Social Media|UPPROACH|Tom Staskiewicz

LinkedIn is a great Social Network, but like any computer program, website, etc. there is room for improvement. Over time LinkedIn will address some of these issues, but in the meantime here are some helpfult tips to make LinkedIn work better for you.

Women Do Not Forget to Insert Your Maiden Name in Your LinkedIn Profile
read more...

When You Make a Connection Examine Their Contacts for People You May Know or Want to Know
read more...

When you join LinkedIn you are assigned a LinkedIn ID to go along with your name. This ID becomes part of the process for finding you in LinkedIn or your LinkedIn account through Search Engine such as Google. The Search Engine result is confusing and does not serve you well in creating your brand. Instead of the default in the left column select "Edit My Profile" and click. In the section that starts Current the last item is Public Profile - Edit this field and change the entry to http://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname. You will receive an immediate confirming response from LinkedIn if your name is available. If it is not available; you can use a middle initial or middle name to help distinguish yourself. You can even use a nickname, if it is appropriate and complimentary.

If you do use a nickname and someone looks for you by your given name; there will be a disconnect and they will not find you. The way around this is to use the Summary field in your profile. This is a free form field where you can enter anything. Go to the bottom of the summary box and enter any "other" names that people may use to locate you. LinkedIn recognition does not happen immediately but over time it will register this information for search results.
back to top

Not everyone may know you by your married last name, so it is important that you include your maiden name in your profile. You can do this by adding your maiden name in lieu of your middle name or you can include your maiden name in the Summary section of your profile. Either way is fine, just make sure that it is there to assist anyone that is searching for you.

If you have remarried and were known professionally or for a long time by your the name from any previous marriages you should include those names in your profile as well. If you have a profile, it most likely means that you want people that may be searching for you to find you. Make it easy for them.
back to top

Duplicate accounts on LinkedIn happen; it is not your fault, it just happens. When it does happen though it creates much confusion; primarily because you are new to LinkedIn and just trying to learn how it works. Before I get into the process of fixing duplicates I will discuss the symptoms.

Someone invites you to join LinkedIn and somewhere in the back of your mind you recall receiving an invitation, but do not remember the details. (Just a side note on this; you have had two invites using different email accounts. If the email accounts were the same, you would have received an invite to join the individual's network, not to join LinkedIn.)
You make a change or add an account and when you log in the next time you cannot find the new information.
You type in your email address and password and you cannot log in.
You try another email address and this one does not work either.
Eventually you are successful and then the next time you attempt to log in the problems start again.

At this juncture it is safe to assume that you have multiple accounts. To remove a duplicate account you first want to determine which account has the least number of connections. This will be your candidate for removal. Here are the steps if you have just a few connections:

If you have less than 5 connections; open each connection and at the bottom is an email address; copy the address to another document.
If you have more than 5 connections you can export you connections.

On the left side of your screen click on "Contacts".
At the bottom of the Contacts box click on "Export Connections".
Select the default option of exporting to a .csv file
Enter the Security Image in the box provided and click "Export".
You will get a yellow bar that you must click before the file will download. This is to protect you from viruses being automatically installed.
You will then be asked if you want to open or save the contacts file. Select open because you have some cleanup to do.
Delete all columns except the email address column
Save the file as a .txt file and it will be ready to import into your primary LinkedIn account.

Once you have saved or exported the email addresses you can delete the duplicate account.
Go to "Account & Settings" that is in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
On the right hand side under the "Settings" section is "Personal Information". The fourth item is "Close You Account"; click here and follow the instructions.

Building your LinkedIn network is your task at hand. A large network is key to whatever you are looking to accomplish; whether it is a new career opportunity, new sales contacts, new partners, whatever. A large and strong network is critical.

With this being the case one great way to build your network is to check the connections with any new contacts that you make. There are bound to be people you know or want to connect with if your new contact's list is of any size. This is a rich source of connections and if you don't know the person but would like an introduction it is there through your new contact.
back to top

Do you want to learn more about the power of LinkedIn and how you can use it for Career advancement and Business Growth. If so; click on the click here