LinkedIn is the professional network of choice for more than 600 million users in more than 200 countries. It is the go-to social networking site for finding jobs and employees. It also serves as a place from where you can seek professional opinions, advice and references from your connections.
Communication between the members of this network are formal and measured. Your mode of using the network is keenly observed as your level of professional attitude. While there are a list of restrictions shared by the network itself, here are a few things to avoid while using it.
1. Don’t Lock Your Profile
LinkedIn provides you with Privacy settings to control your profile visibility for its members. You have the option to limit your profile audience. But this is a social network for professional ends and your profile is created to engage with other people. Limiting your profile visibility will curb your chances to engage.
Considering this, make your contact list open to connections. Make your activity feed open to everyone, and keep your name and profile open for all.
You can remove the connection of the people whom you don’t want to share your information with. Simply keep them outside your network.
2. Don’t Add Connections to Your Mailing List
Never export your connection list and add them to your email database. Just because someone has connected with you on LinkedIn does not allow you to add them to your list and send them emails. This is completely unethical and in some countries (like Canada) illegal.
3. Never Request Endorsements from People You Don’t Know
Don’t request someone to endorse your skills unless they are friends, family, colleagues, a client, or someone who knows you well. The approach itself is unprofessional as a person cannot evaluate you without properly knowing you. In fact this reduces your credibility to the requested person.
4. Don’t Send out-of-context Messages
Don’t send irrelevant, script styled messages to your connections. Sharing information or invitation with your connections that is not connected with their profile will give them a poor impression about you. They might start avoiding your communications.
5. Do Not Post Content that Serves Nothing for Your Connections
Always remember you are supposed to provide value for your audience with your content. Though your goal may be to meet certain professional ends, do not post flat promotional information about yourself or your business without adding some takeaway for your connections.
6. Don’t Directly Criticize or Comment Negatively
Being a professional networking site, members are considered to be professionally matured in LinkedIn. Discussions here is a process to enrich each other rather than proving personal supremacy. Within heated debate people often blurt insulting remarks to their competitors that do not necessarily add anything to the discussion. This becomes a mark of unprofessional attitude for him or her and harms reputation.
7. Don’t start an interaction referring, “I found, you viewed my profile…”
It’s a good practice to regularly check who’s viewed your profile and even connect with them, but do so without referring, “I find you viewed my profile.”
That is rude. Just because someone has checked your profile doesn’t mean you should use it as a pretext of striking a conversation relating that. If you are really interested in interacting with the person, you can definitely find another strong reason.
8. Don’t Ask Strangers for Recommendations
Never ask someone you don’t know for a recommendation. Unless somebody knows you or have never experienced your services, they can’t possibly give you a genuine recommendation, so don’t ask.
By the same token, never give a recommendation to someone that you don’t know or whose services you have never experienced. Your credibility is on the line if that person turns out to be less than professional.
9. Avoid Missing out to Check & Reply to Comments
When someone takes the time to read and comment on your status update or LinkedIn Publisher post, make an effort to reply to them in a timely manner. Not only is this a great way to start or build a relationship with the commenter but keep in mind that your post or article will now be visible to their 1st level network, expanding your reach.
10. Never Share your Connections with Anybody without Permission
Your connections in the platform are interested to interact with you and not anybody of your choice. So if you are requested by somebody to share your connection for whatever reasons, you should take the permission of the connection you plan on sharing, before sharing it with him or her.
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