Building your personal brand is crucial for your personal and professional career. Potential employers, recruiters, partners and customer now use social media to do their homework on LinkedIn before accepting an invitation to meet.
Many busy professionals don’t feel they are getting the results from their social media efforts. Spend less time finding and making connections that lead to opportunities.
Follow our brief guide to building your personal brand on LinkedIn and make it easy to connect and be found online.
Quick Tip: Customize Your LinkedIn Profile & Increase Exposure
Improve Google Results With A Custom URL
Customize default LinkedIn profile URL to include your first and last name. Many people don’t realize that social media websites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ allow you to customize your URL. Make it easier for your business associates to find your profile online.
Default URL | Custom URL |
www.LinkedIn.com/madeupname411 | www.LinkedIn.com/in/brianschoedel |
Headline – Gain Attention and Interest
Your headline is meant to gain attention and interest. When you’re requesting connections it’s the first thing they see to determine if you’re relevant to their interests. Keep it short, relevant and what value you bring to potential connections. Think of your audience and avoid titles if you’re in sales.
Quick Tip: Your Headline’s Purpose Is to Gain Attention & Interest. Keep It Concise to Communicate Why You & What Value Will You Provide.
Summary – Use Keywords and Be Concise Yet Descriptive
Use descriptive keywords and phrases in your Linkedin profile summary. Make a short list of keywords for each of your desired audiences. An example of my audiences and search list include my prospective customers, peers, employers and business connections. Keep mindful of commonly used phrases in your industry your audience would search to find people with your attributes, traits and experience. Include a minimum of 40 words to maximize your LinkedIn search and Google results.
Experience – Include Relevant Job Experience and Education
Include positions, companies and brief description the make your professional accomplishments jump off the page. Again keywords are a must since LinkedIn is your virtual resume. Many recruiters will vet your resume and LinkedIn profile against their keyword weighting to ensure you’re a fit to call for a 1st interview.
Keywords – Improve Your Search Engine Results
According to LinkedIn over 313 million professionals use the social networking platform making search extremely important. Not only will you come up on LinkedIn’s search but rank higher on Google organic search results due to the highly inter-connected website. Great news about LinkedIn profiles is they even make recommendations based on your profile attributes.
Applications – Adding applications can be useful way to communicate or share your knowledge as a subject matter expert with your audience. Use LinkedIn applications to share relevant content including: Microsoft Power Point presentations, Adobe PDFs, Google Documents and links to YouTube videos all embedded within your profile.
Embed Content into Your Profile:
- Blog
- Presentation
- File Share Sync & Share Document
- Video
Quick Tip: Many professionals have a blog or Twitter and providing dynamic content including videos, presentations, videos, list your websites
Recommendations-
Your professional references are a must on LinkedIn. There’s been much debate about what the legitimacy of the recommendations. Many hiring professionals, managers, and recruiters will use this information to determine past success and personality traits that fit their organizations. Regularly target people who you know well in your organization and can provide feedback on purchasing decisions.
Cultivate & Grow Your Network Daily
Commit yourself to 20 minutes a day to expand your LinkedIn network and cultivate your connections. Be available to communicate with connections and be available for timely responses.
Quick Tip: Set Goals, Schedule Time & Commit 20 Minutes Daily
Promote Your URL
Many professionals use a link to their LinkedIn profile in their email auto-signature or outbound communications. Encourage your business contacts and customers to connect and share.
Although be mindful that many social media links can get caught in corporate spam filters especially if you include images or more than one link in your email communications.
Quick Tip: Encourage and Promote Your LinkedIn Profile in Your Email Communications.
Status Updates
Communicating with your connections via LinkedIn status updates is a useful to for sharing relevant content, stories and resources your connections will find useful. Amplify your efforts and try out a social media platform like Buffer or
Position Yourself as a Leader
Join Groups and Join Discussions asking and answering questions. Remember to provide value and position yourself as a leader. Avoid constant self-promotion without adding value. It’s the equivalent to typing all caps in an email or screaming in a room. Try to stick to the 80/20 rules apply for posting helpful relevant content. It’s OK to sprinkling in your value proposition on 1-2 of every 10 posts.
Start a Group or Start an Event
Began by joining groups that are relevant to your industry. Once you have developed a following you should begin a LinkedIn Group and host regular events.
LinkedIn can be a powerful professional social media tool for business. Adopt proven best practices and consistently apply them daily to expand your network of connections to grow your business.
Work Smarter Using LinkedIn So That You:
- Spend Less Time and Make More Money
- Amplify Your Efforts to Grow Your Business
- Take Control of Your Social Media Success
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