LinkedIn : 5 Things You Should NOT Do

LinkedIn has become a very important medium for job seekers. Personally i think its very important that you spend sometime and draw up a profile which spell’s what you are made off and can offer to potential employers. Below are some tips that you should NOT do!

Simple but very important things that you should pay attention too. It’s a good avenue, expose yourself to the sea of opportunities!

You only use it if you need a job.
I can usually tell when my friends are on the job prowl because all of a sudden, a barely existent LinkedIn profile is revived. The truth is that you’ll be much better served by keeping your profile and connections current, rather than just reaching out to people when you need something

You have an incomplete profile.
A bare-bones profile does not do you (or your company) any favors. Add all important companies and a description of the results you achieved in the past. Don’t forget to optimize your profile for search–creating a keyword rich profile will help people find you and your company.

You’re not sharing valuable content.

When you publish a great blog post or your company creates a valuable white paper, share it on your LinkedIn feed. Also, share content in your feed from other sources besides your own. Post in your groups to judiciously share articles and links if you feel that it would be of interest to that audience. This will help show you as a thought leader–and, if the content is on your site, can generate quality leads directly from LinkedIn.

You’re not building out your connections.
Again, don’t wait till you need something: You should be constantly adding and accepting connections from people you know professionally or personally. I do not recommend trying to connect with people who you don’t actually know: You want this to be your real professional network, so if someone says, “Hey, I see you know Jim Smith,” you can say that you actually worked with him at a project at a previous company and not that you were just padding your connections number.

You’re not utilizing LinkedIn Answers.
The underutilized LinkedIn Answers section is another valuable place to show your expertise and provide value. People ask questions and, if you know anything about the topic, you can answer in a forum. Add links to important content that backs up your answer, especially if it’s content from your site that fits with the question. One of the best things about LinkedIn Answers is its staying power–unlike other social media sites (think Twitter), the section gets visited by people with similar questions over time, so it can generate leads even a year later.

Source : Inc.com