LinkedIn’s New “Business Development” Feature – Are you using it to your advantage?

If you’re reading this post it probably means one of two things – you are currently a user of LinkedIn or you’re thinking of joining (go ahead – you’ll like it!). Either way LinkedIn recently added a new enhancement that if used correctly can be a good resource in your business development arsenal.

Who’s Viewed Your Updates?

LinkedIn, the social network for business connections, added two enhancements to the homepage over the summer (they appear to have been rolled out over a number of months to different users) that can be used to assist with your business development activities. Since it appears that everyone has them now, I figure now was a good time to discuss their usefulness.

1. The first is the “You recently visited” which tracks what you’ve been looking at be it an individual profile, company profile, group discussion, search item, etc. According to LinkedIn’s blog the feature,

“makes it easier to retrace your steps, re-engage in conversations or follow-up with that old colleague you intended to connect with.”

In theory this could be a good tool except that it seems to only show you the last eight “places” you’ve been. My memory isn’t great but I think most of us can remember back that far. If there were a way to search within a specific, or at least longer, timeframe or search by type of information viewed, (e.g. profile, group, update, etc.), I think it would serve LinkedIn’s purpose better.

Some people have expressed their frustration with this new feature so if you do find it a little unsettling, or just plain distracting, try this workaround to “block” it from your homepage:

• Intsall the browser plugin Adblock
• Once installed, click on Adblock > options > customize
• Manually edit your filters, add www.linkedin.com##div#you-recently-visited

2. The second, and in my humble opinion much more useful feature is “Who’s viewed your updates” which according to LinkedIn,

“provides you with one simplified snapshot of what you’ve shared over the past 14 days, who has seen it and how it has been received (liked, shared).”

It will also display how many people in your 2nd and 3rd degree networks engaged with your shared content.

Since this feature hit my LinkedIn homepage, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can get my homepage to show the “who has seen it” aspect of the feature but to no avail. In the end, I reached out to LinkedIn to clarify the feature and they replied stating that,

“We show the number of views for the “Who’s viewed you updates” module.”

Well, okay, so maybe it’s not as useful as LinkedIn first implied but at least you have real-time feedback on how well the content you share is received within your network and the number of people within your network who have viewed your update. It shows which individuals commented or shared your update and gives you the choice to “see full conversation” giving you more opportunities to build your professional brand and engage with your clients and prospects. You now have a pretty good idea of which type of content is of interest which should help you hone your sharing skills in regards to your Social Media strategy.

LinkedIn promises more enhancements in their quest to become as interactive as Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully next time around they could be a little more robust.

What do you think of LinkedIn’s new enhancements and which LinkedIn features do you find most useful? The comments section is waiting below.

Lynn
Fitzpatrick Foley

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