Some people love to talk about themselves, some would rather others do it for them.  Whatever side you fall on, you need a solid profile that tells your LinkedIn connections that you’re a credible business person.  Today we have Mark Amtower of Federal Direct who offers his second installment of how to maximize LinkedIn.

Amtower: Assuming you’ve written a profile, before you proceed and hit submit, read it aloud to yourself and see how it sounds.  The “sound test” – actually hearing it – is a good test and it’s important to be mindful of your goal(s) for LinkedIn: are you positioning yourself as a sales guru, a marketing genius, some other type of thought leader in your niche? Or are you positioning yourself as a manager or other executive? All elements of your profile need to support your goal.

Now that you are proceeding with your profile and filling in all the “experience” slots along the way, here are a few more things to do along the way.

-          when filling in past positions, make a list of former co-workers you’d like to stay in touch with;

-          look them up on LinkedIn and find a way to connect (if they list the old company, that is one way to connect) ;

-          identify those who have helped you along the way and write recommendations for them. Do not write recommendations for anyone and everyone, but those who have truly helped you. When they see the recommendation, they have an option on whether or not to post it. Regardless of their choice, they are prompted to return the favor. While not everyone does, many do. Recommendations on your profile add enormous credibility when they are sincere;

-          if you are using the Amazon reading list application, add books to it on a regular basis. Some people like to know you are staying current on various skills by reading. My caveat here is do not add books you have not read- sooner or later someone will ask about them.

-          if you blog, connect it at LinkedIn.

If you are involved in multiple social networks, make sure you say that on each of them. Pick one to be the “flagship” account and update that site more regularly. Trying to do all of them will eat too much time.

I have opted to make LinkedIn my main social networking platform and that is clearly mentioned at each of the other venues.