The Care and Feeding of LinkedIn

Guest post by Jackie Nagel, Synnovatia

Social networking is springing up like weeds on the web. LinkedIn. FastPitch. Twitter. YouTube. Facebook. Biznik. Plaxo. Ping. Schmoozii …

The prospect of reaching the world with your message is intoxicating.  Equally, the amount of time spent forging through the plethora of websites with their unique designs and features can overwhelm the most organized individual.

Make Your Time Count
As simple as it may sound, the first step in establishing an effective social networking plan is to set a clear intention for your approach.

For those who are shoppers, spending time at www.linkedin.com, without a clear objective is much like shopping without any idea of what you need.  You wander from store-to- store, aisle -to- aisle, wasting hour upon hour only to leave the premises unfilled and disappointed. (Gosh, that does sound like the LinkedIn experience, doesn’t it!?)

However, armed with a clear picture of your desires, you zoom directly to the aisle that contains what you need.  Although the shiny objects at the ends of the aisles may still catch your fancy, your time is wisely invested.

Set Your Objective
What is your objective for the time invested on LinkedIn? Do you want to position yourself as an expert? Build partnerships and share clients? Find a new career? Connect with a company that up-to-this-point appears to be clandestine? Whatever the reason for your social networking activity, you want it to contribute to your over-arching professional objective.

Time used on www.linkedin.com cannot be recaptured or resold.  Whatever you desire, a reason that is clear and succinct ensures the productive use of your time.

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Jackie Nagel, Founder of Synnovatia™, energizes entrepreneurs that are stuck, stalled, starting up, or stretching with a pioneering coaching approach that drives profits, productivity, and performance.

Tags: jackie nagel, linkedin, social media