Shama: Hey guys! Welcome to Shama.TV. I’ve got a real treat for you today. I’ve got my good buddy Lewis Howes who is here coming from Ohio of all places visiting Dallas, and he was speaking at a ports conference on social media. So I just snagged Lewis to come chat with us for a little bit to see if he has any tips on LinkedIn on which I believe he’s got a real expertise. You also have a book on LinkedIn, am I right?

Lewis: Yup, yup, it’s called LinkedWorking.

Shama: Yes! And we gave it away not too long ago on this show. So give us you three best tips for LinkedIn.

Lewis: Okay, well for number one, really you want to complete your profile 100%, and it should be really easy for you to do that because LinkedIn gives you guidelines. It says, “add a picture” and it gives you 5 more percent, add a recommendation, more connections, just things like that. So try to fill it out 100%, but also try to be compelling when you fill it out. The more value-driven you are with your profile, the more concise and compelling you are. So fill it out 100%, that’d be number one. Number two would be to add all of your connections that you have. So all of your emails, all of your lists, all of your other social networking sites – import all of that content because LinkedIn is only powerful when you build up your network. If you only have 5 connections, it’s not going to do much for you, so really add all of your connections first, and make sure you personalize every invitation you send out to those people. So make it personal. And number 3 is really take advantage of the advanced applications. You have a blog, so you want to make sure you have the blog application on there. You’ll get more traffic that way. Also, I’ve got a book, and I know you have a book, so use the Amazon application to put your book picture on your profile. So they can click on it there, and buy your book.

Shama: I didn’t know about that application. I did know about the blog one, didn’t know about the Amazon one, very cool.

Lewis: I also do a lot of events around the country, and I use the events application. Now the powerful thing about that is when you set up an event and someone signs up for it, their entire network sees it on their profiles. So it kind of spreads virally by other people signing up. So I can get 300 to 500 people to sign up simply by sending out a few messages.

Shama: So what’s the biggest mistake you see people make on LinkedIn.

Lewis: I mean, when you send the generic invitation, that’s a big no-no.

Shama: What if someone knows you?

Lewis: You still need to be personal by saying something like “Hey, great seeing you the other day, I’m glad we got to catch up a little bit.”

Shama: So it’s kind of an etiquette issue?

Lewis: It very much is an etiquette issue, yes. It leaves a lasting impression.

Shama: Now is there anybody you shouldn’t connect with on LinkedIn? Are there any rules on who you can reach out to?

Lewis: I connect with everyone. Some people say they only want to connect with people that they know, like and trust, but here’s the reason why I connect with everyone and it’s kind of a preference. The more people you connect with on your first degree, it’s gonna expand your second and third degree network. So that’s going to allow more people to find you, contact you, and hopefully hire you. So I want more people to find me and give me opportunities as opposed to just the people that I know. So I reach out to everyone.

Shama: Okay, so let’s say you reach out to someone who has a close network. Is there a proper way to go about contacting them? If they don’t accept you, should you just brush it off?

Lewis: Right, some people want to connect with everyone, others don’t. So just remember, whenever you connect with anyone make sure you personalize it. Find something that mutually benefits the both of you. Say something like “Oh I noticed you went to this University” or “I noticed that you have kids.” Or maybe ask a compelling question. When you ask a question, people are usually going to talk about themselves.

Shama: Very cool! So where can people find you, Lewis on your website, your Twitter, your book?

Lewis: You can go to LewisHowes.com, @LewisHowes on Twitter, Facebook.com/LewisHowes, and also Lewis Howes on LinkedIn.

Shama: Well thank you so much, Lewis, I’m so glad you could join us, tell everyone in Columbus that we said hello!

Lewis: I will for sure!

Shama: This is Shama.TV signing out!