LinkedIn User Instruction Guide

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    Getting Started on LinkedIn

    What is it?

    Unlike the other two other major social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter,we are discussing in this guide, LinkedIn is the networking site forbusiness.

    No fun and games here. No poking your friends or posting photographs like onFacebook, or telling your followers what you are eating for dinner like on Twitter,LinkedIn is serious about commerce.

    Its All About Connections

    The main purpose of LinkedIn is to allow its 90 million users, who includeexecutives from all Fortune 500 businesses as well as businesses in 200countries from around the world, to maintain a list of contact details about peoplethey know and trust in business. The people on the list are called connections.Users can invite anyone (whether a LinkedIn user or not) to become aconnection.

    This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

    A contact network can be built consisting ofo direct connections

    o the connections of each of their connections (called second-degree connections) and

    o the connections of second-degree connections (called third-degree connections).

    This network can be used to gain an introduction to someone a personwishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.

    LinkedIn can then be used to find people and business opportunitiesrecommended by someone in one's contact network.

    How Popular is LinkedIn?

    A new member signs up on LinkedIn approximately every second. About half ofthe members are in the United States and 11 million are from Europe. With 3million users, India has the fastest-growing network of users as of 2009.

    So what? Why should I care?

    I currently have 235 connections. LinkedIn tells me that I have more than 55,600contacts who are friends of friends (2nd degree contacts), each one connected to

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    one of my connections. In addition, I have over 4,139,300 users (3rd degreecontacts) that I could reach through a friend and one of their friends.

    Thats the power of LinkedIn!

    Compared to the other major social networking sites, LinkedIns users are: Older (median age: 41)

    Wealthier (six-figure household income)

    Predominantly male (2/3 male, 1/3 female)

    College educated (4/5 have a college degree)

    Wouldnt you like access to that group of potential cients? Best of all, use ofLinkedIn can be free.

    How do I get started?Go to www.linkedin.com

    Type your

    First Name

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    Last Name

    E-mail Address

    Password you would like to use for LinkedIn at least 6 characterslong

    Click the green Join LinkedIn button

    As the next screen indicates, Lets get your professional profile started

    From I am currently:, click the arrow in the drop-down menu to indicatethat you are either employed, a business owner, looking for work, workingindependently, or a student

    Choose yourCountry from the drop-down menu

    Type yourZIP Code. LinkedIn will not display your ZIP code, but will use

    it to assign a Region to your profile, so others will know the general areawhere you reside

    Type yourCompany. As you type, LinkedIn may help you by recognizingyour company name.

    Type yourJob Title

    Click the blue Create my profile button.

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    Your LinkedIn Profile

    What is a LinkedIn Profile? Think of your profile as your personal home page tothe business world. Your profile is like a real-time, up-to-date resume that givesa complete picture of your background, qualifications and skills.

    At any time, you can go to www.linkedin.com and click the Profile link in the top-left corner to access your LinkedIn profile to view or edit your profile.

    Creating Your LinkedIn Profile

    Click on Profile and then Edit Profile from the resulting drop-down menu, and

    you will see a screen that looks similar to the following:

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    Clicking Edit just to the right of your name will get the following screen:

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    On this screen, you can fill in the blanks to add a Former or Maiden Name.Some potential connections may know by and look for you using a previousname.

    You can also change yourProfessional Headline. Think of this as your jobtitle. Enter a headline that will grab peoples attention.

    After you have entered or changed your Basic Information, click the blue SaveChanges button.

    LinkedIn will then take you back to your main Profile screen with the note Theinformation has been successfully updated at the top of the screen, as shownbelow:

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    Photo

    LinkedIn was the last of the major social networking sites that allowed you to adda photo. Even now, you can only add one.

    Next, we will add your Profile Photo. Why add a photo?

