LinkedIn was once just a medium for making connections, and it was utilized most heavily by recruiters and people looking for jobs. It has since upgraded itself to a social media site with room for postings, groups to join, and a direct way to connect with people in your area of expertise. If you are an authority on a topic or have a book related to business, science, health, and many other recognizable fields, LinkedIn is for you.

Some tips on using LinkedIn include:

1. Fill out your profile completely! Think of every place you can add information as an opportunity to present what you are trying to convey or sell.
2. Think of LinkedIn as a way to post your resume to thousands simultaneously. Whereas Facebook might have a picture of your cat associated with your profile, on LinkedIn you should use a photo of yourself or your brand’s logo, book jacket, etc.
3. If you are currently working in your field, you can list your title in your description of yourself. If you are a writer and have won a prize, you may want to identify yourself as “National Book Award Winning Writer.” Maybe you are a cook with a book on cupcakes and you have a blog under that name—identify yourself as “The Cupcake Maven” (or whatever your blog name might be).
4. Sync your contacts with LinkedIn to get immediate connections. Respond to requests to connect and send out your own inquiries. You can search for people that relate to what you are promoting and you can ask to connect with them so they start to see your posts. Also make sure to get back to people who want to reach you in a timely manner.
5. Post a couple of times per week. As with Facebook, there is no need to say something new every day. Some ideas for posts are a link to a new blog on your website (if you have one); an interesting article related to your interests; and any new development in your business or with your book.

There are two levels of membership on LinkedIn. What we have described above works on the free version. If you want to send direct messages to people through LinkedIn and otherwise interact with the platform in a more in depth way, you will need to check out their Premium service, which does carry a fee.

Do you use LinkedIn as an author tool? Tweet @mckinneypr on ways that you use it!

It’s hard not to immediately think about recipes, hair tutorials, or DIY projects when someone mentions the word “Pinterest,” and it can seem like there is no room for anything else when your own boards are filled with these exact objects. But as an author, you can take advantage of Pinterest—and most importantly, have fun with it.

Does your main character that has a love of dresses and cute shoes? You can create a Pinterest board full of the exact clothing that she wears. Was there a specific playlist of songs that you listened to over and over again while you were writing your latest novel? You can make a board solely based on the songs and artists you listed to. Do you have a blog that you post to weekly? You can upload them onto a board based on your blog. Are there a number of quotes from your book that can be added to a graphic? Post them up on a colorful background. Are you participating in the Gilmore Girls/Rory Gilmore books challenge? Add a pin of each book you’ve read so far. (And good luck. That’s quite the goal!)

There’s so much more that you can do with Pinterest, and the best part about it is that you aren’t just limited to one thing (140 characters, a photo, a status). You can make as many boards as you want, full of as many pins as you want.

Another great aspect of Pinterest that makes it different from other social media is that it is a passive and harmless: it’s highly unlikely that you’ll come across a critical or a negative comment, and you don’t have to consistently keep others happy with tweeting, retweeting, liking, commenting, etc.

Make sure that you are maximizing Pinterest by adding a follow button to your website. If you have a blog, you can add a “pin it” button to your website. This allows someone who likes your blog posts to add them to one of their own boards, and it’s one more way that you can market your blog and website.

One last warning, however: You might want to put a timer on though for how long you can spend on Pinterest each day, because Pinterest is an addiction like no other!

Are you an author or a brand that uses Pinterest? Tweet at @McKinneyPR on your favorite ways to use it.