Ten Ways to Get Out of Neutral on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has ten million users, but not all of them are making millions while they sleep and making fast friends with people around the globe. Some of them are scratching their heads and wondering what LinkedIn is good for. Here are ten ideas to get your LinkedIn networking going.

1) Download the LinkedIn toolbar. This is a big deal, because it plays to (what LinkedIn says, and what I believe) LinkedIn's real strength -- connecting you in a more powerful way with people you ALREADY know. (Open Connectors, don't all flame me at once!)

2) The LinkedIn toolbar tells you which of the folks in your Outlook Address Book are already using LinkedIn. Write to these folks (you can personalize the message) and get connected to them.

3) Next, go to the Colleagues feature (one of my favorite LinkedIn capabilities) and find people you worked with back in the day, at past jobs. Write a personalized note to these folks also, and connect to them.

4) Same thing with Classmates - that's your old school mates. Connect to people you remember from college.

5) Now, go look at your Profile. Chances are good that your Profile is out of date in at least one aspect, if not more. Update that sucker. Then, click on the teeny tiny button that says Forward, just above your name. You can send a message about your Profile Update to any or all of your first-degree contacts. Do it -- but be sure and write something human, like "I updated my profile to include my new volunteer post as VP for Membership at the Alchemists Society. What's new with you? I'd love a quick update on your latest projects."

6) LinkedIn should help you stay in touch with people in your network. There's not much value if you and your contacts sit around like lumps vis-a-vis one another. So, visit your LinkedIn homepage often to see who's doing what in your network. When you see that someone has a new job or has won or award or whatever, send him or her a congratulatory note.

7) Leave endorsements for people in your network. There's a networking value (as more endorsements boosts a person's ranking in any LinkedIn search) but also a human value. It feels tremendous to know that someone remembers working alongside you a decade ago and will say so. This is the human side of LinkedIn (thank goodness there is one).

8) Participate in LinkedIn Answers. I am afraid of getting addicted to LinkedIn Answers because it's always there...but a little bit of participation won't kill you.

9) Check out www.linkedintelligence.com to share current LinkedIn ideas and tips.

10) Lastly -- jump into your LinkedIn network by sending a Contact Request (different from an invitation to connect) to one of your second-degree ("friend of a friend") contacts. Pick someone you'd like to know more about, and reach out to him or her to say "Want to talk by phone?" If this is a fruitful contact, you'll immediately feel the tiny little bite of the LinkedIn bug. There are a lot of cool people out there. You just haven't been introducted to them, yet.