Increasing Employee & Client Engagement

Applications Have Gone Under the Radar By Most on LinkedIn…  Hopefully after you read this you will utilize these applications to really change the look of your profile and make it robust and add massive value.

Account & Settings – This is in the upper right hand corner of the webpage – This is where you can set your profile, personal & privacy settings.  One note about your privacy settings.  I would keep it as public as you can so you can be found.  The minimum I suggest is at least showing everything to your network.  Your first degree contacts can view your contacts, your email etc.  More info because you let them in.  You still want to allow 2nd & 3rd degree contacts and those in groups to be able to view your full profile minus the viewing of connections.

Contact Settings can be set so everyone viewing your profile knows what you are interested in being contacted about.  Things like business deals, getting back in touch etc.

You can email your profile, print it or save it as a PDF.

Applications are ways to make your profile shine…  LinkedIn has eLearning modules of You Tube videos you can watch on each that describes it http://learn.linkedin.com/apps/
Blog – If you have a wordpress or typepad blog, you can get it to show the last 3 – 4 posts on your profile.  If people like it they can click on it and view.  If you have a blog, this is a must.

Reading List by Amazon… This is a great way to share books you are reading, thinking about reading or recommend people to read.   This is a great way to share what you are doing.  It is one of the most engaging and talked about topics I have on my entire profile. 

Events section… is on your home page and they have events on there based on your profile and preferences on ones you might like.  May share the events that your network may be interested in and also way to share the events you will be attending.

Slideshare allows you to share your presentations… with your colleagues and connections LinkedIn.  You can use it for sharing valued info, company or product info and reinforce your experiences or expertise.  You can view the presentations of all your connections, find experts for certain industries and topics, and share important presentations with your own connections and the rest of the LinkedIn network.

Google allows you to upload presentations & You Tube Videos… in a professional way to introduce yourself and your work. Add a presentation to your LinkedIn profile to showcase a recent talk or presentation, display a visual portfolio of your professional accomplishments for those viewing your profile. It’s easy to get started. Upload a Powerpoint file or use Google’s free online application to create your presentation, then post it to your profile for others to view.

Box.net helps you share your important data on LinkedIn… Collaborate, share, and exchange your important documents with your specific connections on LinkedIn. In addition to providing free storage and collaboration features, you can also feature key documents directly on your profile. Perfect to showcase your latest work, past deals, or portfolio.

Huddle Workspaces allows you to collaborate with any of your connections privately and securely… Instantly create a project and invite specific connections to join in and collaborate. Brainstorm, exchange ideas with discussion forums, and monitor your progress with RSS feeds. Forget the days of sending around email attachments, as Huddle allows you to directly co-edit your documents and spreadsheets and keeps track of the changes made as a team

Polls… This is a great way to get thoughts and feedback on certain topics and you can get instant feedback.

Company Buzz…  Basically a version of Google alerts So if you want to know what your customers are saying about your company? Every second thousands of people are sending out messages about companies and industries on blogs, twitter, and across the internet. Company Buzz taps into this information for you, to find the relevant trends and comments about your company.

My Travel is a way see where your trusted professional network is traveling to and when you will be in the same city as your colleagues. The My Travel application allows you to easily meet up at the next industry event or re-connect with old friends. Get started today to display your current location, upcoming trips and travel stats.  A great way to engage in coversation.

How can you use the applications to really maximize your LinkedIn profile?