While creating a LinkedIn profile, accepting a connection and using LinkedIn messaging is somewhat simple, the strategy and content used within all of these makes for a big difference.

Today we are going to focus in specifically on LinkedIn messaging.

Let’s look at an example of a LinkedIn message to get started:

“Hi there, New LinkedIn Connection! While we’ve only just connected, I know that by inviting you to meet up tomorrow and sending you new messages every single week – even though my product offering is not something you will ever need – we’re going to have a terrific, mutually beneficial relationship! So… what’s a good time for you tomorrow?”

—Not a Real Person

While that’s (thankfully) a fictional message I just made up, I’m sure that you’ve seen snippets of that kind of communication in your LinkedIn inbox.

LinkedIn Messaging Affects Brand Identity

Of course, nobody sits down and wants to write a message that will annoy or anger the recipient – at least not in the digital marketing world!

But it happens – thousands of times a day – on every single social media channel.

And on LinkedIn, it’s 10 times worse. Because the person you’re writing to is, usually, some kind of colleague, vendor or supplier, or a respected figure in your industry.

The 7 Deadly Sins of LinkedIn Messaging

The truth is that the way you get your message out reflects back on your brand identity. So the next time you’re writing a LinkedIn message, beware these Seven Deadly Sins:

1. Not knowing me.

If you tell me you’re looking for a senior marketing executive position, you didn’t read my profile.
If you’re offering me products/services that I have absolutely no use for, you didn’t read my profile.
If you offer me services that I offer, you didn’t read my profile.

Please – if you really think I’m a prospective customer, take 20 seconds to skim my profile and make sure of it.

2. Using an obviously generic, copy-and-paste message.

You know what I’m talking about – I’m sure you’ve gotten (or even sent) a few of these messages yourself.

Fact: I’m guilty of this sin on occasion. However, I will then take the time to customize it somehow to include the person’s name and/or company name.

3. Being pushy.

Sending frequent Linkedin messages can get annoying fast. If we’ve connected on LinkedIn, I’ve invited you into my LinkedIn stream and even (when it’s relevant) into my email inbox.

But it can feel intrusive if you’re popping up in my inbox every week – it’s like Kramer sliding through Jerry’s front door all the time. Kramer can be a fun guy, but the shtick can lose its luster.

4. Being REALLY pushy.

I can see asking for a call to get acquainted, but an immediate request for an in-person meeting? Or the slightly “less forward” message asking “are you available today for a quick chat?”

Slow down, pal. You may be one of those Always Be Closing kind of people, but not everybody can (or wants to) start shaking hands and making deals an hour after connecting on social media.

5. Being too vague.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are those LinkedIn messages that aren’t specific enough. Just sending a “Hey there! How are you today?”message is an invitation to a much-longer conversation that not everybody has the time for.

Please save us both time – be direct and get to the point. You sell software that’s affordable and does a super-smart quality analysis of my content? I’m intrigued.

6. Using LinkedIn like it’s Facebook.

Confession: I don’t like having birthday announcements on LinkedIn. And just like the real office, I avoid talking politics, religion, and most other topics that can start controversy or offend people.

IMO, we’re on LinkedIn to network and to learn from each other. Maybe some folks join to make friends, but there are plenty of other social media channels for that.

7. Not using spellcheck.

Typos happen. But really badly written messages with tons of typos and grammatical errors do not help represent you as a competent professional.

In fact, a lot of people will see you as someone to avoid – because if you’re making these kinds of mistakes on simple email messages and not doing a thorough proofreading, they’ll think that your lack of attention to detail could mean your products/services are not top-quality either.

Gordon Ramsay is Right

While celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is often guilty of one of the Original Seven Deadly Sins (Wrath/Anger), he’s right about compliments vs. criticism.

Chef Ramsay always says (not quoting verbatim) that we don’t learn anything from compliments – other than we’re doing a good job. We learn much more from constructive criticism. It helps us grow and improve and do better.

Use LinkedIn Messaging with Care

LinkedIn and LinkedIn messaging is an integral part of your brand’s online footprint, so use it with care. Let this constructive criticism keep you on track. And if you’ve committed some of these sins in the past, let’s wipe the slate clean starting now. You’re forgiven – just please remember to avoid these “sins” the next time you’re typing in a LinkedIn message!

Dump the Seven Deadly Sins of #LinkedIn Messaging to Protect Your #Brand by @HDRubin #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Do you commit any of these “sins” with LinkedIn messages? Have any others that I missed? Feel free to post in the comments.

