Basic Tips for Using LinkedIn Effectively

Complete the profile, add value with the content, build community and take care of visibility.

Photo: Greg Bulla/Unsplash

My colleagues and former students often ask me for guidance on using LinkedIn, so I share some basic tips here, in case they are useful to other users.

Profile

• The profile must be complete in all its fields and up to date.
• Use a good photograph and link to the relevant own sites (website, Twitter).
• Always include an email address, preferably corporate.
• To describe capabilities and interests, use keywords strategically based on how you want to be found.

Contents

• Publish content on a regular basis, even if it only refers to professional matters.
• Alternate content from your own activities with others that add value to your professional field (highlighting events, books, reports, job offers, etc.).
• Recommend relevant content from third parties.
• Take care of the spelling and syntax of all content.

Community

• Gradually join the relevant groups in your sector.
• Interact with other users moderately (commenting on their posts or answering their questions or surveys).
• Accept new links with criteria, after thoroughly reviewing the applicant’s profile.
• Request links moderately and justifying the reason.

Visibility

• Customize the URL of your profile.
• Give visibility to the link of your profile in other networks, website and email signature.
• Occasionally, share your own featured article on other networks.
• Check your notifications and messages regularly.

For other developments, see the chapter “Empleo” in the book Culturas digitales (Ediciones Eunate, Pamplona, ​​2021).

Jose Luis Orihuela is a professor, speaker and author, born in Argentina and living in Spain. He is a faculty member of the School of Communication, University of Navarra (Pamplona). Visiting scholar and speaker in 26 countries. Writer and blogger focused on the impact of the internet on media, communication and culture. His latest books are: Manual breve de Mastodon (2023), Culturas digitales (2021), Los medios después de internet (2015), Mundo Twitter (2011), 80 claves sobre el futuro del periodismo (2011) and La revolución de los blogs (2006). Publishing in eCuaderno since 2002 (ecuaderno.com), in Twitter since 2007 (@jlori) and in Mastodon since 2022 (mastodon.social/@jlori).