Just this morning via Mashable, I found out that LinkedIn now allows you to mention other LinkedIn users via your posts. These are called LinkedIn Mentions. Here’s the LinkedIn Blog Post. Just like mentioning your friends in a shared photograph on Facebook, this new service allows you to confer information in three new ways.
This feature is still rolling out today, and not yet available to everyone- so be patient!
Use LinkedIn Mentions to promote your favorite clients
Mention your connected clients in a LinkedIn Post to promote them. Nothing goes better than to be endorsed via a personal message sent out to your group of friends. Although more temporary, this type of endorsement is more powerful, and personal. Combine this type of endorsement with a statement of your work, and bring in some credit for yourself!
This of course is not an invitation for colleagues to connect together, but a great precursor. LinkedIn Mentions allow you to be present, but not pushy.
Mention the name of a LinkedIn connection in an article that you want them to read
The most obvious of all efforts, but sometimes the most dangerous and overreaching. Say you come across an article on content marketing that you really really want your old boss to read because it would benefit his company- and possibly sell his services. Call him out!
Not only will he read this article and possibly reconnect with you- but it may strike a cord in another connection as well – if it’s good enough for Joe Smith, it’s good enough for me”.
Mention the name of a service provider that you can’t live without
When a supplier is not directly in your chain of services (i.e. you sell fabric and this is NOT the guy who sells you thread, but the man who does your I.T. work) go ahead and tout them via mentions. Very similar to promoting your favorite clients, working up the ladder instead of down it may return your service provider more business- and offer you deals and special offers that you wouldn’t otherwise see.
Mention Conversation Partners
In addition to your connections, you can use LinkedIn Mentions other users that you are not connected to via Conversations within groups, or in the general LinkedIn conversation space. This allows direct communication to those you do not know- This can be an extremely powerful tool to grow your network.
Mention several connections together in the same post -to show synergies
Matchmaker Matchmaker make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch! Depending on who you are, being a matchmaker between connections with similar interests or needs puts you in the position of being a ‘man or woman in the know’. Grouping several mentions together and utilizing any of the above 4 strategies will get your colleagues at least interested in what you have to say, and possibly grow new relationships that you can be responsible for.
Just be careful who you group together!
Conclusion
LinkedIn Mentions are a new powerful tool in LinkedIn, and will help power users and passive users alike with easy methods to promote your status posts.
What Ideas do you have for using Mentions?
