Linked in optimizing your profile for business august 2015

Editor's Notes

• #7: We are going to go through this first portion, covering your profile, pretty quickly. It is important to remember that most people will see your personal profile first. You need to have this foundation in place to build a relevant campaign upon. What is your campaign? Is it to solidify your credibility? Position yourself for a promotion? Perhaps you are looking for a new job. Are you looking for more sales or customers? Do you want to position your company above your competitors? The answers to this question should guide you in how you approach your profile: Your overall message, how you word your pitch, what you choose to include. In short, you want to put your best foot forward.
• #8: 100% complete = 40x more opportunities. Building connections starts with people seeing all you have to offer. Members with complete profiles are 40x more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn Use your inbox. Networking doesn’t have to mean reaching out cold to strangers. Start building your LinkedIn network by uploading your online address book (from your email account) and connecting to people you know and trust. Get Personal. As you build your connections, customize your requests with a friendly note and, if necessary, a reminder of where you met, who you met through, or what organization you have in common. Join the In Crowd Join the “In” crowd. LinkedIn Groups can help you form new connections. Start with your school groups and reach out to alumni (they love to connect with students). Find volunteer organizations and associations you belong to.
• #9: LinkedIn is becoming more and more important to today’s business and professionals’ careers. Often it is the first place someone will look when they hear your name. What will they see? Someone they want to hire for employment, a project, as a business? Someone they want to promote to a better position or recruit to their company? A competent and credible professional they would like to, at minimum, network with? 1. What are you trying to accomplish on LinkedIn? Be clear about what you want your profile to do for you Position yourself for advancement Get a new job Find clients and customers Network Stay connected Stay current Maintain or build credibility  Only you  can decide! 2. Closely related to number one: Identify your target audience Who are you trying to connect with? Employers? Colleagues? Customers? 3. What message will you send? What can your readers count on getting from you? 4. Make sure your brand is consistent across social medial and websites
• #10: Use keywords LinkedIn Search Algorithm is geared toward key words and phrases it recognizes. These words are weighted and grouped to find you among many others. Give yourself a leg up by using any keywords you know LinkedIn recognizes, especially in the job title field, summary section and the skills section. A premium account will give you some benefits a basic account does not. One of these is the key word suggestion feature which will prompt you to include certain keywords and phrases people “like you” are using. Make sure to think about who YOU are and how you want to be perceived and what you want to for what reason you want be found. Include all relevant experience, not just paid. Think broadly about all your experience, including projects, products, volunteer work, and groups or organizations. You never know what might catch someone’s eye. Don’t discount college ties – even if yours might have been ‘a while’ ago. Some people go out of their way to do business with an Alum, even one from a different decade Lend a (virtual) hand. As you build connections, think about how you can support others. Comment on a colleague’s status update or forward a job listing to a friend – your generosity will be returned!
• #11: Notice a trend? Focus on what you are able to do and want to do, not what you are missing. I work with a lot of CEOs and Entrepreneurs who don’t have college degrees who are overly focused on this and end up emphasizing rather than minimizing this! You have knowledge and skills to present via courses or projects, perhaps. No one is going to miss the fact your college isn’t’ there if you have a lot of projects or other sections to shore up and emphasize your abilities. If you are using LinkedIn as an entrepreneur, focus on your company and involvement there. Cover your current role in depth and minimize prior ones. Your summary may be more about your company and your role than you per se.
• #12: Regardless of how you intend to use your LinkedIn Profile, you will want to make it clear what you have done to give the reader confidence in what you are capable of! Achievements: Objective information about your abilities – Won Best Employee of the Year Award 3 out of 4 years OR Numbers based information about your abilities – Handled 40 accounts concurrently or reduced anticipated costs by 40% (more info here: http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumewriting/a/resumewow.htm)  
• #13: Soft Skills: Qualities rather than skills - personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. Can also include qualities that make you a good worker – Creative, Persistent, Problem Solver, Team Player, Leader, etc (more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_skills) You want to make sure your personality comes across in your profile and that your information is interesting and personable. Often, people make the mistake of listing out everything they have ever done in the hope that whatever someone might want will be represented. The truth is, they may never see this information because it will be too boring to read! Make sure you come across as knowledge and capable yes, but not pompous or boring. Oh – is THAT all???!!! It may take some work and consistent tweaking, but it is definitely worth it to ensure you are competitive in this social media driven economy.
• #14: Always be thinking about why should the potential customer call you over your competitor? What makes you the best at what you do? Be consistent in how you present your information Ensure that you are using good grammar and spelling Always ask someone else to look at each online presence periodically and or alert you to any potential issues Consistent references and approaches. For example do you work with clients or customers? You don’t’ want to confuse the reader or assume they know you are using these terms interchangeably. I do work in the workers comp arena on occasion and in that field my customers (insurance company or attorney) have clients (employer or insurance company) who both have claimants (my client). Can you imagine if I used customer and client interchangeably? It would be very confusing to have my audience! Contact information – Hello!? How can the reader contact you? Don’t forget to include your website, email, and/or phone number wherever possible. LinkedIn – in your Summary, in contact info, and in
• #15: Develop a plan for connecting with those you have identified as helpful (or not!) If you are working, you may want to let your boss know that you are taking your career seriously and that you have been reading how important LinkedIn is becoming in business in general.  And it is. A lot of professionals think about it as a job search platform. Really it is much more than that and allows one the opportunity to keep current in their industry or field and even keep up with cutting edge changes as thoughts and information are shared so much more quickly than traditional trade journals do.
