Whether you are looking for a job, more customers, or business alliances, LinkedIn can prove to be an invaluable resource – provided you take advantage of its full capabilities.

While many simply use LinkedIn as their digital business card, it offers capabilities that can transform that business card into a multi-media website for accomplishing business objectives.

The following video walks you through 7 secrets for getting more from LinkedIn.  It is just over 4 minutes and moves pretty fast, so the checklist below with additional information will also prove to be helpful in implementing these specific techniques.

#1 – Use Appropriate Keywords – In your heading and title.

When it comes to searching LinkedIn, most people consider their heading to be synonymous with their title. However, you can creatively use keywords in your heading to be more findable for multiple skills, areas of expertise, and audiences.

#2 – Be Diligent About Updating Your LinkedIn Connections

To maximize your benefit from all of the social networking sites you have to accurately describe who you are to create an accurate social graph. This means effectively mirroring your offline and online networks.

#3 – Link to Your Websites with Anchor Text Keywords

LinkedIn gives you a link to up to three websites or pages, and most people easily comply by filling in the blanks with their company websites, personal website, or blog. However, those links can be modified with keywords that make them much more valuable. The trick is using the “other” category to enable that option.

#4 – Add Video to Your Profile to Make it Come Alive

There are two applications for adding video to your LinkedIn profile.  In 3 Powerful LinkedIn Profile Tips I show how this is done with Google Presentations.  This worked very well for a period of time, but then issues developed.  For that reason, I switched to using the Slideshare App.  The only problem is Slideshare shows your most recent presentation, so you may have to reload to keep the one you want on your LinkedIn profile.

#5 – Tag Your Skills and Expertise

While tagging your skills and expertise does not seem to make a significant difference with LinkedIn search, it certainly can’t hurt to keep them current. It may be the deciding factor for someone who has already found you on LinkedIn.

#6 – Tag and Filter Connections to Build Relationships

Asking for a favor when you just meet someone is not smart networking.  Thus, tagging connections so that you can share useful information when it presents itself is a great way to build mutually beneficial relationships over time.

#7 – Make Notes to Remember Important Details and Opportunities

In The Start-Up of You, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman makes an important point: “It’s better to be the best connected than the most connected.”

Virtually everyone has more than 500 LinkedIn connections, but how well are you using them to advance your career or business? Take action – make notes of those relevant opportunities and follow up.

As a bonus, I also describe in 3 Invaluable LinkedIn Tips how I acknowledge ever new connection.  It takes a few extra seconds, but its one more way to differentiate yourself from others who are just collecting more connections.

Which one of these 7 secrets will you use to get more from LinkedIn?

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Until next time, Jeff