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Making the Most out of your LinkedIn Profile Status Update

When you are blown away by the nice professional features that LinkedIn offers, it is easy to make LinkedIn a part of your daily routine where you can check how you’re connected colleagues and other professional contacts are doing, search for new people, answer questions in groups, and more. The home panel of LinkedIn is filled with tons of things that you can do to keep you busy for hours.

But what about considering what the daily routines of your connections are? Maybe they are wondering what is new with you. Sure you can update your profile with some new information, but your connections need to go deep into your profile to notice these changes. Fortunately, there is a somewhat hidden feature known as the Profile Status Bar where you can easily keep your profile fresh and have that information readily displayed in your profile for all your connections to notice.

Where the Status Update is Found

You can find a link to the Status Update on the left panel of your LinkedIn Home. It can be found just above the meter that describes your profile percentage. The link is labeled “What are you working on?” Clicking on this link will reveal a textbox where you can simply answer that question and it will be shown on your profile. The position of this link may change in the future.

What to put on your Status Update

If you are really unsure in what to put, try to focus on what the question is which is “What are you working on?” Simply answer it and make sure it is related to business and you are done. Just remember that when you are already finished with what you are working on, you should change it to the next thing you are working on or erase the message so that it becomes blank again.

There is a character limit so you can’t really put paragraphs of information, but you can put a link to more information such as a blog link or an article that you recently wrote. You can even use it to ask a question or share a tip if you have lots of connections that are willing to be enlightened.

What not to put on your Status Update

Remember that LinkedIn isn’t designed to replace any of your existing social networking sites so if you wish to show personal status updates or greet friends, make sure you make use of those updates in those areas and refrain from doing that in LinkedIn. Your network may consist of people that you know personally and some others professionally so they may not relate to what you have on your update.

Once you gotten used to the Status Update, do not hesitate to use the feature often. Some people even update it several times a day to show that they are really active in LinkedIn. There is no limit to how many times you can use it as long as it is for a professional cause.