    Chances are, with over 90 million registered users, there are multiple people inthe LinkedIn database with a name the same as or similar to yours. By viewingyour photo, a potential connection can be assured that you are indeed the niceperson who worked with him or her at XYZ Corporation back in 2006.

    To add a photo, click on the Add Photo link under the image that currentlyappears as a silhouette. A screen similar to the one below will appear:

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    Click the Browse button, and a File Upload pop-up screen will appear:

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    Determine the folder in which you may be storing that professional photograph ofyou that makes you look just marvelous. (My guess is that it is in yourMyPictures folder, so double click on My Pictures or other subsequent folders untilyou find where you store the images from your digital camera.)

    Once you have located the photo you would like to use as your Profilephotograph, click once on the image and then click the Open button, as shownbelow.

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    LinkedIn will return you to the Upload a Photo screen with the file name thatdescribes the photograph you just inserted.

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    Click the blue Upload Photo button, and . . . Voila!. . . LinkedIn will update yourProfile and tell you on the subsequent screen thatYour picture has beensaved.

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    You can select who can view your new profile photo:

    YourConnections these are the people who are connected to youthrough the LinkedIn site.

    YourNetwork these are the people you are linked to through yourconnections.

    Everyone anyone who logs on to the LinkedIn site and searches foryour name.

    Once you decide who can see your photo, click the blue Save Settings button.

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    You now have a photo associated with your LinkedIn profile. You are reallymaking progress now!

    Post an update

    Should you like to let your connections in on what is happening in yourprofessional life, you can Post an update. In the box that currently says Sharean update, type your good news.

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    Once you have posted an update about, for instance, winning an honor, you canenter in the box below a link to the article on the Web that announced the awardby typing the articles URL:

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    Click the blue Attach button, then decide whether to make this announcementvisible to anyone who may search your profile or just your connections.

    By clicking in the box to the left of the blue t Twitter logo, you can also send a

    Twitter message known as a tweetto all of your followers on Twitter after youclick the blue Share button. (See the next section of this guide on GettingStarted on Twitter.)

    On LinkedIn, the people I am connected to are called connections, on Twitterthose people are called followers.

    Current Position

    As a next step, you can edit yourCurrent position. I have entered my position

    here as a Registered Agent at American Federated Insurance by clicking theEdit link to the right of my entry. Doing so will bring up a new screen. You cannow change or add the following information in the boxes on the screen:

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    UnderMore information about this company, in the blue box, you can type theURL for your current company Website.

    To the right ofTime Period, you can click the check box to indicate that you

    currently work at this company, and then indicate the month and year that youstarted in the position. (If you click the I currently work here check box, thesecond entry for month and year will automatically change to to present.)

    For the Position Description, provide details of the position, so users viewingyour profile can get a quick idea of what your position involves.

    If you click the See examples link under the Description box, you can viewexamples of Position Descriptions from other industries.

    To save your entries, click the blue Update button.

    Past Positions

    Now that we have completed entering information about your current position,enter information about yourPast positions by clicking the Add a past positionlink.

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    You will see an entry screen that is very similar to the Current position entryscreen we just completed:

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    After you enter information in the appropriate boxes on the screen, click the blueSave Changes button.

    You may wish to enter additional Past Positions to show the breadth of your

    experience. Foreach additional Past Position you would like to enter, simplyclick the Add a past position link.

    Education

    To indicate your educational qualifications, click the Add a school link.

    Enter information for the fields on the following screen, and then click the blueSave Changes button:

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    You may desire to indicate to your connections and others that you have multipleeducational experiences, such an undergraduate and then a graduate degree.So you may want to make multiple entries forEducation.

    Simply click the Add a school link for as many entries as you would like to makeand follow the same steps as above.

    Recommendations

    According to marketing guru Dan Kennedy, in talking with his clients, the numberone marketing mistake his clients make is failing to collect and use testimonials.