The post Dump the Seven Deadly Sins of LinkedIn Messaging to Protect Your Brand appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Most professionals you know are likely part of LinkedIn’s 530-million-user network. This number alone is why you should be maximizing all of the LinkedIn tools available to build your brand and business!

Leverage this Ever-Growing Platform with these LinkedIn Tools and Tips

After Microsoft purchased the network for $26.2 billion in 2016, many still wonder if the price was worth the actual value of the platform. You can decide that after you leverage these LinkedIn tools and tips I have for you.

Though users haven’t noted a large difference in online and app experience, LinkedIn has been expanding its development of content. The site now offers a daily news roundup and a library of online learning.

Additionally, you may have noted more video and long-form posts on your timeline, and it’s on purpose, as users begin to invest more time into cultivating a personal brand and following.

Four LinkedIn Tools You Must Use

Now the question comes up: Are you maximizing your LinkedIn experience?

1. Video Features

LinkedIn has significantly improved the user experience on their app, allowing for video and photo uploads directly to a post. There are super-users like Goldie Chan that post a stylized and effects-heavy video every day, sharing their client meetings, travel, and business perspective with their followers – and anyone who happens to come across the post.

Often, users who post videos play a game of tag, selecting members of their network to submit their own video on the topic of their choice.

To take advantage of video on LinkedIn, consider how to transform your expertise into small-size content bites – less than two minutes – and then turn the camera on. Perhaps you could shoot a short testimonial with a client, or feature a client who has advice on a relevant, of-the-moment topic. If you, your client, or your subject matter experts are camera-shy, consider enrolling in Toastmasters or media training.

2. SlideShare

Do you have expertise to share, and also happen to love producing visually engaging decks? LinkedIn SlideShare is a hidden jewel for trainers and those who love to share knowledge online. The social network makes it easy to upload your files and transform them into slides. While you are on SlideShare be sure to optimize for your profile for search. Here’s an example you can use.

SlideShare is one area of LinkedIn Learning, where you can peruse content from LinkedIn users and produced video content from experts in their fields. Learn about topics like business software and entrepreneurship, including Tableau and Google AdWords. While some content is free, the full course is only available to LinkedIn Premium users, so determine what is worth your investment after viewing the library of learning.

3. ProFinder

If you freelance, you need to be offering your services on the LinkedIn ProFinder site. Rather than worry whether or not someone will find your online portfolio, ProFinder links directly to your profile where you’ve already uploaded your greatest career hits. Submitting a proposal is a breeze through a short form detailing your pricing – hourly or flat rate – and the best way to contact you. If you have a need to hire for your company or your client’s business, ProFinder is an excellent supplement to tapping your network on Facebook.

4. LinkedIn Local Experiences

Ready to make your relationship official IRL? (For those who don’t use internet lingo that’s “In Real Life”.) Here’s how to do that: Sign up for a LinkedIn Local experience, where you connect face-to-face with the engaged users from your area. Here in North Texas, the Dallas Entrepreneur Center has played host to the LinkedIn Local Dallas events and they’ve received great feedback as a venue for conversation, friendships, and a touch of business. The hosts say that LinkedIn Local events are not the place to sell, source clients, promote a business or make a profit.

Perhaps you might want to consider partnering with an organization in your zip code and hosting your own LinkedIn Local event.

Build More Business with these LinkedIn Tools

I should end by first saying that this is not a sponsored post for LinkedIn. Over the years, LinkedIn has evolved as a B2B and person-to-person networking platform, and the changes can be transformational for elevating personal brands, business profiles, and for creating meaningful connections – and you can get started today!

P.S. Rocks Digital has more articles on leveraging LinkedIn. Access them here.

#LinkedIn #Tools and Tips for Maximizing Your Experience by @VeleisaP #RocksDigital #SocialMedia
Click To Tweet

What steps are you going to take to maximize and improve your LinkedIn experience? Let us know in the comments!

The post LinkedIn Tools & Tips for Maximizing Your LinkedIn Experience appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Virtually everybody nowadays is on LinkedIn. If you are not, you are essentially leave yourself out in the cold when it comes to connecting with people in your industry and prospective clients.

Owns the Space that Can Help Achieve Your Business Goals

Here’s a bit of interesting HR (human resources) trivia for those seeking new jobs. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), of the 77% of employers using social media as an employment recruiting tool, a whopping 94% use LinkedIn.

With so many people looking on LinkedIn for new employees, customers and service providers, it’s an obvious place you need to be. Luckily, LinkedIn profiles are free to create. So, there is no reason not to take advantage of this helpful resource.

