Answer the Most Important Questions First

Let's start with a question, Why are you on LinkedIn?

On the surface, this seems to be a simple question: only five words and none were more than 10 letters long. But it seems that  whenever we ask that question, we're asking something on par with an existential question like, "What is the meaning of life?" because the response we get nine times out of ten is a contemplative silence.  So we try to break the uneasy silence by asking another question, "What was your encouragement to register on LinkedIn?" and with that usually a big smile appears and they say, "Oh, I received an invitation to sign up." To which our reply is, "That's great, what are your goals for being registered on LinkedIn?" This time the responses range from that contemplative silence to the ambitious, "Gain more clients."

LinkedIn is a place for business professionals to be "found" and "to find" people. It is a vehicle to communicate. It is a tool to use with your business, in your career management, your education, your social endeavors and probably a whole lot more. Yes, you can turn contacts into clients and yes, you can turn prospects into customers but by itself, LinkedIn is not a magic elixir.

In simple terms, LinkedIn is a conduit; it is a connector. The people who receive the greatest results understand this and use LinkedIn accordingly.  If you asked some of the people who have achieved successes with LinkedIn how they would define one formula for LinkedIn success, it would be similar to the following:

LinkedIn

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Strategy/Action Plan

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Initiation                  =           LinkedIn

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Allocated Time

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Execution

So as we discuss LinkedIn we pose some questions for you to think about.

• Why are you on LinkedIn? Do you understand how you can most effectively benefit from it?

• What are you looking to achieve with LinkedIn? Are your goals realistic? Have you created a strategy and supported it with realistic action items?

• How are you showing initiative? You are reading these rules, so that indicates that you have the drive and commitment to learn. What else are you doing to enhance your ability to achieve the goals you've established on LinkedIn? For instance, if you are on it to network, are you networking? What have you been doing to build relationships?

• How much time are you fitting into your schedule to properly participate and execute on your strategy? Unfortunately, this is not the field of dreams (i.e. build it and they will come). Without allocating time in your busy schedule to work your action plan, you may end up more like a billboard in a jungle, bright and shiny but not seen by many people.

To reiterate, success on LinkedIn is not like rubbing the magic lantern and having the genie immediately appear. 24-Hour success should not imply immediate gratification. What 24-Hour success implies is literally setting yourself up for success by doing all the "right" things that will eventually help you succeed. In the wired world we live in, success can occur during the middle of the business day, when you are sitting in front of your computer or while you are sleeping in bed.

© 2012 Chris Muccio, David Burns, Peggy Murrah.