Many call LinkedIn the “set it and forget it” social media. It’s a great professional network, but not as fast-paced as Twitter, and not as fun and interactive as Facebook. But, we all love LinkedIn for the professional quality it brings to the table. There are however three really cool things about LinkedIn that not a lot of real estate professionals seem to know about.
Here are three of my favorite LinkedIn “secrets” that are ideal for real estate professionals:
1.. Export your connections and add to your database
This is a fantastic feature! Did you know you could export all of your LinkedIn contacts? Go to “My Connections” to view a list of all your LinkedIn contacts. At the bottom of the page click “Export Connections,” which will put all this contact info in a format that works for your address book (Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, etc.). This is an easy way to add 50, 100 even 500 people to you database. Add them to your drip email marketing campaigns, send them an invite to join you on Facebook or Twitter – the possibilities are endless!
2. Customize your URL
This is huge – instead of having a long URL that no one remembers, secure a custom URL on LinkedIn. Visit the “Edit Profile” tab and click “Public Profile” at bottom left. Once you’re on this page, on the far right you will see “Your current URL.” This is where you can customize your LinkedIn domain name so you can better brand your account. Your URL may want to be your name or your business – I recommend staying consistent with how you are branding yourself on your website, Facebook page, blog, etc. You can think take this custom URL and add it to your Facebook page, blog, website and email signature.
3. Check out “Signal” and read relevant news and updates
There is a new feature on LinkedIn called Signal which allows you to monitor updates within your network. You can also filter information so you can also see what people in your extended network (2nd and 3rd connections) are posting. You can also do the same filtering by industry or location. I could see this as a really useful tool for real estate agents who are trying to build their business and meet people outside of their inner circle. This is the new way to meet “a friend of a friend.”
I know there are so many more great ways to use LinkedIn – I only covered these three lesser-known facts. I’d love to hear from you how you are using LinkedIn. Leave me a comment below!
Written by: Katie Lance, Social Media Director, Inman News, @katielance