    What matters is not that we say we are great. (Prospects expectus to saywonderful things about ourselves!) What matters to potential clients is who else

    says so. Especially if it is someone they know or whose opinion they trust, it willbe worth far more than our own marketing puffery.

    In the brick-and-mortar world, it is sometimes cumbersome to get testimonials.You may need to ask your client write their gracious comments on companyletterhead using their precious time. As a result, it may be something that,despite their assurances to you or their best intentions, they may not quite get

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    around to doing. But getting a testimonial on LinkedIn can be as easy asrequesting a client to compose an e-mail!

    To request a Recommendation in LinkedIn, begin by clicking Profile, and thenthe Recommendations link.

    Once you do, LinkedIn will present you a screen that looks like this:

    Across the top of the screen, you will see three tabs, one each for:

    Received Recommendations

    Sent Recommendations

    Request Recommendations

    If you have a Current or Past position on your LinkedIn profile for which you havenot yet been recommended, you can click on the link Ask to be endorsed. Youwill then see the following screen:

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    After you have chosen 1) what you want to be recommended for, you can 2)decide who youll ask.

    LinkedIn makes this step easy for you. Click the blue LinkedIn logo to the right of

    theYour connections: box, and your current list of connections will becomevisible, as shown below.

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    You can select up to 200 connections from whom you can ask for arecommendation.

    To increase your chances of success, narrow the list to only those connectionsthat would have known of the quality of your work while you held that particularposition.

    When done, click the yellow Finished button. LinkedIn will return you to theprevious screen:

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    You may notice that LinkedIn sends each recipient (of up to 200 connections)you have chosen an individual e-mail. Your e-mail requests will not be sent asa group e-mail.

    To complete the Recommendation request process, click the blue Send button.

    The Golden Rule

    How can you get Recommendations?

    One of the best ways to get Recommendations is to write Recommendations forothers. The next tab will show you for which of your LinkedIn connections youhave Sent Recommendations:

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    The third tab, Request Recommendations, allows you to ask forRecommendations from your connections, using the process described above.

    Connections

    A connection is someone with whom you have an association through theLinkedIn.

    One of the benefits of LinkedIn is that, once you have established a connectionwith someone, you will always have a live link to that person. It doesnt matter ifthat person changes their e-mail address (which many often do), since you willalways be connected to them through LinkedIn.

    There are three different degrees of how you are connected with people on

    LinkedIn:1. First-degree connections are people that you know personally. They

    have a direct relationship from their account to your account.2. Second-degree network members know someone among your first-

    degree network connections. These are friends of your friends.3. Third-degree network members know someone among your second-

    degree network connections. They are friends of your friends of yourfriends.

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    Your LinkedIn connections can help you advance your career and professionalgoals, and you can help them as well.

    Lets get started to establish your network of connections!

    Establishing Connections

    In the upper right corner of your Profile screen, click the Add Connections link

    LinkedIn gives you two options to add to your number of connections

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    On the left side of the screen you can See Who You Already Know onLinkedIn by allowing LinkedIn to search contacts from your e-mail address book.

    If you use Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or AOL as your e-mail service, simply type your

    complete e-mail ID and password and click the blue Continue button.

    LinkedIn will then show you your e-mail contacts that are not yet connected toyou on LinkedIn and ask you if you want to connect with them.

    Word of Warning

    A temptation for you may be to simply click the box to the right ofSelect All.Dont do it! (I dont even know why LinkedIn offers this option!)

    In my case, that would result in 2,877 contacts being invited to join my network in

    LinkedIn. As you can imagine, I certainly dont have a personal relationship withall or even most of them. You probably have a similar situation with your e-mailcontacts.

    LinkedIn makes it very easy for you to send invitations in bulk to your entirecontact list if you want. However, even though its easy to do, its not necessarilya good idea, warns Joel Elad in LinkedIn for Dummies. It can have negative

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    social implications and can even potentially get you suspended from LinkedIn(and you wouldnt want that!).

