I use LinkedIn extensively to connect with people I know in business.  The service offers so many tools to help me find interesting business opportunities through existing networks and is a fantastic communication tool for research and to syndicate information.

I enjoy working with it but am struggling wth their emailing system. I'm also uncomfortable about the lack of control I have over my contact lists. Software as a service like LinkedIn is wonderful, but one major drawback is that your data often gets locked inside these systems and becomes difficult to remove when you decide to migrate to a different service. You end up with raw unorganized data - a total mess.

I have searched for an easier, more automated, solution to migrate my lists through other services like MailChimp, Salesforce.com or SugarCRM. The problem with LinkedIn is that  it's been almost impossible to export a specific list (by industry, company, region or tag) using their offered export options. LinkedIn offers an "all or nothing" aproach.  Export all your contacts into one mass list or nothing at all.

Eporting specific lists never worked, until now.

I finally found a way to do this, using an Excel spreadsheet. I can now break out my master list into specific interest groups. 

This 12 minute video shows how I do it.

I hope this helps you!

If anyone knows of a better way to do this please comment below.

If you liked this tip, why not come watch our weekly web show at http://netcastevent.com/

Cheers!

Kersten