Create a Compelling Profile with these 11 LinkedIn Tips

Your LinkedIn profile can be a valuable tool that helps you ultimately achieve your business goals. To get you started, here are some important LinkedIn tips to for becoming a powerful LinkedIn user.

Create a Standout LinkedIn Profile URL by Customizing It

People need to see you in a light that instantly interests them in wanting to know you. Customize your LinkedIn URL to make it a stellar advertisement of your personal skills and talents. The basics of customizing your LinkedIn profile can be found here.

Maybe you already customized your LinkedIn URL but want advanced tips about how to really brand yourself? If so, check out this link to understand how to go from generic to generally spectacular!

Publish an Appropriate Photo of Yourself

Each career field reveals a certain nature to it. By publishing a career-field-appropriate photo of yourself, you show your professionalism. For example, if you are a construction manager, an appropriate picture might be of you wearing a hard hat.

Or, you might have a different picture in mind. Whatever that photo might be, let it convey your career field expertise. Invest in some pictures taken by a professional photographer rather than using an informal selfie from your cell phone camera. Remember, you only get one chance to impress someone. Make your first impression a professional one.

Tell Prospects Where You’re Located

Potential prospects want to know exactly where you are. Yes, there are virtual location jobs. However, for local work, it’s smart to supply your geographical location. If you need help figuring out how to do this, read this LinkedIn Help reference.

Publish an Attention-Grabbing, Creative Headline about Yourself

You want your name, skills and abilities to stand out from your competition. Do that by writing a creative profile headline.

Here’s a tip you can use when you write the headline. Think like the other person. This person has in mind certain goals he or she needs to achieve for the company. Write relevant keywords in your headline as if you are writing it specifically for the person looking at your profile. You can use this brief exercise to figure out what to put in your headline.

Imagine being in a meeting sitting across from the person viewing your profile. Pretend you can hear this person describe typical company problems that need solving by you. Write down what these challenges are. Use your imagination and see yourself saying what the person needs to hear to be wowed by you. Use these words in your headline. (And make sure they are the truth!)

Examples:

Professionally trained SEO web content copywriter with 30 years’ experience. Have been praised for high conversion rates of Fortune 100 company’s loss prevention app.

Harvard educated MBA. Uses 20 years’ experience and productivity techniques in #1 best-selling Amazon book to boost your company’s bottom line.

Plum brilliant plumbing supply parts manager. I keep things flowing for all your wholesale plumbing parts needs.

Write a Distinctive LinkedIn Profile Summary

Spice up your profile summary by adding specific projects, personal details or awards you’ve received. Write specifically how your contributions continue to help all companies with whom you work.

Be aware of time constraints for your reader. Format your summary in chunks of scannable text. Begin with 3 or 4 sentences in one paragraph that showcase your unique talents, skills, abilities, etc. After the beginning paragraph, provide some bulleted statements that will grab the reader’s attention. These bulleted statements highlight your unique qualifications, skills, and experience.

Join Industry Specific Discussion Groups

Actively network through LinkedIn discussion groups. This is a great way to reach out to people and make contacts with those businesses most likely to need your skills and expertise.

Connect with Others

LinkedIn members want to connect and get to know you. To do this, accept connection requests. This is a useful way to develop important business relationships. Then, introduce yourself to these connections. Let them know how you might be able to contribute to improving things for their company.

Add Relevant Skills

When it comes to SEO strategies, a website needs to be focused on using relevant keywords. Google is all about relevance. It’s a key to ranking a website on Google’s page one. Similarly, when you connect with people on LinkedIn, they look to connect with people who have skills relevant to their needs. So, add skills in your profile that show how you are a relevant candidate for a particular job or project. Doing this you increase your chances of getting messaged by people who share similar business interests to yours.

To Get Recommendations, Give Them

LinkedIn is THE business place to connect. When you recommend others as credible business resources, remember to ask them to recommend you. Make sure they say something credible about you because they personally know that you deliver what you promise to deliver. The more people see your many recommendations, the more they trust they can do business with you.

Use Relevant Keywords in Your LinkedIn Profile

You can save prospects time and frustration by using relevant keywords that describe your role in your profile. Do your research and use low competing, relevant keywords. This helps you stand out to Google AND the humans looking at your profile.

Contribute to the LinkedIn Community

You are an expert. Share your expertise by writing articles that help people get information they need to make informed decisions about hiring you for a job. It helps show you can do what you say you can do! Articles on LinkedIn can be more valuable than simple posts, so use this opportunity post your highest quality content.

