I created my account about a month ago. I joined a few groups. Now what?

My thought was to be able to link up with local businesses in my area and cross promote and introduce myself. When I find locals I want to link with I am told I can't because I do not know them.

I must be LinkedIn challenged. I have 1 connection and it would be great to have more. How do I really rock this social medium?

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The Admin Diva
www.theadmindiva.com

Hi, there's a very long thread here with many replies related to your problem that you might find useful LinkedIn Excitement - now what?

I hope that helps you get a start and I'm sure other members will chime in with their words of wisdom as well!

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Don't worry if you feel LinkedIn Challenged because so many people do and it does take some time to figure out.

LinkedIn has really evolved in the past few years and you can really find value in it if you work at it. Getting your profile set up and optimize is a good start. Have you imported your email address book to see if anyone you know is on there? You can invite those folks to connect because you have some relationship with them.

I also recommend joining some VA groups that are on there because then you can connect with those folks and it will be allowed because you can indicate you share a group with them. (You have to go into the group, and then click on someone's name, click to add them as a connection and then the option for knowing them from Groups come up. If you try to add them without going from their profile in the Group, then that option doesn't come up.)

Look for people on there that you may have worked with at other jobs. Do a search by company for others who listed working at those same places. Then you can also connect with those people (as long as you also have that company or place listed as a prior job.) You can also do this for any colleges you went to.

Continue to be selective about who you add or who you accepted. You are trying to build a quality network of people who you may want to connect with.

For those groups you joined, go in and find out what discussions are happening and then contribute an answer. Don't just promote yourself on there but answer questions or participate in discussions much like you do on this forum. This has great value in increasing your visibility and increasing the likelihood that people will want to connect with you.

Find other groups to join like some of them on there for small business marketing, online marketing or I just joined one called Linked Business that is about discussing issues facing small businesses. Granted, there is quite a bit of self promotion and blatant marketing going on by some on LinkedIn, but if it's a good group, then they won't tolerate that type of behavior too much.

Also, go through the Questions and Answers section to find questions you can answer to show off your expertise. Add applications to your profile to show off either your blog, or recommend some good small business books using the Amazon application or make a powerpoint slideshow and add it to your profile using the Slideshare application.

Here are some additional resource online for you to check to get some other ideas on how to use LinkedIn.

100+ Smart Ways to Use LinkedIn

How to Use LinkedIn for Business [video]

5 Steps To Creating A Rockstar LinkedIn Profile

And lastly, here's my profile, you can send me an invite to connect if you want!

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Kimberly
Facebook Marketing Magic!

Kimberly has pretty much mentioned everything that I was, plus. Once I started joining groups of interest (entrepreneur groups, VA groups, groups in MN, and a few others) and participating in the discussions I started receiving invites to join their professional network and I started actually sending out invites as well. I have only sent out a few invites to people other than my actual contacts. I am a member of a MN group and I really like it because it shares great information about seminars, networking meetings, and other things that are going on in the area. This is really important to me since I am trying to learn anything and everything about my business and wanting to focus my business in MN.

I started my LinkedIn account last May, but I really didn't start participating on it until a few months ago. Now that I have I have learned just as much from LinkedIn as I have on this site but for different things. This site is great for a VA business, it specializes and there is so much support, and no fear of asking questions; where as LinkedIn covers so much more, but you do not have the feeling of being with family like you do here, you feel like you are at work.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

I love LinkedIn and I'm hooking up with potential clients or people that could refer my services to pot. clients, left and right. I also figured out that once you are a member of a group, you can send mails directly to most other members, without knowing them. You just have to pick the option that you know them through a group and choose one that shows up. It's also easier then if you have to ask someone else to introduce you to this person. Hope this helps.

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Tanja
http://www.englishgermanvs.com

I've used LinkedIn since back in the very early days of it coming online. For several years I did nothing with it but over the past two years I've been getting quite a few clients from my linkedin profile. I try to keep my profile status updated and every now and then I look for questions I can answer to help others out.

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Cheers!
Judy