• #16: Update your status early and often. Networking isn’t just about who you know; it’s about who knows you. Stay on your network’s radar by updating your LinkedIn status regularly – what you're reading, working on, and more. You will want to allow LinkedIn to invite people in your address book to connect when you get a chance. You can easily edit or change anything you need to on your profile by clicking on that item directly (but let me know if you need me to change anything!). You can see how you look to connections or to the public by clicking on the view profile button next to your picture. If you hover near the top a menu will appear with other choices of actions you can do.   To benefit from LinkedIn you will really need to start being more active and share information frequently – even if it is just sharing something someone else posts. I always make sure to post lots of stuff my clients can share with their “connections” just to stay on their radar; it also helps attract new contacts as they find you via your similar posts.   For example, you might share an article on career management from me one of your connections may share it That second may be someone who has an interest in managing his or her career and would like to do business with you but only found you via me, who has nothing to do with your industry!   More here: http://www.deborahshanetoolbox.com/the-linkedin-daily-workplan/
• #17: Turn off your activity broadcasts before you make major changes If you are making a lot of changes you don’t want your connections being notified about every little change (annoying and confusing!). In general though, you DO want this set to yes so that you will show up on their home page periodically when you are active on LinkedIn. LinkedIn notifies your connections when you make changes like:Adding a new current job position, Adding a new current school, Adding a new link to a website, Recommending someone, Following a company, Adding additional skills to your profile, Sharing content with your network, Editing the title of your current position, Current work experience anniversaries, and Adding a connection . Many users don’t realize they can drag and reorder sections – I like putting Skills beneath Summary. Often Certifications are important an should be likewise moved up! Profile LinkedIn has limited formatting. One way to get around this is to use all caps to make certain words or phrases stand out. Another way is to use special characters or symbols. There are limits the amount of text allowed in each section – use every last one! Always add your email, phone number and any other links wherever you can, but AT LEAST in Advice for Contacting, Summary and in the descriptions for any uploaded documents (you do want to be found, don’t you?) Be careful to select the right employers as their logo will populate. If you have your own company, you will want to make sure to create a company page and/or showcase pages. Include your logo! We’ll talk more about this in a bit! Posts Not everyone is going to publish long posts, but it is a great way to quickly establish yourself as an expert!
• #18: LinkedIn is like your personal online sales force! Make sure your profile is 100% complete People will be more likely to reach out or use you or your company if your profile is complete Pictures are especially important According to LinkedIn – you may see as many as 40 times more opportunities with a complete profile than with an incomplete one. Make it personal When you are sending invitations or other messages, don’t rely on the generic default messages – personalize them whenever possible. If possible, include some personal information or acknowledgement At minimum type in their name! Like a post or comment Comment on a post or something they have shared from someone else Be active! Appear invested and involved (you are, aren’t you?)
• #19: You can also add documents, photo’s links, video’s and presentations to your employment history. LinkedIn used to provide a separate section for presentations, but now this is consolidated in to each position (unless you have grandfathered yours). Links in your status updates will be viewed more than those without links. If you are sharing a quote or brief thought, why not include a link to your profile or website?
• #20: While you may be tempted to try to make your skills seem special or different, use the suggested skills that pop up when you start typing. Because of the way LinkedIn’s search engine works you will get “found” more by using existing, popular skills. The same applies to job titles on LinkedIn. The more endorsements you get, the higher in the list they will appear. Ask your connections to endorse the skills you want to move up in your list. Endorsements and skills are somewhat of a double edged sword – they are easy to give, so meaningfulness is a bit watered down. BUT, visually they make a powerful impact for the reader to get a quick idea of your skill set. Recommendations definitely carry more weight than endorsements, since your connections from various time points/employment settings can free form detailed statements about your value and give context to same.
• #21: If your presentations haven’t been grandfathered into your profile – use the Projects Section to list Presentations (in the title area) then list your presentations in the description if you would like to highlight this. For presentations, it can be even in house staff sessions titled according to whatever the topic is. For example, The importance of stakeholder communication at appropriate milestones. You will also have the opportunity to upload documents or links here, making LinkedIn more of an online portfolio than anything! Publications can also be in house. For example Acquisition Process & Procedures. Or external – important memos to customer or staff. Or, serious publications in a newspaper or journal. Claim all the credit you can – it’s yours! Foreign Language skills show more than your ability to speak a foreign language – you will appear culturally aware and tolerant to diversity.