Still not sure where to start? Here’s an infographic to help you.

Infographic courtesy of: OnStride Financial

Ready to Take the Plunge? These LinkedIn Tips are Just the Tip of the Iceberg

The reach of the LinkedIn platform makes it a necessary component of your self-marketing strategy. Creating your LinkedIn profile is step one, while each tip above reveals the thoroughness that you must maintain. Put these LinkedIn tips on your list and get started today.

Become a Power User w/ these #LinkedIn Tips and #Infographic by @LuceMedia #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Did you realize how important LinkedIn was before now? What’s number 1 on your to-do list to implement? Share your thoughts in the comments!

The post Become a LinkedIn Power User – Get Started with these Helpful LinkedIn Tips and #Infographic appeared first on Rocks Digital.

You are probably familiar with how to use LinkedIn. At some point, everyone that has to earn sales for their company, whether a team member or an owner, has probably thought to use LinkedIn in this day and age. And many have probably tried to do so, whether with ads or a Premium account using InMail. But just as there are many ways to use other platforms and sales techniques, it’s also possible to use LinkedIn in ways you may have not thought of, and I wanted to share a few with you today.

How to Use LinkedIn to Stand Out in B2B Marketing

Granted, any one person can also use these LinkedIn tips, so don’t despair if you’re a lone salesman, or a business owner putting feet on the ground alone! These are easy, actionable tips that any business-to-business marketing team should be able to implement and get some return on, and they are absolutely just as simple to use as one person, too. With all of that said, how about we get into those tips now, shall we?

Use Who You Know… Sort Of.

How often do you go to trade shows or expos and collect tons of business cards? You shake hands and chit-chat with people from all over, learning tidbits about them and what they do, only to throw those business cards in a pile to languish away on your desk or in a drawer because you’ve forgotten about them, or they end up in the trash because you realize you never did send that follow-up email? (Guilty!) But remember, that’s money! Let’s promise ourselves – and our teams – that we won’t do that ever again.

Or perhaps you’re quite diligent in reaching out after your conferences and trips, and at least you connect on LinkedIn or you’ve sent an email or had a phone call. These are all great, but do you keep up with them after that initial touch? Do you ever reach out again? Do you make it a point to pick up your phone or send another email, just to check in? That’s just what I’m proposing you do with my first tip.

After you collect business cards or names and emails/phone numbers, add those people to your LinkedIn as soon as you’re back in your hotel room, or the next morning during coffee. Connect with them by being sure to add a personal note to your connection request, and then make it a point to reach out to them in the next week – and set a reminder to reach out again next month!

Already have a ton of contacts but you don’t regularly reach out? Do it. Now! Start with small batches of 10–15 people and send a message to them asking to re-connect over coffee or a phone call. I know someone that did this very thing to just a few connections on his profile, and ended up with 3 new leads. Now think about how that adds up if your whole team is doing this as a strategy. Yeah. Boom.

Become Brand Ambassadors

Is your team excited about the brand? Do team members love their jobs? Do they talk about the company to all the people they know and love? These people could be your brand ambassadors. If they talk up your company and/or products and/or services to everyone they know, then they are the ones you want people to know when they “meet” the company. The sales and marketing teams are the face of the brand – why not try to use that a little more literally?

Schedule a LinkedIn Team Day (or two). Hire a photographer for headshots for the team, work on everyone’s titles and descriptions, the layouts of their profiles, etc., and why not have coffee and cookies or lunch for the people that love the company so much? You want everyone to have the same look and feel as everyone else representing the company on LinkedIn. Anyone that has chatted with one of these team members should be able to easily spot another team member on LinkedIn without looking too hard. Showcase these people and how much they enjoy the company, and what they do to help clients. Build them up, and show your customers and clients that your brand is more than just another logo.

I recently spoke to a colleague about a company she helped doing this very thing. They had a whole day dedicated to their small marketing team to update LinkedIn profiles, and had her help get titles and descriptions reinvented. She said it really helped everyone get excited about the new strategy!

Use Your Uniqueness

What makes your brand stand out from all the other sales pitches? What makes your customers remember your company, versus your competitors? Get the team together for a brainstorming session and come up with a special way to stand out in the minds of your customers. Can you offer something (for free) every time they meet with you (hopefully set up through LinkedIn!)? What about making a special note of children’s birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and sending them a gift card or a special, handwritten note of congratulations, or sending best wishes when no one else does?

