As most people know, unless you participate in social networks, you won’t get much out of them. The same is true with LinkedIn. One way to engage with others is by posting several Status Updates a day. But sometimes it’s hard to create strong Status Updates.
The good news?
A feature that LinkedIn began rolling out in April, 2013, is extremely helpful in creating powerful LinkedIn status updates.
Still not widely used at this point, it’s the LinkedIn Mentions or “@mentions” option. It allows you to “call out” someone, similar to Twitter or Facebook. They get notified that you’ve mentioned them.
Note: This feature is only available, at this time, for personal LinkedIn status updates. As of this writing, it is not yet available for company page status updates or group discussions.
Use LinkedIn Mentions When Writing a Status Update
1. Go to the home page of LinkedIn. Make sure you are logged in. You will see your status updates there. When you want to mention a LinkedIn connection or company, begin by using the “@” sign and then typing the name of a company or connection in the status update box. Example: @BizSugar.
2. A drop down box will appear with your connections. Select your desired LinkedIn connection or company from the list of connections that appear in the drop-down box (you must be a first-level LinkedIn connection to show up in the drop-down box; you don’t need to follow a company to include a company name, however). Complete your status update and share it.
3. The mentioned connection or company will receive an instant notification informing them they have been mentioned on LinkedIn.
See the image below indicating how simple it is to use LinkedIn @Mentions.
Ways to Use the LinkedIn Mentions Feature
Recommendations
Recommend a product or service, or both, and include the @mention of the person who created it or is selling it.
Thanking Others
Thank someone for sharing useful information. Instead of just sharing great content, include a comment that mentions a person or company.
Congratulating Others
Congratulate a person or business for winning an award or accomplishing an achievement or special milestone of some sort.
Why Using the @Mentions Feature is So Important
As Dale Carnegie said:
Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Benefits of Including a Connection or Company Name
Immediate Notification
The person or company you mention is immediately notified of the mention, so you get on their radar screen in a positive way.
Reciprocation
This encourages the mentioned person or company to reciprocate in some way, as people naturally feel compelled to “return the favor.” This could be by posting something nice about you, sending you a referral, giving you business, etc.
A Positive Impression
By saying something nice about someone else, you look great to others.
Word-of-Mouth
You are providing excellent word-of-mouth for the mentioned product, service, person or organization, which in turn helps them get more connections and business.
Start creating more powerful LinkedIn Status updates by using the “@mentions” option today. You’ll develop stronger connections and create more business opportunities.
LinkedIn is such an underused tool, I think most people consider it solely as a networking tool. We have successfully used it to hire people and create leads. It is so important to have an understanding of it.
Kim Rawks
Great tip! Linkedin, like Google+, seems to have a somewhat steeper learning curve than other social networks but I’ve been using linkedin more lately. This is a needed feature. 🙂
It’s so difficult to keep up with all the changes in our social media channels!
I know that I’ve used the feature before…maybe just not purpose.
Thanks to this post, I’ll start using it more strategically.
Thanks.
The Franchise King®
ed pierce
I really don’t use linkedin as much as I should and your post has made it seem much easier. I might have to play around with it this weekend.
Great informative post! I used LinkedIn as a great social media resource to drive traffic to my site and promote affiliate products. 20 % percent of my traffic comes from LinkedIn. Thanks again for the post.
Siraj Wahid
This is something similar to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus. Now almost all big social networking sites are following the same trend.
Crif Johnson
I think it’s not a good idea. Personally, I won’t be using the feature and am having a tough time making out when it would be beneficial. Ultimate professionalism and attention needs to be maintained on LinkedIn as far as I’m concerned. It will be interesting to see how it educe.
Aira Bongco
But it will a good tool for making more connections. As you can see, mentions can really get people’s attention because it is a free gesture that you do. You really don’t ask for anything in return. So in effect, you’ll get more connections as they notice what you’re doing.
I’m looking to use LinkedIn more. I have definitely struggled with making it more social. These are great tips to get me there and more engaged.
Penelope Silvers
Wow! I did not know about this. Just tried it, and popped up all my contacts. I am starting to lean more towards this site of late for professional networking. Thanks for letting us know about this feature. Will keep it in mind.
Thanks for this article and explanation, when it first came out I noticed it but didn’t do much with it.After reading this now,I just tested it and thanked some one for a great article they shared.
Melissa
I noticed you said “you don’t need to follow a company to include a company name”, but when I tried to tag a company in a status update, the company was not listed in the drop down box. For example, I wanted to mention “Small Business Trends” and this article in my own status update, but when I typed @Small Business Trends, the company did not appear. What is your advice on getting a mention to work with a company you are not necessarily connected to?
Hi Melissa,
I tried this out, and I couldn’t find Small Business Trends, either. However, it does work with other company pages I don’t follow. The only thing I noticed is that you can use the @mention on a company (whether you follow it or not) if it has its name in the Company Page Link. For example, I don’t follow Walt Disney or Adobe, but I can get their names in as @mentions, and they both have their names in their links (www.linkedin.com/company/the-walt-disney-company and linkedin.com/company/adobe).
Anita Campbell
Hi Melissa,
Thanks for bringing that to our attention. I think it must be a glitch in LinkedIn. I submitted a support request on it.
Our Company page is here:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/small-business-trends
But you’re absolutely right, it’s nowhere in searches or the Mentions feature. Whereas two other sites we own or manage, do readily pop up, including BizSugar, the one used in the example above.
I “own” the Small Business Trends LinkedIn page and I can’t even get it to come up in LinkedIn Mentions on my personal profile!
Judging from the LinkedIn Help Center, other companies have had similar issues.
Therefore, I don’t think you have to be following the company to use the Mentions feature.
But LinkedIn does have to be properly indexing the company page for it to work.
– Anita Campbell, CEO
Anita,
That sounds right. Sometimes the @mentions feature is a little glitchy. Once in a while only companies will come up, not connections, but if you try it a few minutes later, it works.
Thanks,
Margie
Thanks so much for the post! I teach LinkedIn and wasn’t aware of this feature. Good to know!