LinkedIn Experts

Yesterday, I wrote about how to become an expert in anything, and I've been trying to prove that by becoming an overnight expert in Social Media. I started following some social media experts in Twitter and ever since I've been reading so many blogs, articles, mashups, and tweets about social media that my human brain is starting to complain that I need more memory.

One of the tweets I came upon clued me in to a Webcast hosted tonight by James Wedmore, interviewing LinkedIn guru, Lewis Howes. Howes is author of the LinkedIn Success Book: "LinkedWorking", and founder of the Sports Executives Association. The Webcast is available for replay and has some great tips and tricks.

LinkedIn, dubbed "FaceBook for grownups", is the first social network site I joined a few years ago, before I had any idea of the power of social networking. Just recently I became more active, joining groups, beefing up my network, and trading testimonials with colleagues. Lewis gave us some additional insights into adding keywords to our profiles in order to up first in a search. He also gave us the little known instructions on how to add a YouTube video to our profiles. One of Lewis's other big tips: Personalize your requests! Don't send the canned messages.

I continued my newfound knowledge of LinkedIn by searching for other experts and came across Neal Schaffer's blog which in turn sent me to Jonathan Milligan's blog post about LinkedIn Answers -- yet another great feature of LinkedIn. All in all, a productive evening.

LinkedIn is the most professional of the social networks -- definitely a powerful tool for job hunting, recruiting, professional networking, and knowledge sharing.