When I worked for an industrial electronics repair facility, about 5 years ago, we had a vendor we used for parts that would send a full-sized chocolate-crunch bar with every order we made. It was a very small gesture, but boy, did our parts manager LOVE that vendor! I once worked with a client that, as a thank you gift, sent me a gift card/voucher to give money to my favorite charity. I’ve heard another story of a financial planner/CPA that would have his clients’ cars detailed in his parking lot while they met in his office for an annual review. In fact, just last year MY financial planner offered their clients a free family photo session at their very well-designed and beautifully set up offices, which included a free 8×10 print! What small but significant gestures can your team think of?

Put these Tips on How to Use LinkedIn in Your Toolkit, Starting Today!

I hope that these tips have helped you come up with some ideas, and gets your team excited about gaining new leads and earning new business through Linkedin marketing campaigns! It can be difficult to stand out in a B2B market, but using some of these tips, you should be able to not only stand out and make your brand memorable to your clients and customers, but also create new strategies to earn new business over and over again.

How to Use #LinkedIn in New Ways to Increase #Sales by @r3SocialMedia #RocksDigital #Business
Click To Tweet

Is a “LinkedIn Team Day” in your future? Share your thoughts and LinkedIn tips in the comments!

The post How to Use LinkedIn in New Ways to Boost Your Image and Increase Sales appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Before getting into the world of LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns, first a question: Do you view LinkedIn as a job searching platform rather than a professional networking site? Many argue that LinkedIn is a site for gathering information about jobs. But is that all there is to LinkedIn? Far from it!

It is true that LinkedIn can help a person with job information because it is a social networking platform that’s designed to bring together employers and employees – a site for professionals with amazing ideas.

Maximizing Your LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns to Grow a Business

LinkedIn also has remarkable marketing potential that can help you generate leads and significantly grow your business. So, how can you leverage LinkedIn to generate more leads and improve your LinkedIn marketing campaigns? Keep reading to find out.

1. Have You Optimized Your Profile?

First things first. In all social media sites, profile optimization is paramount to the success of your marketing campaigns, whether it’s a personal or business profile.

LinkedIn is not left out. The professional networking platform offers users the opportunity to connect with other professionals and build relationships.

These relationships will help you create brand awareness ­­– which will effectively boost traffic and leads and thus, grow your business.

However, you cannot achieve success without an optimized profile.

So, use relevant content, action-oriented copy, a high-quality profile image, other media content such as videos and presentations (where appropriate within your profile), and add links to direct people to your website.

There are remarkable optimized LinkedIn profiles you can look at for clues on how to get yours done – profiles of people like Kim Garst, Jon Rognerud, Lissa Duty, John Nosal, and Germany Kent, just to name a few.

You can also examine the profiles of your competitors and other users in your industry to find out how you can tweak yours to stand out.

People want to know you before deciding on whether to be part of your business.

So make sure you create a personalized professional profile with direct copy and clear “Next Steps” to find out more about you. See Germany Kent’s profile for tips.

Ensure that you update your profile frequently to be in harmony with the latest trends. Add your most recent content plus use Keyword Phrases in strategic areas within your profile, including your headline.

This strategy will help you create a unique profile that has the potential to skyrocket your business.

For more details on how to Optimize your LinkedIn profile for maximum ROI, I recommend you listen to this podcast on the Rocks Digital audio network by Debra Jason, and hosted by Lissa Duty.

2. Create Compelling Content Exclusive to LinkedIn

Content that is exclusive for LinkedIn is essential to your marketing campaigns, because it presents you as an expert and authority in your niche.

LinkedIn as we already know is a networking site for professionals, so you have to give these professionals a reason to connect with you.

You can share the content you created just for LinkedIn on other social media platforms with a link back to LinkedIn where your prospects and clientele can view the entire article.

Furthermore, you can also share exclusive discounts or promotions strictly with your LinkedIn connections. When you share this content, ask your connections to reshare it to their connection for a wider reach.

Once people know that you offer these promotions, you are certain to get more connection requests, increase engagement, leads, and achieve an improved ROI.

3. Create LinkedIn Groups or Join Groups Relevant to Your Niche

I have found that many marketers are not taking advantage of LinkedIn groups. They argue that it’s a waste of time. But is that true? Not at all!

In fact, the founder of some of the best LinkedIn Groups outlined some of their amazing benefits.

And here’s what he said about LinkedIn Groups:

“Think of them (LinkedIn Groups) as independent social networks where you can spread your message, connect with key partners, and take your business to another level.” – Lewis Howes

Therefore, after you create your group or join other groups, be an active member of the groups by participating in discussions.

