LinkedIn Dos and Don’ts: LinkedIn’s Best Practices

LinkedIn is the largest online professional networking platform. It's only wise to make use of it the right way. If someone is only using it as an online resume, then they are missing out on a lot of opportunities.

LinkedIn not only help to recruit people faster, but it also helps professionals increase their network faster. Some common mistakes can prevent LinkedIn users from utilizing LinkedIn’s benefits. Avoid these mistakes to avail its many advantages.

Creating a LinkedIn Profile and Disappearing

One of the biggest mistakes for those who want to expand their network is not even using LinkedIn. Many users sign up for LinkedIn to have an online resume, and right after, they become inactive. Some users only visit their profile once a month or very occasionally.

If you're barely active, it is likely to lose many opportunities to connect with industry leaders, recruiting agencies, and hiring managers.

By being active on LinkedIn and optimizing profile, you can attract more referrals, build stronger network, and get more opportunities.

Having a Bland Profile

Creating a profile is not enough. When optimizing LinkedIn profile, take opportunities to reveal your personal brand: skills, specialities, etc. Using the default headline given by LinkedIn and only listing your most recent position, title and company information will reduce the chances of your profile to appear in the LinkedIn search results. Optimizing your LinkedIn profile entails more of the basics, such as adding relevant keywords and coming up with an engrossing headline.

Also consider that when creating a LinkedIn profile, it should be visible. It is obvious that some details can be kept hidden from public, but it is not advisable to hide everything. This will defy the purpose of creating a profile in the first place. Motivating every LinkedIn and other users to be in your network before they visit your profile is an amazing idea to grow your network.

You want to help the recruiters to understand that you are the right candidate for them. That is why the Headline, Current Experience and Details, Summary, Past Experience, and Educational Qualification sections should be visible to the public. Otherwise, it is likely that hiring managers will move on to other LinkedIn candidates with more optimized profiles.

Sharing Posts/Photos that Aren't Career-Related

LinkedIn, by first interpretation, is a social networking site. But it is quite different from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For these social networking sites, the primary focus is to connect with friends and socialize. In LinkedIn, the main goal is the same: to connect with social users – only the environment will be more professional.

Therefore, LinkedIn is not the site to share images of your food or pets. It is a network of business professionals who exist to keep up with industry trends and updates. Use LinkedIn to learn more about professional skills and grow your network.

Do not use your LinkedIn news feeds like other social network (Facebook or Twitter). LinkedIn is to attract more professional audience for your business. Its primary goal is to grow professionally. Therefore, business audience will not prefer to view images, videos, and posts that are not relevant to them.

Not Following LinkedIn Etiquette

Even though the objective is to make the most out of LinkedIn, it never means you should send invitations to everyone. By doing so, your account may get labelled as spam. Instead, only try to connect with LinkedIn users who will also mutually get advantages. A good rule of thumb is to send a connect request to the people who you already know or those who are more likely to accept it.

LinkedIn users should make some of the first connections with the family members, friends, and friends of family, previous and current co-workers, managers, classmates, and colleagues before sending to prospects and customers.

Sending invitations to everyone on LinkedIn and not keeping in mind mutual benefits will not help in adding value to your social or business network.

Another common LinkedIn etiquette is not to complain about your boss or a leader at your workplace. LinkedIn is not the place to comment on your workplace.

Thus, these are the simple yet common mistake that many LinkedIn users make. You may want to refrain from doing them to get the most value out of the LinkedIn platform. If LinkedIn is used properly, a user can open up a world of new opportunities.