Do you LinkIn? Really LinkIn?

As an earlier adopter of LinkedIn, I was always impressed with the concept. Originally, it was heavily used by recruitment consultants to find permanent and contract staff, over the past five years since I joined, the user base has exploded and now has over 100 million users - my own network of 320 gives me access to a staggering 5.25 million of these!

The interesting thing for me, though, is not how it has grown, but how people use it.

As those of you who are LinkedIn to me will know, I am a prolific poster of updates, blogs, snippets and polls. I use it as my primary networking tool to promote our business, my clients and, of course, myself. However, a large amount of users only "LinkIn". They see it as a race to get the network base up and then do very little else.

I expect that many of you will know these things but I thought I would put a few tips, based on my experience, of how I get the most of it.

• Build your profile and focus it on what you want to use LinkedIn for. It is not a resume, but should give the reader the ability to engage with you at the level you want. The new "skill" section is very useful for promoting yourself in searches. 

• Get your headline right. I have seen some great headlines and some really awful ones. The headline is the bit that comes up when people view you in searches, etc, and like any advert should stand out from the crowd. Just having "Manager - ABC" does not say a lot about you, especially if "ABC" is not a known name - a better one would be - "Manager responsible for Finance at ABC, specialist in pharmaceutical research". 

• Choose your connections. The quickest way to find people that you know is to import them from your mailbox. Under "Connections" use the "Imported Contacts" tab to select and invite people who you already do business with. 

• Tag your contacts. Tagging contacts into groups allows you to sort your own list and allows you to promote yourself in different ways. For example I use "Introducer" to promote our services, "Client" to keep them informed of business issues and discussions, and "Professional" to seek advice; 

• Join a Group...and actively take part in discussions. This helps to build your credibility both inside and outside your network, increasing your "digital footprint" and proving that you are an influencer who is able to assist potential targets. 

• Search for targets. LinkedIn is a business tool - it's not Facebook or Google+ -it is about promoting you and your business, so search for relevant people using the search tool and then work out the best way to interact with them. If they are a premium user they will see that you have looked at their profile, and may well, as I do, contact you to find out why you viewed them. Alternatively email them through "Inmail", LinkedIn's email system, or ask to be referred to them through a contact. But, make sure you are polite and explain why you are interested in contacting them.

• Participate and share. If you see something interesting or relevant to others, pass it on. The best networker off the web that I know, never asks for anything, he just connects people who always remember that so and so introduced them and they benefited from it, In the longer term he always ends up getting business from them. Do the same on LinkedIn - help others to promote themselves and they will do the same for you. 

• Post up dates - if you are active on LinkedIn you will be seen by your contacts and by doing so you will stay at the front of their mind. When people ask for help it is usually those nearest to hand - the web is just the same. 

• Find out who is Linking to you and why. LinkedIn is not a race to have the biggest network. It is about creating a network that is a quality one, where you can help the network and the network can help you. So, if you do not know someone and can not understand why they are trying to connect to you, ask them and, of course, if subsequently you find out that they don't benefit your network, purge them to keep your contacts relevant. 

And finally, pay for it - yes, I can see that that may surprise some of you, but for $40 a month it increases what you can do massively...