In this lesson, you learn how to ask and answer questions that give you valuable feedback from the LinkedIn community and develop your reputation as an expert in your field.
LinkedIn Answers is an interactive feature that enables you to ask questions, receive input from a worldwide network of peers and experts, share your own expertise, and develop your platform as an expert.
Understand that LinkedIn Answers is for genuine information sharing among professional peers. It’s not the place for sales pitches (overt or disguised), open requests for help in getting a job, and so forth. That said, asking intelligent, relevant questions and providing useful answers with real value can help develop your expert image on LinkedIn.
To view questions and answers, select Answers from the More drop-down menu on the global navigation bar. The Answers page opens, shown in Figure 12.1.
Figure 12.1. Participate in the LinkedIn community by asking and answering questions.
On the Answers Home tab, you can view the following:
• A box with shortcuts for asking and answering questions. LinkedIn recommends up to five categories based on previous questions you’ve answered. If you haven’t answered questions, this section displays the Answer Now button.
• A list of recent questions from your network.
• The week’s top experts, based on the number of questions they’ve answered and the number of times their answers have been selected as best answers.
• The My Q&A box listing your open questions, if any.
• A complete list of LinkedIn Answers categories.
• Links to questions in French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portuguese, as well as English.
You can ask and answer questions that relate to professional topics in more than 20 categories, including Management, Marketing and Sales, Professional Development, Finance and Accounting, Technology, and more.
Your activity on LinkedIn Answers also appears in the Q & A box on your profile, shown in Figure 12.2.
Figure 12.2. Your profile promotes your activity on LinkedIn Answers.
This box lists your questions, answers, and expertise. If you’ve received any best-answer votes, a green square with a white star appears in this box. To remove the Q & A box from your profile, click the Change This Setting link. For example, if you answer questions that don’t relate to your professional experience, you might not want to display these on your profile.
LinkedIn members with at least five connections can ask as many as 10 questions a month on LinkedIn Answers. LinkedIn imposes a limit to avoid the problem of “question spam” and to encourage members to ask questions of value to the LinkedIn community.
To ask a question:
Figure 12.3. Ask a question to tap into the insight of LinkedIn’s millions of members.
If your question relates to recruiting, promotion, or a job search, LinkedIn offers links to other features that might be more appropriate than LinkedIn Answers. For example, consider posting a job using LinkedIn Jobs or promoting your services in LinkedIn Service Providers directory instead.
LinkedIn’s millions of members now have the opportunity to view and answer your question, providing valuable feedback and information.
LinkedIn automatically closes your question in seven days, but offers you the choice to extend the question another week or close it manually before seven days. See the section “Viewing and Modifying Your Questions and Answers” later in this lesson for more information.
One final step is to select a best answer to the question you posted, if you feel one response provided the most value. LinkedIn members who receive the best answer designations are recognized in the LinkedIn Answers list of experts and on their profiles.
In addition to viewing questions to answer on the Answers Home tab, you can find more questions on the Answer Questions tab. When you select this tab, the Browse Open Questions page opens. Question summaries appear in the order of their author’s connection to you. For example, questions from your 1st degree connections appear first, and so forth. Click the Date link to sort questions by date instead.
On the Answers Home tab, LinkedIn recommends question categories for you based on your profile and any questions you’ve previously answered.
Figure 12.4 shows a sample question summary.
Figure 12.4. To elicit the best responses, ask clear, concise questions.
In addition to the question title, LinkedIn displays the number of answers the question has received, its author, the date it was posted, and its categories.
To browse questions relating to a specific category, click one of the links in the Browse box on the right side of your screen. Most categories have subcategories you can use to narrow the subject matter of posted questions.
If you’re interested in questions related to a specific category, you can subscribe to the RSS feed for that category by clicking the link next to the orange and white feed icon at the bottom of the Browse box. LinkedIn opens the Subscribe Now pop-up box, which enables you to subscribe using your favorite feed reader (such as My Yahoo! or Google Reader). Refer to Lesson 4, “Customizing Your LinkedIn Settings,” for more information about subscribing to RSS feeds.
You can also browse questions in a specific language. LinkedIn enables members to post questions in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Portuguese.
Finally, the Browse Open Questions page also offers links for viewing closed questions and popular experts.
If you view a question that you feel is inappropriate, click the Report Question As link below it to alert LinkedIn staff. Potential reasons for reporting a question include duplicate questions, open advertising, recruitment messages, inappropriate content, connection-building spam, or misrepresentation.
To post a public reply to a question, follow these steps:
Figure 12.5. You can answer questions publicly or privately.
Figure 12.6. You can include up to three web links with your answer.
If you don’t want to answer a question directly, you can
• Click the Suggest Expert button to choose expert referrals from your list of connections.
• Click the Reply Privately link to send a private message to the person who posted the question.
• Click the Share This link to email this question to others or post to the social bookmarking site Delicious. This is a good way to expand the visibility of LinkedIn questions.
When you answer a question, it’s important to provide an intelligent, helpful response. Responding to numerous questions with vague answers in an effort to increase your visibility won’t pay off in the long run. Focus on quality rather than quantity and answer only when you have something meaningful to contribute.
LinkedIn members who post questions can award a best-answer designation to the person who provides the most helpful answer. When you receive Best Answer votes, you increase your ranking on the list of experts.
LinkedIn’s advanced search functionality lets you search its vast collection of questions and answers for specific information.
Searching by keyword enables you to
• Find specific questions to answer
• Discover solutions to your own professional questions from LinkedIn’s large collection of information
• Determine what people are asking and saying about you, your company, or your products
• Collect competitive intelligence
To search by keyword:
Figure 12.7. Search LinkedIn Answers for specific keywords.
To search on a specific phrase, use quotation marks (such as “social media” to search specifically for social media). Refer to Lesson 7, “Searching on LinkedIn,” for more information about advanced searching techniques.
To view only open questions, click the Open Questions tab. From this page, you can also further refine your search criteria if necessary.
You can also search LinkedIn Answers from the quick search box on the global navigation bar. Select Answers from the drop-down list, enter your keywords, and click the Search button. Or click the Advanced Link to open the Advanced Answers Search tab.
To view and modify your own activity on LinkedIn Answers, click the My Q&A tab on the Answers page.
On the first tab, My Questions, LinkedIn displays a summary of the questions you’ve asked. Click the link of any question to view it; if the question is still open, you can revise it. Figure 12.8 shows a sample open question.
Figure 12.8. You can modify a question that’s still open.
If the question is still open, you can
• Click the Forward This Question link to send the question to up to 200 of your connections.
• Click the Close Question Now button to close the question before it closes automatically in seven days. You can also hide your closed question from public view. For maximum visibility, it’s best to keep your question open and allow it to remain on LinkedIn Answers. If you make a mistake or no longer want to display your question, however, you can close and hide it.
• Click the Clarify My Question link, below the question itself, to open the Clarify Your Question page and add related details. LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to edit the question you posted.
• Click the Share This link to share your question by email or on the social bookmarking site Delicious.
On the second tab, My Answers, LinkedIn displays summaries of all the questions you’ve answered. The right side of this page lists the categories in which you’ve demonstrated expertise (based on receiving “best answer” ratings), your answer ratings for closed questions, and statistics about your activity on LinkedIn Answers.
You can modify or delete your answers to open questions only. Click the Clarify My Answer link to add clarification to your existing answer. Click the Delete My Answer link to delete your answer.
In this lesson, you learned how to maximize the potential of LinkedIn Answers for finding professional solutions, demonstrating your expertise, and interacting with a worldwide audience of millions.
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