Jason Lee Overbey (HeyOverbey!)

We talk about Linkedin every day. I read a post about Linkedin every day. I can’t beat ‘em… so I thought I would join the choir. My voice might be a lil rusty so forgive me if you’ve heard these before.

Some cool Linkedin tips and insights:

1- Blog Link App. Promote your blog on your Linkedin account. It supports all platforms. It also automatically pulls blog updates from your connections on Linkedin so you get all the news and posts from people you chose to connect with professionally. Click here for the app. 

2- Leave Some Groups. We all know you can join up to 50 groups on Linkedin. I tell everyone new to Linkedin: “Join up!” I was only active in a few of my 50. I relied on the emails that Linkedin sent me for the latest about what was going on in each community. Until recently… when Linkedin informed me they were changing certain group’s email alerts because it didn’t look like I was active in them. So I thought, why don’t I toss it up? I left those groups (for just a couple weeks). I joined several groups that have no correlation with my current career path whatsoever so I could eavesdrop on their powwows and see how they did things. I tried a molecular biology, law enforcement, and poetry writing group. My findings were staggering. They do not post like the recruiters and #HR clans do. I learned a lot. Toss up your memberships and rejoin your old haunts after you have learned a few new tricks.

3- Speaking of Groups… No matter what your ilk is on the site, you can benefit from specific, sometimes lengthy, boolean operator searches. And of course, you can use boolean for searching outside of Linkedin. Before your eyes glaze over, there is a Boolean Strings Group on the platform with loads of useful search tips, starter articles/links and they will even write a search string for you on a particularly troubling query if you suck up properly. Most helpful! They once helped me write a search string for all the hospitals in Chicago hiring OR managers. 

4- Customize the Link to Your Public Profile. If you haven’t done this, you have a bulky link to your page on Linkedin. It can be very cumbersome when you are on Twitter or in a quick meeting and you want to share with someone about how to find you there. Go to the profile tab on the top bar.  Click “Edit Profile” from the drop-down box. Scroll down to the box on your profile containing your public url link. Click the “edit” after your link. On the right upper hand section of the newly opened page you can choose a tailored link. Use your name. This will affect how you appear in search engine results - part of managing that social media image you are working so diligently on. No more cutting and pasting of an over-sized link. You’ll remember it now. 

5- Recommendations. I do not take these lightly. It isn’t like a, “You were so cool this semester. Have a good summer. See ya next year!” yearbook entry. Having said that, you might be wondering how to get more recommendations to beef up that section of your profile. I think it’s easy. Recommend someone else. 

What if you haven’t worked directly with them? Last month, I took 5 people that I have been following on Twitter, interacting with through blogs and listening to on blogtalkradio or YouTube. I wrote careful, glowing reviews about each one. I was sure to use a tone that made it clear I was recommending their content and not a co-working relationship. The results were successful and I plan to do it each month this year. You don’t have to sit next to someone in an office to vouch for them. You can recommend someone right now!

6- Weekly Linkedin Updates Email. If you are not sitting with a direct business need it’s sometimes challenging to engage connections on Linkedin outside of such a need or group dialogues. Each week I get an email from Linkedin with updates from what is happening with my connections on the platform. What I have been doing is going through each one and congratulate folks on new positions or comment on other changes. I get a response every time and my contacts stay in touch with me. 

7- Fill Out Your Skills & Expertise Section. I am still not hearing this taught. Increase your chances of being found on Linkedin. If you want recruiters to find you, possible business partners, or companies with propositions - they will find you by these keywords you enter. Click here. Linkedin also gives you a snapshot of each skill you search by showing: the demand of the skill, people who claimed the same skill, related companies and related groups, and open jobs in that skill category. Wicked cool.

8- Add YOUR Company. Do you work for yourself? Freelancer? Small business partner? After you create and tweak your personal profile, increase your brand presence by adding your company. From the main header bar click on “Companies”. From the drop-down box click on the first option “Search Companies”. On the top right-hand side of the new window choose the blue “Add a Company”.  Have fun.

9- Get a Client Recommendation Badge. After you have claimed your company in step #8 and filled in your services/products, you will be able to get a code from Linkedin to add a badge to your site. This badge will allow your clients to recommend you on your LI profiled directly from wherever you display the badge. 

10- Search Your Contacts. Try the app: IN stant. After you authorize the app you can begin searching all of your contacts… well, instantly. I really like the graphics and arrangement of the people in the search results. All you do is click on a contact and you are taken to their profile. It is much less cumbersome than sifting through connections directly on Linkedin. The REALLY employable feature is that you can search by keywords such as: recruiter, attorney, or social media.

There’s 10 Linkedin insights that aren’t your average tips. Watch out for Part II. 

JLOverbey@gmail.com