LinkedIn Recommendations & Endorsements

LinkedIn is the professional social networking platform.

You already know how important it is to make the most of your LinkedIn profile and that you should only accept connection requests from people you know, but what about asking for recommendations?

Personally, I find it a great platform to gather recommendations that I can also use as testimonials on my website. But what do you do if, when you receive a recommendation, you’re asked to provide one in return.

I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine?

It’s mind-boggling – the whole point of a recommendation is to give feedback about the service you received. Yes, you do get the option to provide a recommendation in return when you get one, but what if you haven’t experienced their service, why write one?

It makes a mockery of the whole system.

The same way as when you ask for a recommendation from someone just because you know them or have met them once or twice. What do you expect them to write?

“I met Joe at last week’s networking meeting. Seemed like an OK bloke.”

It’s pointless.

Recommendations exist so potential clients can read how your service helped others

But if you do feel duty bound to return the favour, how about an endorsement?

Endorsing skills

Isn’t it great when that email lands in your inbox telling you someone has endorsed one of your skills on LinkedIn?

Admittedly, now and then endorsements come through for skills you don’t have (or actively use as part of your business) and even you can even receive them from people you’ve never worked with. But on the whole, they are a good way to instantly see how others perceive a particular person’s abilities.

So, if you want to return the favour and interact with your contacts on LinkedIn, why don’t you give endorsements too?

Being on LinkedIn isn’t about sitting back and waiting for people to connect to you or tell you how marvellous you are.  It’s a two-way street where you need to be active to be found.

Give endorsements, contribute to group discussions and offer great information – show yourself as someone who is approachable, helpful, knowledgeable and, well, personable.

You only get out of LinkedIn what you put in, so if you’re not prepared to invest a bit of time to help others, don’t expect to get much in return.

Author: Sally Ormond, Copywriter and MD at Briar Copywriting Ltd. Follow her on Twitter and Google+