How to get noticed on LinkedIn

"Most people create a profile, make some connections and maybe get a recommendation or two - then nothing! There is so much more you can do on this site and the more you participate, the more you will get noticed." Mark Williams - LinkedIn expert and trainer.

STATUS UPDATE - is a fantastic feature. This is where you can notify all of your connections 'what you are doing'. When used correctly this can be very powerful. Examples of great updates:

• Joseph is preparing for an interview with a stockbrokers in the City.
  
• Joseph would like to connect with IT recruiters in the banking sector - any recommendations?
• Great article on xyz subject shorturl.com

It is generally recommended that you update your profile on LinkedIn - in other words logging some activity - at least once a week.

GROUPS - joining groups is beneficial in several ways:

1. It expands your network in that every member of every group you are in effectively becomes part of your network
2. You can generally send a message to each fellow group member (for free)
3. You can contribute to group discussions, which is a great way to increase your visibility and meet new contacts who may become directly or indirectly useful to you

RECOMMENDATIONS - the more recommendations you get the more likely it is that people will see your profile because your name (and a link to your profile) will appear on the profile of the person that recommended you. This also works the other way, so it is well worth taking the time to recommend others.

Note - we strongly advise only recommending people you know and genuinely rate, false recommendations are easy to spot and reflect poorly on both parties.

ANSWERS - a fantastic way to demonstrate your knowledge and experience by helping and answering questions posed by people within your profession or industry? You can search for questions by keywords and contribute when you find one you can answer. You could also ask a question which may be answered by someone who could be directly or indirectly be useful to you in your job search. Regular contributors to LinkedIn Answers find they become very popular and receive many more connection invitations.

POLLS - running a poll is easy to do and it produces interesting results and increases your visibility. When a poll is created you are provided with a URL which you can publicise to contacts outside of LinkedIn as well. The results of a relevant work related poll can increase your visibility hugely as people often wish to see the results.