LinkedIn Endorsements: What is the Proper Etiquette in Responding ?
LinkedIn Recommendations are a great way to let others know about your work. They provide an avenue for colleagues and clients to express their thoughts about you.
Now LinkedIn has provided an additional avenue to allow you to tell you story through endorsements.
LinkedIn Skill Endorsements (mentioned in LinkedIn’s 2012 report) are a fairly new feature but one that is used quite frequently. One of your LinkedIn connections can endorse you for your skills.You will receive an email notification that you have been endorsed for one or more skills.
How do you respond?
Your options:
- Ignore the endorsement
- Accept the endorsement without any further connection with the endorser.
- Accept the endorsement and reciprocate. Endorse the person who endorsed you.
- Accept the endorsement and reciprocate. Endorse the person who endorsed you. Send a thank you.
- Accept the endorsement and reciprocate. Endorse the person who endorsed you. Send a thank you with a short note.
- Accept the endorsement and send a thank you.
- Accept the endorsement and send a thank you with a short note.
So what is the best way to respond? While there is no hard and fast rules, here are a few thoughts in choosing your desired response.
- LinkedIn is a social tool. So if you are participating on a social site why not operate as such? You can at the very least respond to the endorsement.
- If you know the connection well then the follow up is easy. But what happens if someone you are not as familiar with endorses you? Couldn’t this be an opportunity to nurture and develop a new or distant relationship?
- Follow your gut.
- Be creative. Try a few approaches and monitor the results.
- Use the best practices you would like used if you endorsed someone.
I hope these tips provide value in responding to endorsements. Let us know in the comments works for you.