Photo Credit: Getty
With all things going virtual in an attempt to slow the growth of the coronavirus pandemic, you need to rely more on virtual platforms to deliver your personal brand at work. And when it comes to showcasing your brand, connecting with others and building professional relationships, one of the most important platforms is LinkedIn. These features will be particularly helpful now that you’re WFH.
Your Profile. Before I describe some of the less-known featured of LinkedIn, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll diminish the value of those features if your profile is less than stellar. In a world that has become dominated by all things virtual, thanks to COVID-19, your first impression is almost certainly going to be delivered online. So if you’re working with new people or reaching out to prospective clients, they’re probably going to google you or check out your LinkedIn profile. And since your LinkedIn profile is highly likely to show up at the top of search results when someone is looking to learn about you, your profile needs to look sharp. These days, having a mediocre LinkedIn profile is like joining a C-suite video conference wearing stained pajamas. When you translate the flesh-and-bones you into the bits-and-bytes you through LinkedIn, you ensure that your new socially distant first impression is aligned with the best qualities of who you are in real life.
Now on to the valuable features you probably haven’t considered.
Kudos. Acknowledging others is an important part of leadership and relationship building. It normally happens as a part of your regular day when you’re working alongside your peeps. But when you’re working from home, those opportunities for impromptu gratitude are limited. So you need to be more deliberate. LinkedIn makes it easy with a feature called Give Kudos. It’s under Celebrate a Teammate in the Post menu option (on the bottom of the mobile app screen). You can choose messages like “Thank You,” “Going Above and Beyond,” “Making Work Fun,” “Great Presentation,” “Amazing Mentor” and others. And you can customize the message that goes with the kudos.
Active Status. If you’ve looked closely, you’ve probably seen the little green circle at the bottom right of the headshots of some of your connections. When you see that, it indicates that that connection is online. You can customize your settings to show your connections or all LinkedIn members when you are online. This is not too different from how other instant messaging platforms work, but if your team is active on LinkedIn, this is a great way to know when you can message them and get a quick response.
Find an Expert. When you’re in a bricks-and-mortar office with lots of people who do everything from social media scheduling to data analysis, you have a built-in referral system throughout the hallways. When you need to find someone who can help you be more productive or build a presentation, you just reach out to those in the organization for recommendation. WFH makes it harder to poke your head into someone’s office to ask for a vector, but LinkedIn’s Find an Expert feature can fill in while you’re working remotely. It helps you get recommendations for resources who can help you. And when it comes to remote hiring, seeing an endorsement from people you know and trust can take some of the fear away and can help your team move forward on an activity.
Teammates. LinkedIn is piloting this feature, so it may not be available to all members yet. This cool function gives you the opportunity to access updates from your team efficiently. As teammates, you’ll stay connected to work anniversaries, birthdays, posts, shares and comments. You can currently add your manager, your teammates who report to your manager, other teammates and your direct reports. LinkedIn says that in the future, you’ll be able to add other types of coworkers and important professional relationships. As it stands, you can add up to one manager, 19 teammates who report to your manager, 20 direct reports, and 10 other teammates. With your team likely scattered about right now, this is another way to make sure you stay connected.
Check out these features as you explore ways to feel more productive and engaged when you’re working from your living room sofa.
For the original article, visit Forbes.
