Social media has changed how we network and promote our companies. Since LinkedIn — with more than 260 million active monthly users worldwide — is focused on professionals, it's the ultimate social media platform to market both yourself and your business. So how do you go about making your LinkedIn profile work for you?

The first place to start is to review your profile and make sure it's engaging. A good LinkedIn profile consists of the following elements:

• A professional photo: Make sure it's an image that shows you in your best light.
• Title: This appears directly beneath your name. While you can use your job title, it can be a good idea to list your skills or specialty. For example, you could state something like "Insurance agent specializing in personal and business insurance."
• Summary: The summary is a concise description of your professional experience, specialties and goals. It's advisable to use this section to clearly describe what you offer customers. Keep the paragraphs short. Make sure they're well written and include important keywords or key phrases that pertain to what you do.
• Experience: Here, you can provide a more detailed overview of your professional experience. Use short sentences and quantify the value you brought to your employers in each position.
• Education: Many people place a high value on education, so include all your certificates and degrees, even if they don't pertain to your current occupation.
• Additional information: Add any information you think is pertinent and feel comfortable sharing. For example, you can add some of your interests and even your contact details.
• Improve your profile: In this section, you can add more information about projects you've worked on, publications you've contributed to, languages you speak, skills you possess, honors and awards you have and any volunteer experience that you have earned.
• Add endorsements: It's always wise to get as many sincere endorsements as you can because people viewing your profile like to see that others have been pleased to work with you in the past.
• Keep your profile current: Remember to update your profile as needed in the coming months and years.

Once your profile is optimized, you can start expanding your network further. To do this, review the profiles of your current contacts and see if there are any individuals in their circles you'd like to connect with. Depending on your LinkedIn membership, you can reach out to them directly or ask your contacts to introduce you. Keep in mind that although LinkedIn provides a standard message you can send when you reach out to someone, it's always better to send a personalized one instead — preferably one that refers to something you have in common or that mentions how you could help each other.

To stay abreast of industry developments and make more connections, it's a good idea to join relevant groups. Try to be as active as possible. Take part in conversations and share your own thoughts as you see fit.

Sharing interesting articles, videos and blogs — whether your own or someone else's — with your contacts is a good way to generate interest in what you're doing. For example, you could share tips on how to save on your homeowner's insurance.