Ok, so you’ve got your LinkedIn account setup, you filled it out so it’s 100% complete, and you have connected with everyone you know. Now what?
Great question. Fortunately, LinkedIn is a social network, not just an online resume. There are a few different ways to be social on LinkedIn, but I am going to focus on one that most people don’t know about, yet can help get you in front of new people and establish your credibility at the same time. It’s called ‘Answers’ and it is a great way to listen to what your potential clients or customers are saying – especially the questions they have.
The concept is simple – it is basically just a forum where people can ask questions and others can answer those questions. There are a few features about ‘Answers’ that I think make it so powerful.
First, the questions are separated by category. If you are a financial planner, you can easily navigate to the financial planning section where people are asking questions. You don’t have to hunt through pages and pages of questions to see if there is one that you can answer.
Second, your picture and profile summary show up next to your answer. This allows people to easily see who you are and know what it is that you do right next to the answer that you have given. In addition, they can click on that and go right back to your profile if they want to know more.
Third, ‘Answers’ is a completely open forum. Whereas normally on LinkedIn, you can only interact with people within your network or extended network, on ‘Answers’, you can interact with anyone. This is extremely valuable, especially if you are trying to expand your network.
I encourage you to go and try using ‘Answers’. If this seems intimidating to you, just find one question that you can give an answer to and answer it! Then, the next time you log in to LinkedIn, do the same thing. Not only will you find that your input will be well received, but you also might get a ‘best answer’ as well!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below!
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