LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals and it now has more than 100 million users. Almost 60% of LinkedIn users are in consultant positions or at the executive level. As a result, LinkedIn has the highest number of decision makers in one place over all social media networks. LinkedIn is one of the fastest growing sites and one new user arrives every second, which is around one million new users every week.

Just as you would with other social media sites, you need to use the white hat approach. Rather than transparently advertising your goods or services or outright asking for work, try to interact, help, and engage people.

Your LinkedIn goal should be to establish yourself in your niche or your industry. Take the time to connect with colleagues, and customers that you have already established a relationship with and then build on that relationship.

Groups are one of your most popular tools on LinkedIn. You can drive traffic to your website and reach an endless stream of targeted professionals. There are more than 870,000 LinkedIn groups with memberships varying from 1 to 400,000. Most of the groups are business related, although there are nearly 130,000 corporate alumni and academic groups.

WordPress is one of the favorite LinkedIn groups because of its knowledgeable and engaging members. You can easily get your questions answered, and you can participate in a lively discussion. Every application you use will have a LinkedIn Group that represents it. The same applies to every type of job you might do, there will be a group for it. Whether you are a photographer, an illustrator, a Photoshop user or maybe a marketer, there is a group for you.

Are you already on LinkedIn? If you have not yet signed up to use LinkedIn now is a good time to do so. LinkedIn members are not there to look at their friends photos or to give their friends a minute-by-minute description of their day. Rather, it is an excellent place to make the types of connections that can grow an income.

Take the time to update your profile so it clearly and concisely explains what you are all about and what it is you have done. Make sure that you take the time to get at least a couple of recommendations. The best way to do this is to offer to write a recommendation for someone else. Now start driving traffic to your site.

There are plenty of social media sites out there and LinkedIn is one of the most popular. Unlike Facebook, which caters to users of all ages over 13, from all walks of life, and with all kinds of interests, LinkedIn is far more focused. LinkedIn is the best social media site for professionals, businesses, and freelancers alike. There is no room here for teens or hobbies. This is a site that allows you to promote yourself and your company and to network with other businesses within similar markets.

One of the powerful tools that LinkedIn has to offer is the ability to search. When you know how to get the most from your LinkedIn searches, you can truly get the most out of the site. LinkedIn is built on a highly evolved platform with a well-developed search platform that is broken into six separate sections. Each of these sections will offer you a mix of suggestions as you type. The advanced search is a very powerful tool.

The search bar is found in the top left of the screen, and the each section can be selected from the drop down option to the right of the box.

Searches can be filtered by checking the required boxes to the left hand side.

6 Sections for Advanced Searches

Here is the brake down for the six individual sections for your advanced searched.

1. Updates
   You can filter your results based on your connection level. You can set updates from your immediate network from friends of your friends, friends to friends, or your third level marketing. You can also filter by time, location, range, etc.
2. People 
   You can filter by relationship, location, school, and industry. There are several more options available if you have a premium membership.
3. Jobs
   You can filter by how current the jobs are, the industry they are in, the experience that is required, etc. There are a number of other search options available in this section.
4. Companies
   You can filter by industry, location, company size, relation, fortune, etc.
5. Groups
   In groups you can filter by language and category.
6. Answers
   You can filter by categories, and you can even add multiple categories.

With so many options, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty seeking out exactly what you need, especially if you also use the search Boolean operators. Using these operators, you can exclude words, add words, combine two or more phrases, and add that final touch to your search. Tweaking ensures you get the exact results you were looking for.

Understanding how to use the LinkedIn searches to their fullest capability offers you stimulating opportunities that will inspire you to search more creatively not just on LinkedIn but on other social media sites too.

There are many different social networking sites. However, When it comes to professionals and businesses there is no question that LinkedIn is the leading site. There are tons of opportunities here that will let you build your own brand, advance your career, and market yourself. Letís look at some of the tools that LinkedIn provides to help you market yourself.

Your Profile

In addition to creating your own personal brand, you should list your other qualities in the subtitle. For example, you are a blogger, you are an entrepreneur, or you are a writer. Make sure you post only designations that are relevant to the market you are targeting. You should also make sure you list your experience. You can list yourself as the CEO or Founder of your company if you are the owner. This will help promote yourself.

Use the summary section to introduce and describe what it is you are offering. Use it to describe your service, your product, your blog, whatever it is you are promoting. You should also customize all of your website links. Turn to your external profile links to connect your profile viewers to your blog directly or any other offers you are sharing.

Your Groups

It is important that you join groups. LinkedIn lets you join around 50 groups. There are groups from every industry so finding groups that are relevant to what you are doing, your product, your services, etc. There is more to it than just joining. You need to participate and openly discuss issues at hand. Of course, we are assuming you know something about the topic and so your expertise will bring you rewards in the form of new customers.

Make sure to participate in the conversations and posts that take place. Engaging in an open dialogue will help you to build your presence. When these posts are 100% relevant, you quickly begin to build credibility.

You might even want to start your own group if there a niche that isn’t currently being covered. Even if there is another group, there may be room for your group as well. Running your own group provides you with an excellent marketing tool.

Marketing with LinkedIn is a skill that once you develop can take your business far. You will grow and prosper as a result of the work you do on LinkedIn. That’s why all these large companies can be found on LinkedIn as they already know the secret and are reaping the benefits. Now it’s your turn!

LinkedIn has become a key business networking tool, and it can be an incredibly powerful resource when you want to develop your personal brand. To maximize LinkedIn take advantage of all the features it has to offer and make the most out of your LinkedIn branding campaign.

1. Edit your LinkedIn URL .

• As part of developing your brand, you can leverage your name.
• Visit the Settings Page.Scroll down to the bottom and click “Edit you public profile” to visit the Public Profile settings page.

• Scroll down and on the right hand side of the page, under the “Your Public Profile URL” click “Customize your public profile URL“.

• Enter the URL you want and click “Set Custom URL“
• If you have a more common name, you can try using your first name + middle initial + last name. This will let you expand your name brand. Your LinkedIn profile will appear higher in Google search rankings, which means if someone is looking for you, they are much more likely to find you.

2. Modify your Headline.

• Modify your headline and take advantage of the branding power LinkedIn can offer you. If you are attempting to position yourself to advance your career, you should not overlook the power of the headline. LinkedIn defaults your last job title in the headline. However, you can modify this, simply by going to “Profile”, “Edit Profile”, and then click the pencil icon beside your headline  to Edit.

• Use a keyword or keywords that potential recruiters are likely to search. If you were most recently a Director of Marketing, you could create a headline that supports that.

3. Create a Flawless LinkedIn Profile

• Consider hiring a professional writer to create copy that is compelling and engaging, as well as keyword rich. Make sure that it is 100% free of errors.

4. Ask for Recommendations

• Ask former or current superiors, subordinates, or colleagues for recommendations. Click “Profile“, then click “Recommendations“. Type a short note asking for the recommendation. When hiring managers and/or recruiters see the positive comments in the recommendation they are more likely to consider you.

5. Join Groups.

• Join Groups and then Participate in them. The importance of groups cannot be stressed enough. They do a great job of extending your reach. When you use them smartly, you will enhance your professional branding and that is important. By participating in the groups your name will become recognizable and you will be able to build your branding, one of the most powerful strategies around!

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