I recently reactivated my account on LinkedIn.  A friend had established an account for me three years ago, and I never used it.  He was an avid proponent of social networking and to tell you the truth, Iwasn’t interested.  So, my account sat dormant until recently.

Despite the media hype and occasional chastisement I received as an Internet Marketing Strategist, who was not on LinkedIn, I wasn’t really motivated to participate.  And, when it comes to social networking, motivation is key to success.  

When I left corporate America, I made a promise to myself that I would make lifestyle and business choices that intersected at the crossroads of joy, alignment and purpose!  I know that sounds very Polly Anna, but that promise has helped me make good decisions that are in harmony with my goals.  Until recently, LinkedIn just never crossed that intersection for me.  

As a small business owner, I already have a huge to-do list that occasionally makes me hyperventilate.  And as you know, there is never enough time in the day!  So, the last thing I want to do is add another task, to that list that ups my heart palpations.  

For a variety of reasons, the LinkedIn value proposition finally became big enough that I added “Activate my LinkedIn Account” to my to-do list.  

Five Business Reasons

Here are five reasons that increased the business value of LinkedIn for me:

• It’s a great follow-up tool to the proverbial business card exchange.  Several people I know, send LinkedIn invitations as a follow-up to a networking event.  It moves that business card from a cold stack on your desk to a warmer connection.
• LinkedIn provides you with a comfortable permission-based approach to get your credentials in front of someone that you know; but who does not know much about you.
• Your website will have an inward bound link from LinkedIn.   Since LinkedIn is one of the highest traffic sites on the internet, that is a high value link from an SEO perspective.
• You can customize your profile so that your name is included in the public URL that LinkedIn creates.  You can also label your website name with the actual name of your site instead of the default “my website”.    Both of these help to create more visibility for your business.
• Adding a marketing oriented headline to your profile, creates a marketing sound bite that quickly positions you with visitors of your profile.  

If you’re not sure how to create your profile, visit LinkedIn and look at the profiles of people you know.  Ask for their best tips.  (You’ll have to sign up for a basic account to see their full profile, but that’s an easy thing to do.)  And you will find lot’s of help of the web; two good resources are How to Use LinkedIn and 101 Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn.

Three Tips to Increase Your Success

If you haven’t joined LinkedIn or other social networking sites, here are three tips I would offer to increase your success:

• Join because you feel the value of your time and effort is offset by what you gain from participation.
• Be clear about how you want to use the social network.  Career, drive business, have fun, get to know other people with a shared interest…etc.
• Spend some time learning how to get the most out of the site.  Talk to other people, look at other profiles and check out resources on the web.

What other tips or recommendations do you have?