    Recipients of your LinkedIn invitation will see an I Dont Know This Personbutton. If several people you have invited click this button, LinkedIn will consider

    you a spammer and will suspend and possibly even remove your profile andaccount from the site. Ouch!

    Rather than try to get the maximum number of LinkedIn connections (or, for thatmatter Facebook friends or Twitter followers), a better course of action is todetermine whyyou would want to expand your social network.

    You may want to add:

    Colleagues from a former or past employer

    Classmates

    People You May Know

    Lets explore how to do that.

    Adding Colleagues from a Former or Past Employer

    Click the Colleagues tab, which is just to the right of the Add Connections tab:

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    You will be able to Find past or present colleagues by clicking on the View allbuttons. (Note: You really wont be able to view all, since the results you willsee will be limited to 50 of your colleagues.)

    Check the boxes under the green arrow for the people whom you know who youwould like to invite to be connections. Their names will then appear in the box tothe right, with the heading Send invitations to connect to:.

    To increase the chances that these people will reply positively, include apersonal note with your invitation to indicate whyyou are asking thesecolleagues to join your network. A quick key to success: specify what theirconnection to you could do for them.

    Check the box to the left ofAdd a personal notewith your invitation? and

    then type the note in the box below.

    Finally, click the blue Send Invitations button.

    Joel Elad in LinkedIn for Dummies gives us this advice: When people get anInvitation request, they understand pretty clearly that you want something fromthem, whether its access to them or their network. If youve sent a cannedInvitation, what they cant answer is the question, Whats in it for me? A canned

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    Invitation gives no motivation for or potential benefit of being connected to you.A custom note explaining that youd love to swap resources or introduce them toothers is usually enough to encourage an acceptance.

    Adding Classmates

    In addition to colleagues at present or past companies, you could probablyreceive benefit by linking yourself to present or past classmates. And they couldbenefit by associating with you!

    To get started, click the Classmates link, which is just to the right of theColleagues link:

    When I clicked the name of my school in the box underSelect a school fromyour profile: I was surprised to find the names of 77 of my classmates, as

    shown in the screen below. (That number is about halfthe number of studentswe had in the entire graduate school that year!)

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    I can then select which of my classmates I would like to invite to my network byclicking the Invite icon (which resembles an envelope) under the SendInvitation column heading.

    Adding People You May Know

    LinkedIn suggests people for you to consider adding to your connections. Thesemay be people who:

    are 2nd degree connections

    may have one or more shared connections with you.

    Click the People You May Know tab, which is to the right of the Classmateslink.

    Once the names and possibly the profile picture of these people are shown, clickthe Connect link for any who you would like to add to your network.

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    Returning to Your Profile

    Now that we have added to your network, lets return to build your Profile, so thatcurrent and potential connections would know how they could help you and you

    could help them. Click on the Profile link.

    Websites

    Next, lets click on the Add a website link.

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    On the next screen, LinkedIn asks forAdditional Information, such as:

    the URL for a Personal or Company Website and Blog

    Interests

    Groups and Associations

    Honors and Awards.

    After entering this information, click the blue Save Changes button.

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    Twitter

    Do you have a Twitter account? Do you tweet?

    If you dont currently, dont worry. Well show you how to set up a Twitteraccount in the last section of this guide.

    If you do, and would like to link your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, you can clickthe Add a Twitter account link.

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    LinkedIn will then give you the ability to customize your Twitter settings withinLinkedIn:

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    Public Profile

    The next option in your Profile allows you to set how visitors to LinkedIn (maybeprofessionals who would be looking to do business with you) can view yourinformation.

    Within your Profile, click on Public Profile

    You will notice that automatically anyone who views your Profile will see basicinformation:

    Name

    Industry

    Location

    Your number of recommendations

    But other information about you that they can view is up to you.

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    Simply check the box to the right of the item to be viewed or not viewed.

    Then click the blue Save Changes button.

