LinkedIn may seem a relatively new tool to most people, but it’s actually older than Facebook. It was founded in 2003, Facebook was a year later. It’s grown to be the largest professional network out there and having a profile set up can certainly have its advantages. To date, it has 530 million users, so if you’re not one of them, you may be missing out.

Setting up a LinkedIn profile is free, though people using it on a regular and large scale, for recruitment for example, may upgrade their profile for a fee which gives access to more features.

Once you’ve set up a LinkedIn profile, there are a few things you should know:

# Make sure you fully complete your profile

It may seem an arduous task, but persevere and finish the edit on your profile! Potential contacts are unlikely to want to connect to you if they see an unfinished job, it might just reflect your general attitude.

# Add a picture

This goes back again to making sure you have a complete profile. Apparently profiles with a picture are 36 times more likely to get a message than those who don’t. You’ll soon find after a short while on LinkedIn that almost everyone has a profile picture, if you want to be part of the community, your going to have to follow suit. It doesn’t have to look like a photographer took it, but make sure the quality is good and that it’s appropriate. Your picture will create an impression, so no high angled selfies!

# Get creative with your headline

When you create a profile, beneath your picture, based on the information you put down when you were building your profile, LinkedIn creates a headline which is usually what people will see alongside your picture in a search. The headline usually automatically states your current or latest job position. Some experts advise you to use this opportunity to market to people what you can offer them. So for example, when you say ‘Samantha Smith, Business Owner’ you might want to be tailing it with something impressive about your role and include some detail that would persuade people to reach out to you. Here one blog site with some great tips on getting your headline right, click here.

# Sign up for a free premium trial

One of the benefits of paying to upgrade your profile to a premium one, is the direct mail facility.  This allows you to privately message individuals, considering most CEOs have a LinkedIn, that’s giving you some exclusive access. Going premium is expensive though and may not be worth it for your usage purposes. Take advantage of the fact you can get a months free trial of premium and use it to make key contacts. Premium also allows you to see whose viewed your profile, which gives you the chance to connect to those people. Make sure you cancel the subscription before the end of the free month otherwise the premium account will roll on to the next month and charge you.

# Build your network

Building your network, done by connecting to people, will make your profile and what you do look legitimate. After you’ve met people, through working together or at an event, try to maintain that contact by connecting on LinkedIn. It’s what the site is for.

# Join relevant groups and networks

All part of networking, search for and join relevant groups on the site. This is a great opportunity to make contacts and promote what you do.

# Ask for an endorsement

If you’ve worked for someone or provided a great service, don’t feel shy in asking for an endorsement on LinkedIn. Essentially this is like a review of you that can be seen on your profile. Experts say you should get people to endorse you for your strongest skill as this will be the most influential to people viewing your profile.

# Think about how you might be found on the site

When writing your profile content and headlines, use key terms and words that are more likely to appear in a search engine.

# Engage with your network

LinkedIn allows you to post images and articles which will appear on a news feed page much like Facebook. The people who will see it are your followers, which are the people you’ve connected with. Keep people aware of your connection and invite interest from others, by posting relevant, interesting content. This provides a great opportunity to promote any blogs you have for your business.

# Make sure you list at least 5 skills

When you create your profile, you’ll be given the opportunity to list key skills such as ‘Microsoft Office Works’ or ‘Adobe Creative Design’ for example– for optimum profile views, make sure you have at least five listed, your apparently 17 times more likely to be viewed if you do this.

If you need more help with LinkedIn and want to know more about how it could benefit your business, The Women’s Organisation are running a course called Getting Serious About Your LinkedIn and Twitter Strategy. The course will be split into two parts, with a focus on LinkedIn on one half of the day and Twitter in the other half. To receive the full benefit of the course, you can sign up for a full day at the cost of £90. Half day course session costs £50. Head over to Eventbrite to book on to the next date for this course now.