Once upon a time, I was a Twitter junkie. I loved Facebook. And then my husband reminded me about LinkedIn and how it was social media for professional grown-ups – and I grudgingly explored it.

At first, I found it a bit boring. There were no video clips of my favourite songs from the 1990s. People didn’t post pictures of their breakfast – or their children. Or their pets.

Instead, they talked endlessly about professional innovation, networking, accounting, financial transparency, business growth and ways to build your brand. Then, suddenly, things started to make more sense.

I Googled ways to improve my LinkedIn profile and it began. I was in love with LinkedIn.

Creating a killer headline is not hard to do – it’s all about utilising the characters available and explaining what you do clearly and creatively, in a way that is searchable and intuitive.

Done.

Then the connections started to appear. The competitive heart that beat within me got louder. And louder. I dedicated a set time each day to add more connections and, as the numbers increased, so did the offers of work.

My LinkedIn profile had gone from a stagnant piece of online real estate to a place where people were actively visiting and the result was increased revenue, more clients and new business relationships.

The more it gave to me, the more time I gave it – I went from five minutes a day to a strategic thirty each night, targeting the types of connections that made sense for my business.

Next, I made a decision to improve my summary – the meat of any LinkedIn profile – and I found that also had a direct return on the investment of my time. 

Within six months, I had gone from not using it at all, to having more than 5000 connections and fielding regular work offers that were now making up a decent percentage of my business income.

I signed book deals, wrote content for websites, crafted executive speeches and did a lot of networking that I know is still offering me value today.

Along the way, though, LinkedIn changed.

Now people are posting occasional music videos. Pictures of their breakfast – and their children. And their pets.

And people are complaining.

But, I’m still a fan. If you ignore the unsolicited messages that land regularly in your inbox – filled with salesy messages from people desperate to do business – and you turn a blind eye to the occasional sleazy requests from men who ‘love your profile pic’ and think you sound ‘fun’, LinkedIn is still a valuable resource that has a lot of benefits for service-based professionals in business.

My biggest tip to do well on it? Don’t become one of ‘those’ people.

It’s a sure-fire way to help you stand out from the pack.

You can connect with writer Claire Halliday on Linkedin.