    Add sections

    You now can Add sections to reflect achievements and experiences on yourprofile.

    Click the Add sections link, as shown below:

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    LinkedIn gives you the option to add:

    Certifications

    Languages Patents

    Skills

    To add this information, simply click on the particular link in the pop-up window,as shown below:

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    These sections can include:

    Certifications such as CIC, CISR, CPIA, CPCU and CRM

    Languages and whether you have native or bilingual proficiency,professional working proficiency, or elementary proficiency

    Applications such a link to your blog

    Experience

    The next section of your LinkedIn Profile displays your competence through yourExperience.

    To demonstrate more of your industry knowledge to clients and prospective

    clients, click the Add a position link.

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    As you did when you created the record for your Current position earlier, typeinformation for:

    Company Name

    Title

    Time Period

    Description

    Click the blue Save Changes button.

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    Publications

    Have you written an article, research paper or book?

    Click the Add a Publication link and enter descriptive information about yourwork.

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    Education

    Have you gone back to school to earn your degree or an advanced degree?

    I tell my audiences, We tend to like and trust people who are like ourselves, anddislike and distrust people who are unlike us.

    What if a potential client is looking at LinkedIn profiles and notices that youattended State U.? And that is the same State U. she attended?

    The chances of you doing business with her had just shot up significantly. But ifyou did not add this information to your profile, the potential client may neverknow.

    Here is how to capture that additional information in LinkedIn:

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    Click the Add a School link and enter information into the following fields:

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    Click the blue Save Changes button and youre done!

    Recommendations

    LinkedIn says that users with recommendations are three times as likely to getinquiries through LinkedIn searches.

    In the Recommendations section of your Profile, click the Ask for arecommendation link.

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    Then determine for which positions or college experiences you would like to havea recommendation for your work.

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    1) For the Position for which you would like to be Recommended, simply click theAsk to be endorsed link. (Endorsed is an old LinkedIn term. It would bebetter if the word recommended were used consistently. But you get the idea!)

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    2) To decide who youll ask, click the LinkedIn icon, which you will find to the rightof theYour connections: box. You can select up to 200 of your connections (ifyou have that many!). Each will get an individual e-mail (not a group e-mail) withyour request.

    (Believe it or not, some LinkedIn users have over 500 connections! LinkedInstops counting and displaying the number at that point. These particular usersare called LIONs, forLinkedIn Open Networkers. Your goal should not be tocollect as many connections as possible. As we mentioned earlier, think why youwant to use LinkedIn. Then go after as many qualityconnections as you can.)

    3) You may send the pre-filled Subject line and e-mail body of the text shown, oryou can enter your own.

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    4) When done, click the blue Send button.

    The Golden Rule of Recommendations

    One of the best ways to geta recommendation on LinkedIn is to give arecommendation. And LinkedIn makes it easy for you. No special letterheadrequired!

    Simply scroll down under the Received Recommendations tab.

    UnderMake a Recommendation

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    Enter the persons First Name, Last Name and e-mail address, or even easier,click the select from your connections list link.

    From the resulting pop-up window, click on the name of the connection.

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    The name and e-mail address will then populate the fields on the screen.

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    Next, click the button to indicate that this person is either a:

    Colleague someone you worked with at the same company

    Service Provider someone from another company that you or someoneelse at your company hired

    Business Partner someone you worked with more closely than as acolleague or client

    Student you went to school with them. They were either a fellowstudent or you were their teacher.

    Click the blue Continue button.

    On the next screen you will create the recommendation.

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    UnderRelationship

    ForBasis of recommendation, click the down arrow to the right to indicateeither

    You managed this person directly You reported to this person

    You were senior to this person, but not their manager

    The person was senior to you, but you did not report to them

    The two of you worked in the same group at the company

    The two of you worked in different groups at the company

    ForYour title at the time, you will be presented with a drop-down menu with thePositions you had entered earlier into LinkedIn.

