How To Use LinkedIn To Stand Out

The other day some-one asked me what my favorite social media site was, it didn’t take me long to respond, no doubt it has to be LinkedIn!

“But why?” they asked. Now this was the tough bit. How was I going to tell them all the great things about LinkedIn (there are so many) without boring them to death? In short I didn’t. Instead I told them how to work it so it could benefit them.

LinkedIn is the world’s #1 career management tool. Over 2 million companies have pages on LinkedIn and the top executives from all Fortune 500 companies all have profiles. It is a powerhouse of a resource for attracting business leads, engaging with potential clients, connecting with people in your industry and forging a path up the career ladder.

First things first, get your profile looking top-notch

  • Always have a profile photo. LinkedIn relegates people without profile pictures to the bottom of a search list. So it’s harder for people to find you. You are 14 times more likely to get profile views if you have a photo. It also looks lazy. It’s one of the first things people notice about a profile and not having one makes it look as though you don’t complete things. And remember, this is a professional social site. So ensure your photo is appropriate for the forum.
  • Make sure that your profile is detailed. Include a profile headline and a summary at the beginning of your profile.
  • Turn off activity broadcaster, people in your network don’t want to see every change you make to your profile, you can turn it back on when you make relevant changes that people should be aware of.
  • By default, your LinkedIn profile URL will consist of random alphanumerical characters. However, you can elect to have a customized profile URL by going to Settings > Edit Public Profile > Customize Your Public Profile URL. This looks much more professional when sending/sharing with people.
  • Use key words that are relevant to what you do or be associated with throughout your profile. These will help you to be found in relevant searches.

Build a network, don’t just collect contacts

Don’t add every Tom, Dick and Harry to your network. When building your network, consider what benefit or relevance that person will be to you and vice versa.

Do add co-workers. If you work with them now, you will likely have a common link to people they have in their network and you will be able to expand your network via them.

Do add past colleagues, for the same reasons.

Do include people you know, who you have networked with before or met at events, go through your business cards and do a search.

Do search for and connect with people in your line of business.

Do send a personalized message with your connection request. It triggers people’s memories of how they met you and shows you have invested time to re-connect with them.

Get noticed

Get recommended. Ask people you have worked with to write a recommendation for you. If they are exceptionally busy, suggest that you could send them a draft or bullet points to make it easier for them, recommendations get you spotted in searches. Better still, recommend the person you would like to get a recommendation from. It’s more likely that they will return the favour.

Endorse peoples skills but only if you are sure because your endorsement should count for something. In turn, LinkedIn will ask them to do the same for you.

Write regular posts on topics you are comfortable with. This feature on LinkedIn, for example, is great. It basically works like a blog post where you can write about whatever subject you like. It’s a great way to get noticed as these posts are available for everyone on LinkedIn to see, not just your connections. It also establishes your knowledgeability and expertise. If you are not a writer, interact with some of the posts shared within your network. Your activity is just as likely to get you noticed.

Interact with your contacts regularly. Share status updates that ask questions or opinions; provide links to interesting articles and respond to other people’s statuses as well.

Keep your profile CV up to date at all times.

Be a bit of a stalker

Whether you’re approaching a potential client for business; or you have an interview coming up; or you’re the one hiring or you’re looking for a sales lead; LinkedIn is a great way to find information on someone. You can get contact information and send direct messages to people via the site. You can also look at their profile to give you some conversation starters i.e. “I saw the post you wrote about golf, how long have you been playing?” If you’re going for a job, why not search for the person currently in that role and check out what they have to say about the role in their profile. If you’re looking for someone who works at a particular company, doing a search for the company will also bring up anyone who works there, so you’ll be able to see who does what and the best person for you to connect with.

 

As I said in the beginning, LinkedIn is a great way to network and to promote both yourself and your business in the corporate world. The interface is simple and easy to navigate. Everything is laid out for you.

So what are you waiting for? Get working on that profile and don’t forget to follow us on www.linkedin.com/company/marketbuzzinternational

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