LinkedIn For Dummies

Joel Elad is a social networking, Internet, and ecommerce guru with a software development background and a yearning for entrepreneurship. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including Facebook Advertising For Dummies and Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies as well as previous editions of LinkedIn For Dummies.

• Introduction 1About This Book 2Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 3Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Understanding Linkedin Basics 5Chapter 1: Looking into LinkedIn 7Understanding Your New Contact Management and Networking Toolkit 8Keeping track of your contacts 9Understanding the different degrees of network connections 10Discovering What You Can Do with LinkedIn 13Building your brand and profile 13Looking for a job now or later 14Finding out all kinds of valuable information 16Expanding your network 16Navigating LinkedIn 17Touring the top navigation bar 18Looking at the Settings & Privacy page 19Understanding LinkedIn Costs and Benefits 20Weighing free versus paid accounts 20Comparing the paid accounts 21Upgrading to a premium account 24Chapter 2: Signing Up and Creating Your Account 27Joining LinkedIn 27Joining with an invitation 28Joining without an invitation 29Completing the sign-up process 30Building Your Network 39Chapter 3: Completing Your Profile 43Adding a Summary and Basic Information 43Updating the basic information sections 45Writing your summary first 52Completing Your Summary 54Adding More Profile Sections 55Adding a Position 57Reporting Your Education 60Setting Your Profile URL and Public View 63Part 2: Finding Others and Getting Connected 67Chapter 4: Discovering and Building Your Network 69Searching Your First-Degree Connections 69Searching the LinkedIn Network 72Starting with basic search options 73Advanced searching with filters 76Performing advanced searches 78Saving searches for future use 79Chapter 5: Growing Your Network 83Building a Meaningful Network 84Importing Contacts into LinkedIn 87Importing a contacts list from your email system 87Checking for members 91Finding classmates 91Using the People You May Know feature 93Browsing your connections’ networks 94Sending Connection Requests 97Sending requests to existing members 98Understanding why you shouldn’t use canned invitations 99Sending requests to nonmembers 100Communicating the value of joining LinkedIn 102Removing people from your network 103Accepting (or Gracefully Declining) Invitations 105Chapter 6: Managing Messages and InMail 107Using InMail versus Using LinkedIn Messages 108Understanding LinkedIn messages 108Understanding your inbox 110Getting to know InMail 112Sending InMail 113Managing Invitations 115Tracking sent invitations 115Tracking received invitations 116Setting Up an Introduction 118Planning your approach to each person 119Sending an introduction request message 120Managing Introduction Requests 122Accepting requests and forwarding the introduction 123Gracefully declining requests 126Chapter 7: Interacting with and Endorsing Your Network 127Interacting with Your Network 128Creating a status update to stay connected 129Interacting with status updates 132Giving and Receiving Endorsements on LinkedIn 136Endorsing someone on LinkedIn 138Accepting endorsements on LinkedIn 139Managing your skills and endorsements 141Part 3: Growing and Managing Your Network 145Chapter 8: Understanding Your News Feed 147Understanding the News Feed 148Configuring Your News Feed 151Setting Up Digest Notifications 153Writing an Article on LinkedIn 155Managing Post Interactions 158Chapter 9: Exploring the Power of Recommendations 161Understanding Recommendations 162Writing Recommendations 164Choose wisely, grasshopper: Deciding whom to recommend 164Look right here: Making your recommendation stand out 165Creating a recommendation 166Requesting Recommendations 168Choosing whom to ask 168Creating a polite recommendation request 169Gracefully Declining a Recommendation (or a Request for One) 171Managing Recommendations 172Editing or removing