    For the persons title at the time, you will be presented with a drop-down menuwith the Positions the person had entered into LinkedIn listed as the choices.

    UnderWritten Recommendations, you may ask yourself, What should I write?

    Enter your professional accolades for this person. Keep in mind thatsomeone reading this recommendation is likely to be thinking, What canthis person do forme? The reader will be viewing your connection

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    through your eyes, but with their own needs in mind. Given thisrealization, any quantitative, results-oriented information (such as Whenwe implemented the ideas Mary had suggested, our department realizedover $1 million in savings.) will be most valuable to the connection forwhom you are writing the recommendation.

    When you are satisfied with what you have written, click the blue Send button.

    The connection for whom you have written the recommendation will be notifiedthrough LinkedIn. You can use the standard notification message or create oneof your own prior to the recommendation being sent. You can edit or removeyour recommendation at any time.

    Additional Information

    By clicking the Edit link to the right ofAdditional Information, you can allowyour connections and other LinkedIn visitors to get to know you even better!

    Enter yourAssociations in this area. In the next section we will discuss howjoining LinkedIn Groups can help you gain additional exposure for your career.

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    Some final information you can add to your profile (by clicking the Add link to theright of each descriptor) includes:

    Honors and Awards

    Personal Information should you desire to share it Contact Settings indicate to LinkedIn users what types of contact

    youre interested in

    Applications tools provided by LinkedIns featured partners

    . . . and you have successfully completed your LinkedIn profile!

    LinkedIn Groups

    Why join a group?

    A LinkedIn group gives you a special association to fellow group members. As aresult, you can see their full Profiles and they can appear in your search results,if even they arent within the three degrees of separation of everyone in thegroup.

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    What are the different types of LinkedIn groups?By joining several groups, especially large ones, you can increase your visibilitywithin the LinkedIn network without having to add thousands of contacts.

    One of the key groups you should consider joining is PIA-National Association

    of Professional Insurance Agents.

    This group describes itself as PIA is a national trade association that strives tocreate unlimited opportunities for professional, independent insurance agents.Our mission is To promote, protect and defend the integrity of our members, thevalue of their profession and the success of their businesses.

    Alexi Papandon, AVP, Communications at National Association of ProfessionalInsurance Agents (PIA,) is the owner of the group, which currently has nearly 800members.

    To join the PIA-National Association of Professional Insurance AgentsLinkedIn Group

    From the top line of the LinkedIn home page, click on Groups

    From the resulting drop-down menu, click Groups Directory

    In the box underSearch Groups, type the keyword PIA (as shown below)

    To the right of the PIA-National Association of Professional InsuranceAgents listing, click the Join Group button

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    On the next screen (shown below), you can specify options on how you wouldlike to be affiliated with the group:

    After you have completed making your choices, click the blue Join Groupbutton.

    On the next screen, you will get notified that your request to join the group isbeing sent to the group owner for manual approval:

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    Searching a Group

    After you have joined a group, you may be interested in finding out who else is inthe group. The idea of joining groups is to be able to connect with like-mindedindividuals.

    From the top line of the LinkedIn home page, click on Groups From the resulting drop-down menu, click My Groups

    Under the name of the group, such as PIA-National Association ofProfessional Insurance Agents, click Go to

    From the resulting drop-down menu, click Members

    LinkedIn will display a screen similar to the following:

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    On the left side of the screen, search among the members of the group byentering their names or keywords to find specific members of this group.

    For instance, I could look for all members of the group who have CEO in theirtitles by typing CEO above the blue Search button, as I have on the followingscreen.

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    As you can see, that search returned 40 members from this group.

    One of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn groups is that I can now send a messagethrough LinkedIn directly to anyone who is a member of the group.

    They may be a first-, second- or third-degree connection, but they do not need tobe. I am associated to them simply by being a member of this group.

