts both ways”when I see someone with hundreds of connections, I feel like that person is a transparent con artist trying to manipulate my psychologically. NOBODY can know hundreds of people well. I instantly discard someone with too many connections as a person I would want to work with. They are using people to try to “look good”. It is obviously disingenuous and it is like spending your time trying to “look successful” by researching the best trappings of success instead spending it trying to be successful researching how to add value. Most of the millionaires (a pretty good number) I know dont wear suits and dont play such manipulative games. They don’t pretend, whether it is by wearing clothes to give impressions or puffing up numbers of connections. Your thoughts? Are they onto something, or missing something.
Tim,
First, I appreciate your open and very in-depth reasoning behind your thoughts about this post. Let me do my best to breakdown your comments.
1. True! I did not have a mountain of data when I wrote this post. However, I did have over 4 years of operating my own LinkedIn account, and another 2 years of dealing with hundreds of clients LinkedIn profiles. People are coming to this blog, because they are looking to benefit from my experience. While there is evidence that could always point out whatever idea that is needed, these ideas are partially common sense and part experience.
2.If I was intending to insult people then I apologize. Sometimes when I write I get a little sharp tongued with my humor. The comment was not intended for this specific blog post, but it was more for people using LinkedIn who might forget their manners ocassionally.
3. In regards to the number of connections. There have been times when I did not have enough information on the person and they had no mutual connections. I passed on connecting. Remember social networking is about extending your network to develop relationships. You need to have a network to do this. It looks like you take an opposite view of this. That is fine, too each their own.
4. In regards to whether it is disingenuous. I have 62,000 followers on Twitter. I tell people that I have 62,000 followers on Twitter, so I can have 4,000 friends on Facebook, and clients who connect with me afterwards. Social networking is still sales and marketing. While their is a quality aspect that earlier styles lacked, it still has to do with the numbers.
Hope this helps!
Andy
Well done sir!
Most impressive (arguably) is your response to what most would consider a dead thread. That would be on my list of personal pet peeves. People who post something “important” and then let it die. It is akin to an unfinished profile imho.
I am just re-emerging into the world. I retired from Wall St. in my early 30’s in 1998, at which time I unplugged. The last 14 yrs have gone into a LOT of thinking, and then starting a family. Although I used to manage money for over 100 millionaires, I did not maintain any of those relationships (I think I have 4 Linked-In connections – which is why I read your post). When I uplugged there was no Twitter or Facebook or Blogger. So I am ready to unleash my ideas upon the world, but 1st need to learn how the world works nowadays. I was a 20-something “wiz kid” I invented a new way to invest, and for the 5 yrs I ran my firm we had the best investment returns of ALL U.S. money managers. The value of the firm grew to over 30 million in those 5 yrs (Building a 30 million dollar business in 5 yrs in the Brick and Mortar days was alot harder). My current ideas are far superior. So I am looking fwd to coming to life in the digital realm, and I thank you for your time, your expertise, and the quality of your response. I have prattled on as people did before 160 characters became the limit for communication that would be read. Thanks and best to you. https://twitter.com/#!/UnknownInvestor (7 followers and growing?!)
Tim,
Thanks!
I thought I responded to this comment a few days ago. I followed you on Twitter and am curious to find out more about what you are working on with your new business.
Andy
I have to admit, I have been on a few social networks, more than I care to mention, and have forgotten to go back and finish up my profile. Some day….. I instantly discard someone with too many connections as a person I would want to work with.
Corrine,
Why does someone with too many connections instantly rate as a bad connection?
Andy
The first thing i should do is, start to use LinkedIn and reducing the time at Facebook 🙂 Nice tips you have shared here. Cheers.
Rob.
Rob,
Why do you need to reduce your time on Facebook?
Andy