• #22: Volunteer Who doesn't like someone who volunteers? Organizations How committed are you to your industry?  Are you part of a professional organization or group that might really increase your creds? Add them here.  Certifications and Education Anything objective you can cite to underline your expertise and ability to do what you say you can do will help your profile’s  overall impression.  Honors and awards Have you been recognized for your contribution to a group or employer – stand up and be counted!  Languages Foreign Language skills show more than your ability to speak a foreign language – you will appear culturally aware and tolerant to diversity. Additional contact info Always add your email, phone number and any other links wherever you can, but AT LEAST in Advice for Contacting, Summary and in the descriptions for any uploaded documents (you do want to be found, don’t you?)
• #23: Following  By following influencers and channels from pulse under interests, others will get a better idea of who you are and what is important to you.  Choose wisely. Groups Likewise groups will be displayed on your profile.   Groups you join can help you in more ways than one.   Reveals something about you   Allows you to connect with people who have specific interests or qualifications   Allows you to connect to specific people who are a member of a group   Stay current in the topic of interest  Groups can be a great way to stay up to date on industry trends AND also allow you to make more connections.  If you and another person are part of the same group you can message them as if you are connected.  If you would like to meet the CEO of a specific company – join one of the groups he or she is a member of.  Contribute to  the group, then reach out directly! 
• #24: LinkedIn just recently added new submenus to Interests.  Besides Companies, Groups, & Pulse, they have also added Education, SlideShare and Online Learning Companies allows you to view company information about companies you are following (either that you would like to do work for or maybe a competitor) and to create and view your Company and Showcase Pages.  If you are an entrepreneur you definitely should have a Company Page with your logo so that it displays on your profile.  If you aren’t consider making a showcase page which can highlight an area of expertise. Entrepreneurs can also use Showcase Pages to highlight various subspecialties.  Company Pages offer public information about each company on LinkedIn. To add a Company Page, enter the company name and your email address at this company. Only current employees are eligible to create a Company Page.  This is where posts from those you are following show up.  You can click here when you have a few minutes to scan and read articles of interest to you or your readers.  Share, Like or Comment here to be notices by your followers and others who follow this writer.  Jobs Any job search you do is not public to your connections.  LinkedIn has a powerful built in job searching engine.    Education allows you to explore and research higher education programs.   When you upload certain types of media to LinkedIn it will create and save it to a Slide Share account for you.  Power Point Presentations and videos, for example will be stored and can be edited here.   Online Learning gives you a place to research opportunities to learn online.  Right now LinkedIn is offering a 30 day free trial.   
• #25: Include: Company Profile Mission Statement Updates on Services Specials News Again this just gives you another place to interact with your online community – keep current customers or clients and attract new ones.   Showcase Pages can allow you to highlight a skill or specialty to address a specific need for your customers.  In addition to my Company Page I have Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling and Career Coaching (along with some others that I manage for my clients). This allows me to target specific people on LinkedIn and provide them with information more relevant to them than to my other clients. 
• #26: Sponsored Updates are company updates created by Company Page admins, which advertisers can choose to sponsor. Direct Sponsored Content allows advertisers to create their own content to sponsor on behalf of your company, without changing the tone of your Company or Showcase Page and without first posting a company update. Advertisers must first be given permission to create Direct Sponsored Content by Company Page admins. Learn more about granting permission to create Direct Sponsored Content. Direct Sponsored Content has a character limit of 160 characters, and doesn't currently support rich media such as images, presentations, or documents. Learn more about Direct Sponsored Content.
• #27: Audience Expansion allows you as an advertiser to increase the reach of your campaign by showing your Text Ads and Sponsored Updates to audiences with similar attributes to your target audience. For example, if your campaign targets members with the skill "Online Advertising," your campaign might also be shown to members who list the skill "Interactive Marketing" on their profile. This means you can reach your target audience with less set-up. Performance metrics such as impressions and clicks will include activity from both your target audience and any potential expansions. When setting your campaign's targeting, keep in mind that the audience count won't include members from Audience Expansion. All new campaigns will have Audience Expansion enabled by default. The feature won't be retroactively enabled in campaigns created prior to February 2015, but you can choose to enable it. To enable or disable Audience Expansion, click the More targeting options link in the Change Target Audience box, then check the box next to Audience Expansion.
• #28: START AT HOME – when you click on “home” you will be taken to a screen that looks like this. From here you can effortlessly stay in touch and keep up with current business and industry info: Revisit your profile Share an update Upload a photo See who has viewed your profile or updates Say congrats or happy birthday Read, share and like articles View new potential contacts
• #29: ANALYTICS From the home menu you can click on any of the numbers to the right of your name to access analytics and evaluate your progress on Linked In   You can see who has viewed your profile, how you rank compared to others similar to you and How you rank for profile views.    You can hoover over time periods to see details of how many people have viewed your profile and actions you have made on your account.    Who’s viewed your profile – hoover over a point to see more details.   Demographics are also provided below the simple line chart   Click on how you rank in profile views to see the numbers there.  Below, you will see the people who viewed your profile and decide if you want to take further action.    LinkedIn Prompts to review and improve sections throughout.  Take advantage of this! 
• #30: You may need to make changes to your LinkedIn profile address, visibility, privacy or other settings - You will be prompted to enter your password again as an added security measure!   The Help Center is very concise and practical.  If you don’t know how to do or where to find something, check here.  Most online Help Centers are of limited assistance I find, but not so here.