Improving you LinkedIn profile makes good business sense.
Social Media has become a significant part of our lives and for business LinkedIn is key! It is a FACT that more people read their LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter feeds than their local newspapers. They also read these feeds and updates more often than what they ever would’ve read the newspaper, in short people want to engage on Social Media, they obviously meaning your customers.
Being informed about using these modern marketing tools is often met with why’s and sighs. People resist taking the time and challenge needed to improve their online marketing and often end up on the critics pile whilst merrily going about wasting valuable marketing time on their version of Social Media marketing, failing to realise how powerful meeting clients where they at can be for your business.
LinkedIn in short is the business persons Facebook, it’s a place where serious business people meet to network, learn and collaborate. It’s by far the most powerful business focused Social Network in the world.
And without a doubt the fastest and simplest way to harness the power of LinkedIn is to take a little time and complete your LinkedIn profile properly with relevant SEO rich content.
Setting LinkedIn up properly gives you a platform from where you can engage with decision makers and professionals PLUS you can automatically interact on Twitter through LinkedIn PLUS you can show case your latest blogs and presentations, in short a VERY POWERFUL platform when used propertly.
The 5 simple step to an effective LinkedIn profile is really very simple but incredibly powerful in promoting you and getting you in front of the right people.
Below are 7 points you must complete
Step #1 to an effective LinkedIn profile is – Complete your profile in detail.
Make sure you use a professional image, one that people can relate to your business, it’s good practice to use the same image across all your Social Media profiles.
Craft a catch phrase, elevator speech that will be a compelling headline to your profile, use your job title and industry in it for SEO purposes.
Put your current and past jobs in your profile. LinkedIn use this information to help you build your network.
Get your education in there as well, also a way for LinkedIn to connect you with relevant people, who knows what benefit connecting with the “old boys club” might deliver.
Make sure you link to your blog and website here, when linking use other in the description drop-down this will allow you to fit in a descriptive key word linking to your blog or website e.g Engineering Jobs.
Link to your Twitter account here. Never under estimate the power of broadcasting your updates and posts on Twitter.
Get your “vanity url”. Here you can shorten your unique LinkedIn url to one more fitting to your profile.
Step #2 to an effective LinkedIn profile is - Next you will find the summary, this is a summary about you, your job and what you can do for people. It’s here where you can go into more detail about your business.
I always answer these 3 statements when I write a summary for a client. 1) This is who I am, 2) This is who I help and 3) This is how I help.
This is also a good place to add your contact details and relevant web address again because you’ll find that interested parties will read this summary with attention and you want to give them as much relevant information as possible.
Step #3 to an effective LinkedIn profile is - Complete your past experience in detail. List your past jobs and the skills and responsibilities you had and performed. This pretty much acts like an online CV so make it shine, interested parties will be able to gauge from here if you are capable of delivering the goods.
The more you can elaborate the better, be careful not to exaggerated or fabricate here. Remeber this is public knowledge and you will do more harm to yourself than good, nobody likes a fraud. Going hand in hand with this is the Skills section, list all of the e.g. stock control, management, etc. LinkedIn has a very helpful suggest function here and it’s actually a lot of fun to complete.
Step #4 to an effective LinkedIn profile is - Recommendations, you are going to have to get at least 3 recommendations from your peers on LinkedIn. This is one of the most read sections on profiles, people are very interested in what other people have to say about you because they know they are more likely to get an objective opinion. It is important in any business to get these recommendations where new and prospective clients can see them.
Good recommendations here can often swing a deal your way if you took the time to get relevant recommendations. A tip here is to give some recommendations 1st to contacts and they are more likely to reciprocate.
Add your Twitter and Blog posts
Step #5 to an effective LinkedIn profile is – Add your Twitter account and blog to your profile. You do this by clicking on More on the menu bar and then selecting Get More Application.
Then you will be taken to a page where you can select a Twitter application and a WordPress application that you can use to add your Tweets and Blogs to your profile and Home page on LinkedIn.
I trust you’ve found this How To article informative. I promise you that if you apply these steps to your LinkedIn profile you will get better results from your LinkedIn efforts.
So why not hit the LinkedIn button top left and tell your friends about it….
Internet Marketing Expert Helping Local Business Profit from the Internet and Social Media, See My Blog Internet Marketing Consultant SA
Related posts:
- 6 Steps to an Effective Twitter Profile!
- Ten Tips to a Better LinkedIn Profile and Better Prospects!
About Tonie Konig
