LinkedIn: The Place Professionals Do Business

What do 100 million, 135 million, 400 MILLION people know? (updated 3/2016) They know that LinkedIn is the center of your professional digital web presence. And they aren’t there to play FarmVille.
In celebration of LI crossing the 100 million mark just this week, I wanted to share with you 5 wonderful features on this robust tool that you might not know about:

Get a Custom URL

Your name is your digital real estate. Claim it anywhere you can. You can place this on your business card, Facebook profile, email signature and more. It’s easier to type and remember than the default URL they give you with all the alpha numeric keys. If you have a common name, this feature is especially useful. This enhances your personal brand and is beneficial from a search engine optimization standpoint.

Maximize Your Groups

Everyone knows about groups but do you know that the conversations are searchable by Google? If you are discussing a hot topic in your field or are demonstrating your expertise on a subject, that conversation can and will be picked up by search engines. Others that are searching for that information may very well find your thought out response in their search results. Participate and spell check!

Company Profile

You can now have a company profile on LinkedIn, much like Facebook Pages. List your services, employees, job openings, standard information (includes a map), keywords and get your company “face” out there! See this great article about how to “Defy Gravity with Your LinkedIn Company Profile” (this article originally a link but the author deleted the post) by Viveka Von Rosen, my go to LinkedIn Expert. In fact her Twitter handle is @LinkedInExpert.

Today

Using algorithms to target information, this just launched news vehicle (renamed Pulse) is geared to your needs based on your connections, interests, keywords, groups and interactions within the site. This tool is expected to be one of the most useful business news tools available to you.

Third Party Applications

We used to have resumes, references, and portfolios. They are now profiles, recommendations, and third party applications. Use the plug-ins such as your blog, Facebook posts, Twitter feed, Amazon book list, portfolio, Slideshare, Box.net, My Travel and more to showcase who you are and what you do. I really like the Amazon book list because it allows me to share the books that I value in my field and it demonstrates that I am continuing my education and constantly growing. It’s also a great way to refer people to books you recommend.

Most people say to me, “I’m on LinkedIn. Now what?” Even if you aren’t in classic job search mode, learning more about the professionals you are connected to, reaching more, finding work, learning about your field, becoming acquainted with and building relationships with the thought leaders in your industry, showcasing your expertise, I could go on and on with ways you can make LinkedIn indispensable to your work life.

So make the most of these 5 great ways to make it work for you…. ’cause I’d bet a nickel you aren’t using all 5.

Which one do you think you’ll put into action today?