If you have spend any time on other social networks, especially Facebook and Twitter you will know that they change how you interact and what happens to your information on a regular basis. Also you do not really own your connections there because its hard to get a copy of them.
This is not the case with LinkedIn. But what if it was?
There are a ton of good reasons to use LinkedIn as your main professional social network, but you should always remember that the rules can change at any time and it is still not your property you are using, it’s theirs.
That is why it is important to download your connections at least a few times a year. After all if you are using LinkedIn often you are building a valuable network, and you do not want to risk losing it all!
This is a fairly easy task.
- Go to your main profile page and click on Connections
- Next click on Settings (this is the gear icon in the top right hand corner).
- When that page comes up click on Advanced Settings, where you will see a link to export your LinkedIn connections as a .CSV file. This can be read in Excel if needed and is usually the standard format to import into other database management tools.
That’s it! Now you have a file containing your contacts’ first and last names, email addresses, job titles, and companies.
Suggestion would be to do this quarterly.
For those of you who like even more you can also do request a more detailed copy of all your activity on LinkedIn. There is an article on this here
If you have any questions about LinkedIn please let me know in the comments below. I will find the answer for you and maybe even use it in an upcoming tip.
There are 22 key areas on your LinkedIn profile that you can edit and brand to stand out more. In fact a full personally branded LinkedIn profile can increase opportunities by up to 40 times according to LinkedIn. In our free report “5 Steps to Boosting Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn” you can get a head start – click here to access the free report.
Here is what one recipient had to say: “I think it is fantastic and extremely relevant. As you pointed out, my role has changed – but unfortunately, my linked in profile has not. I will be trying to put in place some of the ideas that you have offered.”