Isn’t it really cool when someone asks a business question and you can provide the answer? Aside from pumping up your ego, it also helps to establish you as an “expert” in your field.
You can showcase your knowledge and expertise by answering questions posed by LinkedIn users. It’s one of the great benefits of using LinkedIn for your business. Not only are you helping others, your answers become a part of your personal profile and can be seen by your contacts and those who want to connect with you.
There are several ways to view questions. First, you can view all questions under the “Answers” tab in LinkedIn. You find the Answers tab by clicking on “More.” The questions are listed by category, so it makes it easy to search for applicable questions. Categories include Business Operations, Career and Education, Marketing and Sales, Professional Development and 18 other subjects.
Second, if someone in your LinkedIn network has posted a question, you’ll receive a Network Update on your Home page.
Finally, you can do an advanced search of all questions to narrow things down.
Here’s the part where you get to show off…if you can provide an answer, do it! Not only does your answer appear on the original question, it also appears on your Profile page and as a network update to all of your connections. LinkedIn also sends your response via email to the person who asked the question.
Now for the really cool part – you can become an “expert” on subjects in LinkedIn, based on your answers. Expertise is a feedback measure from other LinkedIn users. If the person who posed the question picks your answer as the best, you gain a “point of expertise” in the category the question was listed under. LinkedIn lists experts in each area and the more points you have, the higher you appear on the list. So, your goal should be to answer as many questions as possible…quantity does count!
So, why does this matter? It’s simple…you answer questions, become listed as an expert, and other people – hopefully potential clients – see that you’re an expert and contact you! Your connections also see your answers, so it helps to establish you as a subject-matter expert to them.
Have you answered questions on LinkedIn – or posted a question? What did you think of the experience?
Great advice, Deb! My only addition is to carefully plan WHAT you want to be seen as an expert in/at. Often, we try to be expert at many things, and this hurts our ability to build a compelling and relevant personal brand.
I look forward to using some of your tips!
I totally agree! I think that at the most, someone should only be listed as an “expert” in just a very small handful of subjects. In this case, quality is most definitely better than quantity!
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