In prior posts, we described how to create and use a Facebook page to market your business. (In other articles here and here, we gave tips on doing the same on Twitter.) Now, we wanted to walk you through LinkedIn - specifically, how to get started on the business-oriented social network, which had roughly 135 million users as of November 2011.
First, go to www.linkedin.com and enter your name, e-mail and password where shown below, and then click "join now":
At the next page, you will start filling in your professional details. For this example, we have made up a profile for a self-employed attorney in Philadelphia:
After you click "Create my profile," the next window will allow you to connect with people you already know. If you have a personal e-mail through Gmail or a similar system to which you can grant LinkedIn temporary, secure access, then you can see if any of your existing e-mail contacts are on LinkedIn. Just enter your e-mail address and password, and LinkedIn will see if anyone in your address book is a LinkedIn user:
Once you either perform this search or click "Skip this step," LinkedIn will send a confirmation e-mail to the address that you used to register. After you click on the link in the e-mail to confirm and sign-in again, LinkedIn will show people in its system who the websites thinks you may know (usually based on the name of your company). If applicable, you can select those with whom you want to "connect" on LinkedIn either now or in the future.
Then, you will have your initial account! If you choose, you can share your new profile on Facebook and Twitter by selecting the buttons you see below:
Next, you will have the option to select either a free account or a paid, premium one:
Starting at $25 a month, you will have access to the additional features shown on the left above. If you are completely new to LinkedIn, you may want to remain a free member until have had the chance to use the system for a while, become comfortable with it, and then see what added items you and your business may want to use.
Next, you can enter more details into your profile:
Once you enter in as much additional information as desired, you will be taken to a screen that shows you new, full profile (as you, a LinkedIn user and owner of this profile, will see it - public users coming from the Internet will see less information):
Do not be overwhelmed - here, you will be able to enter a lot more information ranging from recommendations from past and present colleagues to Twitter accounts to educational history. Each of these items should usually be complete to provide people with a detailed description of you and your professional background.
In the forthcoming post, we will go into more detail about these specific aspects of your profile. While LinkedIn can seem confusing and complicated at first, this social-media network is invaluable because it is the major network that focuses on business rather than personal topics. Whether you are a private attorney, a small business, or private consultant in Philadelphia or elsewhere, you definitely want to be on LinkedIn!