recommendations you’ve made 172Handling new recommendations you’ve received 174Removing or requesting to revise a recommendation 175Chapter 10: Accessing LinkedIn with a Mobile Device 179Surveying the LinkedIn Mobile App 180Installing Any LinkedIn Mobile App 182Breaking Down the Sections of the LinkedIn Mobile App 184Connecting Your App Usage with Website Usage 189Chapter 11: Configuring Settings Like a Pro 191Using the Settings & Privacy Page as a Command Console 192Starting with Basic Account Changes 194Controlling Visibility and Privacy Settings 199Finalizing Your LinkedIn Communications Settings 206Chapter 12: Using LinkedIn with Your Internet Activities 211Exporting LinkedIn Connections to Your Email Application 212Creating your contacts export file in LinkedIn 212Exporting contacts to Office 365 214Exporting contacts to Outlook (non-Office-Suite version) 215Exporting contacts to Gmail 215Exporting Your Profile and Badge 217Exporting your profile to a PDF file 217Creating a public profile badge for other websites 219Part 4: Finding Employees, Jobs, And Companies 223Chapter 13: Finding Employees 225Managing Your Job Listings 226Posting a job listing 227Advertising your job listing to your network 231Reviewing applicants 234Screening Candidates with LinkedIn 237Using Strategies to Find Active or Passive Job Seekers 238Chapter 14: Finding a Job 241Searching for an Open Position 242Tuning Up Your Profile and Network to Make a Good Impression 246Preparing Your Profile and Account Settings for Job Searches 247Checking your profile’s visibility 247Optimizing your profile 249Involving LinkedIn in Job Search Strategies 250Leveraging connections 251Finding people with the same or similar job 252Taking advantage of your alma mater 252Finding target company referrals 253Chapter 15: Following Companies 255Searching for Companies 256Putting Your Company on LinkedIn 259Adding a Company page to LinkedIn 260Part 5: Using Linkedin for Everyday Business 267Chapter 16: Getting Connected with Groups 269Reaping the Benefits of Groups 269Understanding the Two Types of Groups 271Joining a Group 272Starting and participating in group discussions 274Viewing a group’s membership list 279Creating a Group 280Setting Up the Group and Inviting Members 282Building and managing your member list 283Crafting your invitation email 284Approving members to your group 285Chapter 17: Implementing Sales and Marketing Techniques 289Marketing Yourself through LinkedIn 290Optimizing your profile 290Marketing yourself to your network 293Marketing Your Business through LinkedIn 295Using online marketing tactics with LinkedIn 295Mining for Clients 296Generating leads with the Advanced People search 297Finding the decision-maker 299Closing the Deal 301Preparing for the client meeting 301Reporting a positive sale 303Chapter 18: Using LinkedIn Ads 305Understanding LinkedIn Ads 305Finding Out about Filtering Options 307Creating an Ad Campaign 309Managing Your Ad Campaign 317Chapter 19: Discovering Creative Uses of LinkedIn 321Mashing LinkedIn with Other Services 321LinkedIn and Google Alerts 322LinkedIn Archives and Data Syncing 323LinkedIn and WordPress work together 325Building Your Focus Group 326Using Location-Based LinkedIn Ideas 328Building your network before moving to a new city 328Arranging face-to-face meetings when traveling 330Networking with LinkedIn in person! 331Part 6: the Part of Tens 335Chapter 20: Ten LinkedIn Do’s and Don’ts 337Do Keep Your Profile Complete and Current 337Don’t Use Canned Invitations 338Don’t Expect Everyone to Network as You Do 339Do Your Homework 340Do Give LinkedIn Messages Equal Importance 341Don’t Spam 343Do Make New Connections 344Do Cross-Promote 345Do Add Value to the Process 345Don’t Confuse Quantity with Quality 346Chapter 21: Ten LinkedIn Resources 347The Official LinkedIn Blog 347LinkedIn Integrations with Zapier 348LinkedIn Marketing Solutions 348LinkedIn YouTube Channel 349Linked Intelligence 350LinkedIn Speaker Series Podcast 350LinkedIn Plugins 351Social Media Examiner 351TextExpander 351Buffer 352Index 353