How To Use LinkedIn- Obtaining Recommendations

A pat on the back always feels good, but learning how to use LinkedIn to collect recommendations is more than a matter of affirmation. It is also a means by which you can develop a strong reputation and the kind of credibility that will improve your networking and your business. You want other LinkedIn members to recommend you. Their favorable reviews will have a great deal of impact.

You do not want to go fishing for compliments, though. While there are times when it may be okay to ask someone you know particularly well and with whom you are especially comfortable for a recommendation, it is generally considered bad form to beg for a "thumbs up" from your connections.

So, how do you get a recommendation if you are not going to ask directly?

You could just wait for them to happen. If you build up a number of professional connections, some of them will have good things to say about you and may be motivated to give you a nod of approval on their own accord.

That is not really the most efficient way of making something happen, though. Let us be honest. We are all busy people and the motivation to offer someone a LinkedIn recommendation usually is not strong enough to break through our packed schedules, even if we happen to be among the world's most generous people. You do not want to put your reputation development on hold as you wait with your fingers crossed for that "random act of kindness".

The better route involves a little quid quo pro. This is how to use LinkedIn in a more powerful manner. If you give someone else a positive recommendation, there is a very good chance they will reciprocate. Look at your connections. Isolate those with the strongest reputation and/or the most "pull" in your niche. Provide those folks with recommendations. Before you know it, you will start getting notifications from LinkedIn that they have recommended you, too.

There is another advantage to offering those recommendations. Your willingness to vouch for others shows others that you really are involved with your connections and builds your credibility. It also gets you noticed when others see the profiles of those you have recommended.

As you do this, keep one thing in mind. Honesty and authenticity are wildly important in the world of social networking. You do not want to start recommending people without good cause in hopes of getting a kind word in return. Your recommendation may lead someone to engage with another LinkedIn member. Remember, you are vouching for them. Do not make claims with which you are not wholly comfortable. Others may act in reliance on your words. Offer recommendations when and where they are due and you will receive them in that same spirit.

Follow these steps and adapt them as you learn how to use LinkedIn in the most effective manner to gather awesome recommendations for your LinkedIn profile.


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