LinkedIn is THE online network of choice for business professionals. If you are looking for a new position you need to be on LinkedIn. If you are looking to raise the profile of your business, you need to be on LinkedIn. If you want to be found on Google, you need to be on LinkedIn. If you are not looking for a new position but like the idea of being headhunted, you need to be on LinkedIn. If you want more sales, well you get the idea, and the list goes on. So once you have a LinkedIn profile, how can you really boost your credibility to massive effect? This weeks blog will give you some hot tips to help you:
- Network More Effectively
- Build a Solid Online Reputation
- Raise the Visibility of your Company
- Help you Secure a new Job
- Find the People you Need
- Make more Sales
Tip Number 1 - The Importance of a Complete Profile
When we network on a face to face basis, you have the opportunity to build rapport, establish common ground and make a good impression on the person you are meeting for the first time. However, when you network online, other people will judge you on your online profile and how you come across before deciding to connect with you. If you put your name into Google to check out your online reputation, the most likely number one link will be your LinkedIn profile.
It is so important to ensure that you have a 100% complete profile, including a professional photograph. Your profile should OOOOZE credibility. It is much more than an online CV, although your work background will be listed. The summary is what counts. Really go for it and highlight all the reasons why someone should hire you, work with you, give you business or connect with you. Remember your online reputation is at stake here, put lots of thought into what you say and how you say it in the summary.
Tip Number 2 - Recommendations
Again credibility points start to rack up if you have strong recommendations. It is very easy to get a colleague or a friend to say how lovely you are but it is much more credible if a client has written a glowing testimonial about your account management skills, or your sales ability or your customer service. Recommendations from Managers or Directors in companies you have worked in previously will also boost your credibility. You can choose which recommendations you show/hide in your profile so you are in control of which ones appear to any profile visitors.
A minimum 10 recommendations would give you a good basis for any LinkedIn profile. If you do a few different roles both in and outside of work then you may have a selection from the various areas of your professional life. This is a fantastic way to build your online reputation, and every time you receive a recommendation your network will see that in your home feed.
Tip Number 3 - Your Connections
You can check out your Network Statistics on LinkedIn, by going to the Contacts tab. This will tell you how many people are in your network, but most importantly how many people in total this connects you to in total indirectly. At the time of writing this blog, I am connected to 2370 people as 1st connections. You can view my profile here. This gives me access to a total network of 12.4 million LinkedIn Profiles. So why might that be important?
Every time I search LinkedIn for a specific keyword, I am searching 12.4 million connections. The chances are that I am going to find who I am looking for with that kind of a network. From a business development point of view, I can put in a search term and I know that thousands of profiles will come up of people in my target market. From a candidate perspective, if I am looking for an Inside Sales Specialist with the keyword German, the chances are that I am going to be able to find the right person for my client.
Simply put, the more connections you have, the more credible you look and the more people want to connect with you because you know a lot of people. Groups can be a great way to boost your connections. Keyword searches will help you to connect with people and LinkedIn has a great tool called "People you may Know" under "Add Connections". This is a list of people who you have mutual connections, and gives you the chance to invite people who you probably know or know of.
Tip Number 4 - Your Status Updates
Your status updates should be content driven, with frequent updates to keep you visible, whilst providing useful articles which benefit your network. The updates should always be about adding value to your network, the more interesting your updates are the more frequently your profile will be seen and visited by others. If you are the "go-to" person for all the latest news about High-tech or Green Energy or the Automotive industry you are raising your profile and online reputation as someone in the know about this topic. You can easily find articles to share on the LinkedIn Today tab. Sharing interesting news or topics is a one-click exercise and very easy to do.
If you are constantly making your updates all about you, or your business you will be constantly seen as selling and that is not going to do your online reputation any favours. Be useful, be interesting, be creative and be credible. If you are regularly providing your target market with helpful tips and useful articles you will be raising the bar and making a difference to those people in your network and it will be notices. I recommend that you update your status at least three times per day to gain the most exposure and to keep visible. You can also link your LinkedIn account to Twitter so that you can spread your message further to a different audience.
Tip Number 5 - Your Skills & Keywords
This is so important if you want to be found. LinkedIn is keyword searchable like any search engine, and it is really important that you include the keywords that others might type in to find you. This applies whether you are a job-seeker, salesperson or a business owner. Ensure that you use the Skills section to add specific skills that you have as a list, because people like me in the recruitment industry will use this to find you and offer you fantastic job opportunities. From a business owner perspective, your potential clients may just be using LinkedIn to find your type of product or service.
A great way to generate ideas is to run a search for your type of business or industry keywords and see who comes up on page one. These are the people who are competing with you for the same job or same type of business who are ahead of the game, with profiles who help them get found. I recently sat down with a business owner who specialises in Occupational Health & Safety and First Aid courses. When we searched for this in LinkedIn, all of his competitors came up and he was on page three. A quick change to the Skills and Keywords now sees him competing on Page 1 in LinkedIn searches and this will make a difference to his business.
There are many other ways to raise your credibility and build a solid online reputation so there will be more to come in the next blog entry. For now, enjoy updating your LinkedIn profile and I hope that you have found these tips useful.
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