One of the LinkedIn features I particularly enjoy is the well-considered, thought-provoking questions and answers about subjects in which I have an interest - both in Groups and Answers. The different viewpoints have expanded my horizons, knowledge and interests.   My perception of many contributors - most of whom I’ve never met - has been enhanced by their on-line contributions and I feel I’ve benefited from them sharing their knowledge and experiences. 

There’s a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience I know I can tap into through LinkedIn if I need an opinion or expert knowledge, but I'm cautious how I use it.  Why? Because there are people in some of the Groups I follow who are happy to post trivial, or poorly constructed, questions without realising the damage it does to their credibility. I’m wondering if they've heard that asking questions on LinkedIn raises their profile so ask anything rather than stopping to think whether their question is more appropriate for Google?

Recently I received a recommendation request from someone I had met, only briefly, at a networking event.  Despite being from someone working in marketing the request was full of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and mis-use of capitals.  I politely turned it down saying my reputation is at stake when I make a recommendation and my policy is not to make recommendations without first hand experience. The sender understood so I then decided to take a risk and give them some feedback about their e-mail for the simple reason I'm a giver and I was likely to come across them again at a networking event.  I read and re-read what I wrote quite a few times before I pressed send as I didn’t want my feedback misinterpreted by the recipient.  The effort paid off as the recipient responded immediately expressing considerable thanks for the feedback particularly as I’d bothered to take the time to do it just after 6pm on Friday evening. They now understand a bit more about me and I know they’ve spent time reading my profile.

LinkedIn can be a very powerful tool, and whether you work for yourself or within a company you will have skills, knowledge, expertise you may wish to share. It takes time to climb on top of the metaphorical pedestal, but a stupid question, or ill-considered answer, can send you plummeting to the floor. Understandably some companies get jumpy about their staff being active on LinkedIn, but investing in decent guidelines (rules are there to break) and training about the brand will deliver great benefits all round.

In short, LinkedIn builds trust, relationships and credibility and can be a valuable part of your marketing mix, but like everything worthwhile it takes time and effort to get results.  On the other hand destroying your credibility takes just seconds.