Probably the best way to answer these questions is the book “How to REALLY use LinkedIn“! Together with Jan Vermeiren, I wrote the second edition of this international bestseller.

With this book you will learn:

• 10 powerful ways to find new customers, employees or a new job
• 42 tips to make your profile stand out
• 11 strategies to apply LinkedIn at an organizational level
• 31 answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• 30 lesser-known functions and opportunities
• Plus 53 new pages, including extra tips and timesaving tools

Discover also the free “Video & Tools Library”! It has a vast collection of how-to-videos and extra tools, including several Genius Shortcuts.

“How to REALLY use LinkedIn” is available in English, Dutch, French and Spanish. For more info check out www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com

What most people don’t know (yet), is that Jan and I decided to

give away

1 million books

for FREE!

Why?

To actively stimulate the economy! Too many people are looking for new customers, new employees or a new job. They are hardly using LinkedIn, because they don’t know the platform well enough!

At the same time, we are raising 1 million dollar for charity! Check out our website www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com for more info. And remember to download the book for FREE as well! (English and Dutch versions!)

To your success!

What happens if you would take it one step further and visualize what your LinkedIn network really looks like? In one screen? Right!

InMaps is in fact an interactive visual representation of your professional network. You can explore and learn to understand the relationships between you and all of your LinkedIn connections. Do you have clusters and a certain structure in your network? Or not at all?

How does it work? You go to this link. Login with your LinkedIn account and it will generate your map. You notice that several colors are used. You can choose a title for each color. They represent different affiliations or groups from your professional career, such as your previous work experiences, people you have met at a conference, college classmates, or industries you have worked in.

Some people have a bigger name than others. They represent people who are the most connected within that specific cluster or group. It gets even more interesting: When you click on a contact within a circle in your InMaps you will see their profile pop up on the right, as well as lines highlighting how they are connected to your connections. Like I said, discover the relationships within your LinkedIn network.

Why is that important? If you know how you are connected to the people who are in the best position to help you reach your (networking)goals, you are getting closer to realizing your goals!

Need a video to see it? Enjoy!

Have fun with InMaps,

Bert

Did you know that you can reorder the sections on your LinkedIn profile?

How? It’s really easy via drag-and-drop! The headers of each of the sections on your “Edit Profile” page now have handles that can be dragged. To reorder a section, all you need to do is click and drag one of these section headers up or down the body of your profile. When you release the mouse, the section will drop into place where you dragged it, and your adjustment will take effect immediately.

Why would you change the order? Well, it gives you the ability to highlight the skills, expertise, and/or experiences that make you stand out. If you are just graduating, it makes more sense to have your education first. If you are looking for a job, it might be a good idea to share your expertise through the Applications first.

Not sure how to do it? Watch this YouTube clip and see for yourself how easy it really is!

In your profile you could upload an 80 x 80 pixels image. I agree that most people look like they where just arrested or something Others seem too far away, so instinctively I always tried to click on the picture, but of course it did not work. Now it does! And you are getting a bigger version of someone’s profile picture. I love it!

So, what are your next steps?

1. If you already have a profile picture (80×80 pixels), then delete it and upload a bigger picture!
2. If you don’t have a profile picture yet, upload a big picture rightaway! No worries about the format (max 4MB)!

So, what are they talking about? From now on, you can add your products or services to LinkedIn to attract, showcase and receive recommendation from your clients. Why would you do that? It’s a common fact that we tend to rely on our network before we buy certain products or services. By endorsing certain products your clients can leverage your attraction to new customers. It’s like extra endorsements! If you have people in your network who recommend a certain product that you are thinking about buying it for yourself, chances are that you tend to buy what they bought, because they endorse it.

A simple example : when you ask a friend or a colleague for a great place to have lunch with a client and he gives you a recommendation on a certain restaurant. Guess where you’ll be going for lunch next? Why? If he tells you it is a great place to eat, you believe him. If an advertisement tells you that, it has less impact.

What are the next  steps? If you don’t have a company page yet, create one! It is easy & simple. Then add a number of your products or services. Invite a number of your customers to recommend them if they feel like it. While you start receiving recommendations for your products or services, you can start promoting them and relate to them in your communication. It will also bring more visibility,  increase credibility and as a consequence of your rising “Know, Like & Trust” factor you probably attract more customers through your LinkedIn network. In addition to reviews, you can display videos, product information and targeted ads on your Company Pages.

What can you do to have a 100% profile? Watch this YouTube clip and implement it.

Oh, one more thing. You are the only one who can actually see how high your percentage is. Don’t worry, people won’t know, but they might notice. How? Well, if you don’t fill out your profile with your education, your recent position(s) or you don’t even have a photo, how would you look? Exactly, not interesting enough! Whatever opportunity may have come your way will not happen…for a reason.

There must be a shortcut, right? Ping.fm is the Genius Shortcut you are looking for! Ping.fm is active in the social network aggregation space and lets you update your status on several sites at once.

I sometimes get remarks from friends that I am so active on Facebook while it has been nearly 2 weeks since I went there…but because my status is updated regularly, most people think I am present and following up in (nearly) realtime. So, now you know that I am using tools on top of those platforms to stay up-to-date and of course I an saving heaps of time!

So, how does Ping.fm actually work? Easy, let me explain in 3 steps:

1. Go to Ping.fm and sing up for an account.

2. Login and add the various Social Media or platforms you want your status to be updated. This is also called “syndication” of your status. You can actually choose from more than 30 sites, including WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, Yammer, Posterous, Flickr and Delicious!

3. Start broadcasting your updates!

Of course, I need to give you a disadvantage as well : Ping.fm was created with the idea that people want to get their updates out. It is not a tool to follow up on the conversation that happens afterwards. There are other tools perfectly suitable for that (one of the next blogs )!

I am aware that several tools are providing similar services as Ping.fm. Hellotxt.com and AOL Lifestream to name a few.

So, what are you waiting for to update all your Social Networks at once?

I add a couple extra tips:

1. When you write your summary, structure it in 3 parts: about you as professional, about the organisation that you work for and a personal note. Remember: People do business with other people, so you might as well add something personal too!
2. Only use difficult words in the Specialties, not in the Summary! “I am an MBA, CISSP, CISA, ITIL expert with a specialization in cloud computing.” Say what? Exactly! How many people will read on?
3. Write abbreviations and the full names of your technical terms in the Specialties, e.g. WDMP, Wealth Dynamics Master Practitioner

So, I thought, it might be a good idea to start sharing some interesting tips on LinkedIn. Now, why would I do it all by myself if LinkedIn has their own clip on YouTube clip to show it to you

Happy Sharing!

Of course, the list of great stuff on Social Media is endless, so I am sharing four with you:

1. Did You Know 4.0 (check out version 3.0 too!)

2. Social networks around the world 2010 (Research by InSites Consulting)

3. Social Media in Plain English (Commomcraft.com, who else )

4. What the F**K is Social Media? One Year Later (check out the original too!)