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4 minute read
Unlike other social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn has always targeted professional connections, making it ideal for business networking. If you’re having trouble connection with one of the 364 million professionals on this site, it’s probably because you’re not using the site in the best way possible. To gather attention and attract the type of traffic that leads to referrals, job offers, and quality business connections, you have to make sure your LinkedIn presence projects the right image.
Here are seven different ways to leverage LinkedIn to get the results you want.
1. Become SEO Savvy
SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is key to all social networking sites, even LInkedIn. SEO doesn’t just help you find people in our industry, through the advanced search features, but it also plays a part in how visible your profile is in Google and Bing searches. Make sure you use keywords that are going to bring the right people to your door and that are relevant to your business. Include keywords in your description and in your status updates. However, make sure they sound natural and are not spamming the profile.
2. Create a Highly Visible, Professional, Profile
Your profile should be as professional as possible. Avoid some casual banter that is more characteristic of sites like Facebook. When you comment on posts, it should be done in the same vein as if you are networking at a business conference. Keep things more business-like and avoid topics that don’t help you maintain a professional image. Once you do all that work, it’s important that others are able to see your profile online. To make your profile is highly visible to search engines, go into your “Privacy and Settings” option on the right-hand top menu and change your profile picture settings so “Everyone” can view.
3. Display Your Best Business Face
It’s amazing how many LinkedIn profiles have no display image. That’s the same as having no head shot when you are on a panel of speakers at a conference. It just looks bad and completely unprofessional. A well-done, professional, head shot helps people to recognize you in person and adds credibility to your profile. It can project an image of confidence and professionalism that is hard to do with just text. It helps people connect with you as a human being and creates personal appeal. It also strengthens your brand, so always include one.
4. Post Interesting, Industry-Targeted, Updates Only
Don’t post the newest addition to your family or funny pet videos, even though these are popular in other networking sites. The fact is, LinkedIn is not like other social networking sites. It’s for business professionals who want to stay on topic. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want a recruiter to see, even if you’re not in the job market. However, if you are, LinkedIn is the ideal place to really round out that dry resume with more of what you do and who you are - professionally. You can share information relevant to your industry or business via a blog, status posts, twitter requests, quotes, or short videos. They can deal with topics like company announcements, professional accomplishments, projects of interest, industry news, and instructional articles, to name a few.
5. Stay Active and Update Often
If a profile hasn’t been added to in a while, people lose interest in it and the individual. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. Post regularly and stay active on LinkedIn and you’ll get more attention. The time to dust it off isn’t after you lose your job, it’s when you still have one. Then, you might not even have job-hunt as recruiters scour active profiles to see who they can steal for their own clients and contact them through LinkedIn. Business owners also can attract more viewers simply by posting frequently and on a set schedule.
6. Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups
There is a ton of groups on LinkedIn, but not all of them will help you to network within your industry. Choose wisely and add yourself to groups that can help establish your credibility as an expert in a specific niche. Then, join in the conversation and show your stuff by contributing that expertise in the conversations online. Try to be active in the group and post once a week, at least. The more you post, the more people will begin to recognize your picture or name and go back to visit your profile, leading to potentially profitable business connections. If you’re not sure how to get started, just join and lurk for a few weeks to see what others are saying within the group. This will help you figure out what topics are important and how to best present yourself when you finally do decide to join in the conversation.
7. Leverage LinkedIn With Your Face-to-Face Connections
Networking at physical business functions can be a whirlwind of activity. People may give you a business card, but you only spend a few minutes at a time meeting a large number of people. If you don’t contact those people again, the card often gets thrown out or filed away and the connection then goes stale. However, if you use LinkedIn to keep those connections active - long after the convention is over - you will have more chances to reap some benefit from all the face-to-face networking you’ve already done. Simply request that they connect to you on LinkedIn, once you get back to your office, and add a small note that thanks them for meeting with you at that particular event. If you found something of interest in the connection, like a brilliant speech, seminar, or product, be sure to mention it also when you ask them to connect with you. This will surely get their attention.
As long as you remember that LinkedIn is a professional business networking site, you won’t make the mistake of treating it too casually. By using it correctly, it becomes a powerful tool to locate the people in your industry who can help you succeed in your career or connect you with someone you need to get in touch with to succeed. It does take a little work, so don’t slack off and give people online the impression that you are not active on the site. Instead, contribute regularly and you will have the best chances of connecting when it can do the most good and you were least expecting it.
In the end, please do us a little favor and share this post with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them with their LinkedIn profile.