    We Are the World

    Through groups, you have the ability to network with members who not onlyreside in your state or country, but also with those who live in other parts of theworld!

    For instance, a fellow group member of mine resides in the Czech Republic, asseen by his profile below:

    He is not currently a connection of mine. But since we are connected though thisgroup, I am able to send him a direct message. (I can also request that hebecome a connection of mine.)

    Isnt it amazing all of the things you can do within your LinkedIn account?

    Discussions

    Heres another . . .

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    You can start a discussion with other members of your group. Why not tap intothe minds of the professionals who know your industry the best?

    To start a discussion

    From the top line of the LinkedIn home page, click Groups

    From the resulting drop-down menu, click My Groups

    Under the name of the group, such as PIA-National Association ofProfessional Insurance Agents, click Actions

    From the resulting drop-down menu, click Start a Discussion, as shownbelow

    LinkedIn Answers

    With LinkedIn Answers, you can post a question about a certain business-related

    topic. Other LinkedIn members can browse the questions and write theirresponses.

    Asking people you know for business advice is the most common use of yourprofessional network, said Keith Rabois, vice president of business andcorporate development at LinkedIn. LinkedIn Answers allows users to gaininsight and knowledge from people you trust and tap into a powerful network ofthousands of experts in almost every field.

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    The service is free and currently allows users to ask ten questions a month.

    LinkedIn states: Experts receive expertise credentials for every best answerthey provide this becomes part of their LinkedIn profile, informing other usersthat they are a proven expert on that topic. . . LinkedIn will promote their

    expertise to other users, providing an opportunity for consultants, contractors andother service provider to build social capital and market their services toprofessionals whose questions they answer.

    If you are the one to respond using LinkedIn Answers, members can seeexamples of your knowledge and experience by reading the answers. They willalso get an idea of how helpful or enthusiastic you are in a professionalenvironment.

    Heres how to get started with LinkedIn Answers:

    From the top line of the LinkedIn home page, click More From the resulting drop-down menu, click Answers

    From the next screen you will be able to Ask a Question orAnswer Questions.

    To ask a question of your network, type your question in the box below Ask aQuestion, then click the blue Send button.

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    If you are willing to help establish yourself as a LinkedIn-designated Expert, clickthe Answer Questions link to get started. You will find the link just below and tothe right of the More link.

    Once you click the link, you will be able to browse the Open Questions, as shown

    below:

    If you are able and would like to answer a question, hover your cursor over thequestion as it appears just to the right of Q:. The question will turn into ahyperlink. Click on the link and you will get a screen like this:

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    You can then click on the yellow Answerbutton.

    Or, if you would like to honor a colleague, a client or potential client, click theSuggest Expert button, as shown below.

    Clicking the Select Expert button a second time will allow you to choose aconnection from your network to answer the question.

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    In the entry box below the button, you can optionally type a message to theperson who has asked the question to indicate whythe person you arerecommending is an Expert in this area.

    LinkedIn Experts

    If you would like to see who have already established themselves as Experts onLinkedIn, click on the Experts link, which is below and to the right ofBrowseOpen Questions.

    When you do so, you will see something like this:

    It may surprise you that these Experts, judging by the number of Answers giventhis week, are using LinkedIn as a vital part of their marketing strategy! They areattempting to win business from new clients by becoming a trusted member ofthe community. This is a key concept in the new realm of social mediamarketing.

    You may ask, How can I become a LinkedIn Expert?

    LinkedIn says, Earning expertise is as easy as 1-2-3:

    1. Find questions in the areas you knowBrowse questions to find categories familiar to you

    2. Answer those questionsRemember,private answers wont help you earn expertise

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    3. Every time the questioner picks your answer best, you gain a pointof expertiseThe more points of expertise, the higher you appear on lists of experts.

    When you see a green staron a LinkedIn members profile, you know that

    person has proven their expertise by answering LinkedIn Questions.