You can do this simply by posting relevant questions that will effectively start a conversation. You can also be active by providing answers to questions asked by other professionals.

You activities on the various groups you joined will ultimately showcase your expertise.

4. Use LinkedIn Sponsored Updates

What are LinkedIn Sponsored Updates? LinkedIn Sponsored Updates are advertising solutions that offer marketers and brands a unique avenue to promote any post from a LinkedIn company page to specific connections in their news feeds.

If you’re not using LinkedIn Sponsored Updates, you’re missing out on potential business opportunities. Here’s a few things to know:

• Sponsored Updates are very easy to use, but it is only possible to sponsor updates on LinkedIn if you have a company page on the social media platform.
• Using LinkedIn Sponsored Updates is one of the best hacks for marketers to get more from their LinkedIn marketing campaigns.
• This feature offers you the opportunity to limit the audience for your updates, which makes it possible for you to make the best use of your investment.
• To get the best from your updates, target your sponsored update by location. Location accounts for about 80℅ of all searches, so make location a must.
• LinkedIn Sponsored Updates offer you a better opportunity and avenue to present your content in front of key players in the industry.

As mentioned earlier, creating sponsored updates is very easy. Please read this article in HubSpot blog for details on how to create LinkedIn Sponsored Updates.

5. Connect with the Key Players

Who are the key players? The key players are influencers and decision makers on the LinkedIn platform.

By sending your message across to these elites, it will not only help boost their awareness of you, but will also enable you to build trust and credibility as an authority and expert in your industry.

The result: increased exposure to a wider audience, more connections, improved engagement, enhanced leads and ROI.

6. Use LinkedIn Analytics to Figure Out the Effectiveness of Your LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns

With the analytics in place, you’ll see such metrics as:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• CPC (cost per click)
• Social actions by campaign
• CTR (click-through rate)
• Audience demographics by campaign
• Total spent

Also, you can analyze both sponsored and non-sponsored updates to figure out how they measure up against each other.

Note that with some exclusive unique content and a remarkable strategy, sponsored updates will take your business to the next level.

It’s Time to Start Growing with LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns

LinkedIn is a remarkable social networking platform that if used correctly will help you grow your business beyond imagination.

While there are many ways to leverage LinkedIn, the tips presented in this article are sure-fire ways – if implemented properly – to take your business to the next level. Start applying these strategies today and find what works best for you.

How to Get More from #LinkedIn #Marketing Campaigns by @mosclement #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Are you making full use of LinkedIn? What tip from above is first on your list to implement?

The post 6 Simple Ways to Get More from LinkedIn Marketing Campaigns appeared first on Rocks Digital.

What a great kick-off to our morning!  John Nosal gave us some pointers on optimizing our LinkedIn profiles!

LinkedIn has been evolving in the past couple of years from being the place to find your next job to a great targeted marketing platform.

List of Your Skills to Market Your LinkedIn Profile

First, understand who you are and what you do – make a list of all of the things that you do.

• Pick out Keywords that help define who you are and what you do.
• What are your skills?
• If someone was looking for someone with your skill set, what would they be searching for?

Be SPECIFIC (rather than “coach”, define the TYPE of coach… soccer coach, life coach, business coach)

Once you have your initial list, narrow that list down to 6 words and then search on LinkedIn to see how popular your 6 keywords are (use quotation marks to narrow your search).

• When you find the best keywords for your skill set, make sure to use them in your profile
• Use bullet points and add quantifiable data (Increased sales 35%, Reduced costs 40%, etc.)
• Use your main keywords in your headline

Find the Target Audience for Your Skills

If you have a product/service you are trying to sell, you can use the search function to narrow the results to a specific location and industry.  Find out exactly who, in an organization, you need to talk to (or at least narrow the field significantly).

While you CAN search LinkedIn “anonymously”, it will help increase your network if people see that you were looking at their profile which may make them curious enough to come look at your profile.

List Job Positions that Support Your Career Objectives

If you’ve had multiple positions at a company, make them separate entries on LinkedIn to show growth.

If the information on your profile does not support your current career objectives, leave it out. If you were doing something 15 years ago that supports your current career objective, go ahead and include it.

LinkedIn Workshop by @JNosal #RocksDigital 2015 #SMDay
Click To Tweet

To learn more about John Nosal you can read his full bio on Rocks Digital.

The post LinkedIn Workshop at #RocksDigital appeared first on Rocks Digital.