Three Daily Best Practices for LinkedIn Users

Done right, you can get more business and leads out of LinkedIn than you can get to. You have to do some work, though. For instance, you need a complete profile along with a head shot that brands you as a professional, and you’ll need to spend consistent time beefing up your connections (things we’ve talked about on the blog before so check out older posts if you’re looking for ideas for those).

That all lays the ground work. After that all you really need to do is to spend a few minutes on LinkedIn daily. I’ve been a LinkedIn user for a while now, and am getting this down to a science. Want to know how I’m building it and how I keep my LinkedIn account humming along at peak proficiency? Here are three things I do daily with (almost) religious fervor. Do this and you’ll never have to prospect for business again.

#1: Status Updates

Just as with most social media, the first of your daily tasks is to update your status. Just like with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms, every day you need to let folks know what you’re up to and what you’re doing. Doesn’t have to be earth shattering. Doesn’t have to even qualify for interesting. You don’t have to give details if details aren’t warranted. Just say something about your normal business day. If you want to get organized about this and save yourself some time, use Hootsuite and load up status updates in advance!

#2: Accept Connections

Your next daily task is to check your network and accept inbound connection requests. The more people you’re connected to the better LinkedIn is going to work for you. Each of these requests is taking you one more step towards your goal of turning LinkedIn into a prospecting and business machine. Accept these requests on a daily basis!

#3: Message

Finally, you’re going to want to message people who’ve connected with you and who’ve accepted your own outbound connection requests. Your goal is to build a network, and you can’t do that by being a wall flower and never communicating with anyone!

There are the top three. Not too scary, huh. 😉  Do each of these tasks daily and watch your LinkedIn account become your single most important business asset!