LinkedIn has 9 million users including executives from all of the Fortune 500.  Many lawyers are familiar with this business-oriented online social networking site and may have built up connections on it -- but don’t really know how to use it for marketing or business development.

I am a user and a big proponent of LinkedIn, but I don’t pretend to be the expert, so I have asked some of my friends for their tips.  I want to thank the following people for their help, including, Mary Nurrenbrock, a fellow recruiter specializing in product management (http://www.linkedin.com/in/marynurrenbrock), Liz Ryan, a social networking guru (http://www.asklizryan.com) and Derrick Sorles, a blogging expert (http://www.businessbloggingconsultants.com).

First of all LinkedIn keeps expanding their apps. (I love that word.  It sounds so techie.)  This means there are probably more possibilities than you will ever use.  I would suggest that all LinkedIn users go to the www.LinkedIn.com home page and search the tool bar on top for the applications and explanations.  Here are some of the favorite uses we have come up with.

1. Professional Introductions:  This is one of the biggest reasons to use LinkedIn.  If you want an introduction to make a sales call, inquire about job opportunities or make partner connections with another company, this is the way to do it.  My experience is that LinkedIn gives you instant credibility.  Many executives use it and they realize it is a great networking tool.  Remember in business development, it is not what you know but whom you know.

2. Click on My Contacts on the tool bar.  When it goes to that page you will see Colleagues in the space right below the tool bar.  This is a great way to find past associates from current or previous employers that you might have lost track of.  The list it gives you is not all-inclusive as it only provides 20 or so names.  But they update it frequently.  I check this every week.  For curiosity’s sake I have recently added my days as a General Manager of a Red Lobster restaurant to my profile to see if anyone pops up.  A job has to be in your profile to show up in colleagues.

3. Ask your network a question:  This is a newer feature that allows you to ask questions of everyone in your network. (Obviously the larger the network the better the response.)  You can use this if you need help on a project or a talk you are giving or more information on a particular subject.  You can come up with your own reasons for using this one.

4. Endorsements:  You can ask others in your network, former employers, clients, business colleagues, etc. to give you a recommendation.  These show on your profile.  Again these can provide you with a lot of credibility.

5. Job Search:  There are many jobs posted here and you can do Boolean searches to search by location, industry and title.  Many high-end recruiters are using LinkedIn to post jobs and look for candidates.  LinkedIn is much closer to a specialty niche job board in nature than to one of the major job websites.

6. Find potential contacts at a company you want an introduction to:  This is closely related to No 3 but networking is what it is all about.

7. Web Pages:  You can provide links to your web pages in your profile.  This is especially helpful if you are a small entrepreneur or work for a lesser-known law firm.

8. Special Interest Groups:  There are all kinds of SIGs on LinkedIn that are composed of “like minded” people, i.e. project managers, product management, etc.  If there isn’t a group in an area you want one in it is very easy to start one.
 

Here are some other general tips/facts about LinkedIn:

1. You have to work this network.  It doesn’t just come automatically.  So plan time for it each day or each week.

2. Your contact information is hidden.

3. List past companies and jobs, not just the current one, in your profile.  You never know who might be looking for you.

4. You can synchronize your LinkedIn account with Outlook, Outlook Express, Plaxo, Act, Lotus and Palm.  It will tell you who in your address book are already members.  You also have the ability to choose whom from your address book you want to invite.  You don’t have to invite all or none.  This is another function it is good to check every so often.

5. “Your network” gives you have access to the names in “their network” unless they blind them, which is very infrequently.  It is also good to check changes in your “network” to keep up with people.

6. I like to keep an eye on the people added under network updates on the home page. 

7. One final note, I don’t like to link to the people they call power networkers (I call networking whores).  There are good and bad in hooking up to these people but I still question the value of their introductions.

Tip:  Use the help tab if you have any questions.

A few words about Facebook

Many of you have seen the articles about Facebook – see “Why lawyers can't ignore Facebook for Networking.”  It is becoming the new networking tool for certain business networkers.  I haven’t had the opportunity to check it out personally but I will and more than likely will join it.  I don’t think it has to be either or.  Liz and Derrick, who I regard as two high-end professional networkers, have differing views on the value of Facebook.  Both use LinkedIn and Facebook. 

My take from what they both provided is Facebook is much better if you want the social aspect to your business networking.  Here are some of Liz’s comments about Facebook, “The big advantage for me to Facebook is that it's way, way more interactive than LinkedIn. You can interact in more ways, more like 'real life,' with folks on Facebook than you can on LinkedIn. The chief complaint that people make to me about LinkedIn is that once you have a profile and connect to some people, you're not sure how to proceed. Everything seems to revolve around searching the database. You can do that on Facebook too, but it's the least of the activities that you might find diverting. I learn a tremendous amount about people, culture, life and even business just by browsing profiles, forums and Groups on Facebook, and I haven't found that to be true about LinkedIn.” 

My only comment on using Facebook is be careful what you put up there.  If you are using it for business keep it to business.  Don’t include vacation pictures, the favorite poem you wrote to your spouse, etc.  While these may be great they do not belong in a business profile.