A comment by Brendan Cullen of Survey Guru on my post on the latest LinkedIN endorsements feature got me thinking. Here’s what Brendan had to say:

Well what are people looking for from it? Personally I want it to signify people’s true expertise in particular areas. It’ll provide that only so long as it’s based on merit and not just people playing the numbers game…

Brendan makes a very valid point and I’d like to address it in this follow up post today.

I certainly see the potential for abuse of this new feature – human nature and  examples like Klout suggests this could quickly become a quid pro quo arrangement and therefore largely devalued. However, it’s here and it’s staying for now, so how should we prepare for it?

I wrote my previous post for LinkedIN users to think about how they should highlight their skills and expertise. So many users have incomplete profiles and this seems like a good opportunity to complete them more thoroughly. Maybe it’s time to add more skills, or cull some of those you have listed. I am also finding the endorsements feature is a way to re-connect with other LinkedIN users who I may not have connected with online for some time – sending them emails to thank them for their endorsement and in one case making an arrangement to meet for coffee.

In conclusion, I think so long as we don’t get too caught up in making this a LinkedIN strategy, I am happy to embrace it for now. How about you? Do you think it is pretty meaningless overall or can you see some value to LinkedIN endorsements?

The post LinkedIN Endorsements: A Follow Up appeared first on Write On Track.

Here’s what it looks like:

You can see how useful it will be in terms of building credibility.Your endorsements are a great visual way for others to instantly see your skills. On the flip side, it is easier for connections to compare your skills to your competitors, so you can see how important it is to gain more endorsements.

So how do you set up your LinkedIn profile to take full advantage of this new feature?

Add Your Skills

Now is a good time to complete your LinkedIn profile if you haven’t done so already. Just go to Edit Your Profile, scroll down to Skills and start adding your expertise.

Here’s a handy tip from Social Media Examiner on adding your skills

Make sure you add your skills in order of importance to you, as these will be the first ones listed on your profile and thus the easiest for your connections to see. As you get more endorsements for a particular skill, that skill will automatically rise to the top of the list, as your skills will then be listed by numerical order of endorsements.

Add popular skills to your profile

If you hover your mouse over a skill, a popup box with further information about that skill appears with a figure %, which refers to the popularity of that skill being added to other people’s profiles.

How do you endorse a connection?

• On the top of a connection’s profile, you’ll see recommended endorsements for them. You can suggest additional skills as well.
• You can also endorse them from the new Skills & Expertise section that now showcases these endorsements.

When someone endorses your skills, LinkedIn will send you an email to let you know and the endorsement will show in your LinkedIn newsfeed. This is a good opportunity to send a message to the endorser thanking them for their endorsement and perhaps suggesting a way you can be of service to each other.

We think the new endorsement feature is a positive way to strengthen connections and boost your credibility and profile on LinkedIn. What do you think?

The post How to set up your LinkedIn profile for endorsement appeared first on Write On Track.