What to do daily on LinkedIn to land a job or new business

You hear it over and over ... to land a job or clients using LinkedIn, be active on the site. But what does "being active on LinkedIn" really mean and how much time does it take each day? 

The good news is that it doesn't have to take a lot of time and simple daily tasks can really help you show up higher in LinkedIn search for what you want to be found for. 

 

Here's what to do daily on LinkedIn:

1) Accept invitations to connect using a customized response message. To do so, go to "My Network" and then under "Invitations", click "See all" and then click "Reply" or ""Message" to each person who invites you. Use your reply message to build the relationship or further your job search or business agenda. 

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2) Respond to messages in your Inbox -- Click "Messaging" and then respond to people who contact you to build relationships with your network

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3) Endorse your connections by going to their profile, scrolling to the Skills and Endorsements section and clicking a plus sign (+) next to each skill. Choose "Highly skilled" from the pop up and then click "Submit". Aim to endorse at least 3 people each day for 5 skills who are worthy of your endorsement. 

Why? The action of endorsing people actually helps you show up higher in LinkedIn search. Plus, people will often return the favor and endorse you.

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4) Accept endorsements, thank people for their endorsements and get over your distaste for the endorsement process. Pure and simple: Endorsements help you show up higher in LinkedIn search for what you want to be found for ... so accept them and be grateful. 

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Have more than 99 endorsements for a skill? Kudos! Click on "99+" to see the actual total number of people who endorsed you for the skill.

5) Manually keep track of how many total endorsements that you have received and add the total number in your Summary section, updating it every time you receive 5 more endorsements. Use wording in your Summary like "2,505+ skills endorsements for communication excellence. Thanks!" This growing number displayed in your Summary impresses visitors and encourages people to endorse you even more often because it shows that you appreciate it.

Add your number of endorsements in the top 300 characters of your Summary so it shows up before the "Show more" link.

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6) Scroll through the people in the "People you may know" or "Recommended for you" list under "My Network" and invite 3 people you know to connect. But don't use the "Connect" button in the list. Rather, click the person's face or name, go to their profile page and then invite them from there so that you can customize the message. Doing so greatly increases the chances that they will accept your invitation. How to invite people to connect and what to say

Note: If you can't see the "Connect" button on a person's profile, click the three dots or "More" button and select "Connect" from the dropdown options. To customize the invitation when inviting people from your phone, click the triangle to the right of the "Connect" button and choose "Personalize invite". 

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7) Visit the "Who's Viewed Your Profile" section from your Home page and consider inviting the people who visited you to connect. Note: If you have set your settings to view people's profiles anonymously or semi-anonymously, you will not be able to view your visitors. 

To see who viewed your profile, you must allow
others to see your name and headline.

To change this setting (so you can see who visited your profile), 

• Click your little picture at the top of any page
• Choose "Settings & Privacy
• Under "Privacy", choose "Profile viewing options", and then select "Your name and headline" 
• Note: If people choose to visit your profile anonymously or semi-anonymously, they will still be anonymous even if you make this change or even if you upgrade to a premium account. The only people who you will now be able to see are those who also chose to visit people publicly.

If you have a free account, you can only see 4-5 of your profile visitors. If you have a premium account, you can see all of your profile visitors, although some may be anonymous or semi-anonymous. 

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8) Scroll through all of the posts on your home page that have been posted since the day before, liking, sharing and/or commenting on people's posts as you go.

Like, comment, and share on stories posted on the home page. 

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9) Share an article, quote or question in your "Start a post" box on your home page. Particularly share items related to your field, industry or business. This effort can help you be seen as a thought leader in your specialty area. How to share other people's articles

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10) Post the same items (or different ones) as in Step 9 in 1 to 3 relevant LinkedIn groups. While you are there, like and comment on other people's discussions to grow your presence and relationships within the group.


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11) Review LinkedIn Updates messages emailed to you occasionally from LinkedIn and congratulate people shown who are celebrating their birthday, work anniversary or new position.

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One extra daily duty if you are job seeking: Visit the LinkedIn Jobs tab daily and follow the prompts to apply online for jobs that are right for you. Reach out to someone who you know at the hiring company to enlist their help in getting your resume in front of the right person.

Another extra daily duty for career or business: Consider responding to people who visit your profile to see if you can be of help, suggests Dick Bailey, a St. Louis insurance agent. Doing so could lead to new business, or if you are job seeker, it could lead to a new career opportunity. 

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Once a week

1) Read all recent group discussions and like or respond to at least one discussion post in each group.

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2) Invite 3 group managers and thought leaders within your groups to connect, customizing the invitation message to let them know why you want to connect.

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3) Invite mutual friends of 1 to 3 of your connections to connect customizing your message to remind them of how you know each other. To view their connections, visit a person's profile and then under Highlights, click [NUMBER] mutual connections.

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Visit a person's Skills & Expertise section to endorse multiple skills at the same time.

4) Endorse all, or nearly all of one of your connection's skills by visiting his/her profile, scrolling to the Skills & Expertise section and clicking the plus sign next to each skill. When you have successfully endorsed the skill, the plus sign will turn into a check mark.

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Once a month

1) Review and improve your LinkedIn profile. (Note: You may want to set the "Share with your network" feature to "No" within your your most recent (top) job listed in your Experience section before making changes so that you can keep your edits private until you are finished).

Turn off the toggle switch in your most current job listed on your "Experience" section so as not to notify your network of changes made on your profile. I keep my toggle switch turned off all the time to avoid accidental "over-sharing"!

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2) Upload sales sheets, documents, presentations, videos and other visuals to your About (Summary), Experience and Education sections to make those sections visually "pop". Do so by clicking one of the entries, such as a current or past job, clicking "Add media" at the bottom of the pop-up box and either uploading a file from your computer or by grabbing a web link generated by one of LinkedIn supported partners (such as YouTube) and pasting it into the box that pops up. Note that LinkedIn doesn't actually share who their supported partners are, so try adding a link and if the box has a gray image, remove it because the link did not work.

3) Write a recommendation about one of your connections who is particularly deserving of your praise. To do so, visit the person's profile, click the "More" button, select "Recommend", and follow the prompts.

Take these simple steps to master LinkedIn whether for job search or business ... it can help you get a job or land a new client! -- Kathy

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