When I’m out with friends and the subject of apps comes up it is normally about the latest must have one for the iPhone, but for those of us who happen to make a living from services such as Linkedin then there are certainly a bunch of other programs that come to mind. There are some truly outstanding apps for Linkedin which if used correctly can have a really major impact on your network building and engagement efforts. Now you won’t go finding millions of apps on Linkedin but the quality is very high and some of them are really ingenious uses of the API.
So where should you start if you are new to Linkedin or just haven’t got around to actually giving any of the apps a spin? Well let’s start with a quick top 5 list of some of the best ones to get your networking effort kicked up a gear or two.
Reading List by Amazon (Linkedin)
This happens to be one the older applications that you can plug-in to your profile but also happens to be one of the best. I guess we all have our favourite genres when it comes to sitting down with a book, but it is always nice to get a recommendation or two from our peers and this is where this app comes into its own. All you need to do is activate the app on your Linkedin profile and then start to populate it with what your are reading now, have read in the past or plan on reading in the future. You can then start to look at other peoples reading lists and for those people with similar interests start following them to see what they recommend. In business it is a huge advantage to be able to find those little conversation openers that do not appear like obvious sales lines, and a common interest in books is a very subtle door opener. Look at your network connections or people you are targeting and see what they are reading now or have recommended. Drop it into chit chat and see if it brings down a few barriers for you too.
WordPress (Linkedin)
If you run a personal or business blog then odds are that you use WordPress as the actual blogging platform, and why now? It is a damn fine blogging solution and the one I use for all of my sites. The WordPress app for Linkedin is a great way to help increase your presence on the site by giving you valuable exposure across your network. It could not be simpler to set-up too, so if you’re a bit of a technophobe you will still find this one as simple to use as buttering toast. All you have to do is enter your blog site URL and you are ready to go. You can even set it up to only post those updates that have been tagged with Linkedin so that maybe some of your more personal entries don’t get published automatically to your network. Social media is increasingly driving more traffic to our businesses so I consider this app a must have.
Card Munch (iPhone)
Now this is a fascinating little app that I’ll be doing a more in-depth post about very shortly. I think many of us still have a lot of love for the good old business card I think that scene from American Psycho is one we can all relate to as we compare cards. So what does this cool little app do? Well it’s a business card scanner on your phone that synchronises the uploaded information from the card with your contacts on Linkedin. All you have to do is line the card up, take a photo of it with your phone and Cardmunch does the rest. It will cross reference all of the data on the card such as contact details and match them up with the contact on Linkedin. Then you can view the persons profile on Cardmunch and it will give you a list of mutual contacts too. It’s a free iPhone app so go and download it right now.
Tripit (Linkedin)
Tripit has been around for a long time now and is a very handy little piece of kit because it allows you to keep all your travel information such as flights, hotel and car rental confirmation emails in one central spot. How many of us have got to an airport and realised we have forgotten a confirmation? I know I have. The Tripit app for Linkedin is fairly similar as it allows you to plan out your travel and share that information with your contacts. Once this has been done you can see if any of your contacts will be in the city or location you are visiting. Very handy for instigating conversations or arranging business meetings. It will also keep track of the miles you have travelled and rank these stats against your contacts, giving you a little fun seeing who is globetrotting the most.
LunchMeet (iPhone)
So are you a fairly sociable type of person who isn’t afraid of meeting people and chatting away? If so then this little app is probably for you. What LunchMeet allows you to do is broadcast your lunch availability to people in the same city and see who is willing to agree to meet you for lunch. An interesting way to make a few new connections and maybe get introduced to a new business opportunity. Of course not everyone out there is that keen on socialising, but for a lot of people within sales this may just be the thing for getting to know new business contacts. So don’t be shy, go get out there and ‘never eat alone’ as the app says.
So there it is, a quick list of 5 app associated with Linkedin that can be used for boosting your network. Check back soon as we will review some of these in more details and discuss all of the others available too.
Photo courtesy of TAKA@P.P.R.S at flickr. Some rights reserverd
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