In a previous post, we detailed how to register for, setup and create a LinkedIn account and profile. Now that you’ve completed your profile, it’s time to expand your LinkedIn presence and start networking. Use the following quick tips to leverage your LinkedIn profile to give your book additional attention.

Ready, Set – Network

Think of your LinkedIn profile as a professional online portfolio that aggregates all your past work experience, professional networks and projects/publications in one convenient location. You’ve worked very hard to develop and maintain this portfolio of your work, so sharing it with the rest of the LinkedIn community is a great way to create new contacts and get your work seen.

The best way to point people to your LinkedIn profile is to add a LinkedIn badge to your email signature, social media pages, website or personal blog. To create a LinkedIn badge, click here and customize accordingly. After you’ve added the badge to your online presence, connection requests and messages will start flooding in!

LinkedIn badges work both ways, you can also easily search within LinkedIn (including people, groups and connections) for networking opportunities. As an author, LinkedIn is a great place to find:

• Contributors/co-authors
• Editors
• Research Partners
• Reviewers/Publicists
• Teachers, organizations and/or institutions that may want to use your books

Quick Tips on How to Find, Reach Out, and Network with Other LinkedIn Members

Join the Discussion: Groups

Now that people can easily find you on LinkedIn, you may want to consider a more proactive approach to expanding your network. You can try “cold-calling” or connecting with people based on LinkedIn searches, either via related connection or by using InMail which is a pay-per email service that LinkedIn provides for paying premium members. For more info on InMail, click here.

However, like phone/email cold-calling, InMail can be costly and relatively ineffective in generating qualified leads. Fortunately, there are LinkedIn Groups that bypass InMail entirely.

The easiest (and best) way to link up on LinkedIn is through ‘Groups’, which are either open or closed communities of people based on a shared interest, industry, event/conference or field. To search for groups based on keywords, simply go to the search bar in the top middle of the page, select “groups” as a filter option and then search for relevant keywords. You’ll be provided a list of relevant search results with group size, open/closed status, activity and members.

Lead Generation Using Groups

A little known secret of LinkedIn is that group members can directly message other members of the same group, regardless of degree of connection or settings. To message these group members, simply click on the “members” tab of the group you’re a member of, use the search bar to type in relevant keywords for people you’re interested in networking with, and a list will populate with potentially hundreds of members. From there, just click the “send message” link under the persons badge and you’re one-step closer to a new connection!

Groups provide a list of members that have shared interests or industry background, and are a great resource you can use to directly reach out to members.

LinkedIn Groups allow you to:

• Connect with experts in your field/industry for partnerships
• Find potential editors and/or co-authors
• Find sponsors and reviewers

Groups are also great places to share content, including any:

• Talks/Presentations
• Webinars
• Event/Conferences
• Book releases/signings
• Blog posts (both personal or blog posts you write for SciTech Connect)
• Updates on your thoughts or work (including status updates and pulse)

You can even create your own group based around a topic or subject that matters to you – just follow this link and click on the “Create a group” button. Just remember that when you create a group, be sure to focus on keywords that are highly topical and relevant to what you want to discuss or build a community around. This will help you attract the right members.

Feed the Feed: Be a Thought Leader

After you’ve established a group presence, you’ll want to be an actively engaged participant within any groups you’ve joined or created. You can do this by sharing and posting content through updates (both in the home feed and in group feeds). These are great places to showcase any new content you have, including blog posts, webinars, talks and any information you think is important to your field or industry. This is your opportunity to share your expertise and insight on various topics, thus establishing yourself as a thought leader other LinkedIn members can look to for information and news.

Just go to your LinkedIn homepage, click on the “Share an update…” box and type in your thoughts, attach an image and share a link. You’ll have the option to share these updates publically with your connections, on Twitter, or other social networking sites.

Remember, getting on LinkedIn not only promotes you, but also your work. It’s easy and a great way to network with your peers. Dive in today and get the discussion started.