Tag: linkedin

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A Closer Look at LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn Live is a feature on LinkedIn that allows individuals and organizations to broadcast live video content to their network. This platform is ideal for hosting real-time discussions, interviews, and presentations, enabling direct engagement with professional audiences. It’s a powerful tool for thought leadership, brand promotion, and community building, offering interactive elements like Q&A sessions, which foster deeper connections and conversations within the LinkedIn community.

LinkedIn recently announced updates to LinkedIn pages including the ability to stream live video. Originally launched last year, LinkedIn live was only for individual accounts, but now it’s going to be available for pages.

You can use it on your own LinkedIn page or on your company’s profile. Either way, you decide to go, this feature has a high potential for making a major impact on your LinkedIn strategy. According to LinkedIn, those who use LinkedIn Live get seven times more reactions and 24 times more comments than users who rely on standard videos.

What is LinkedIn Live?

LinkedIn Live is the social media platform’s live streaming option. Users rely on a variety of third-party streaming tools to create their content and then broadcast it to their LinkedIn network. It’s similar to live versions of other platforms like Instagram and Facebook and that your video content goes directly to the page in real-time and people can interact with you.

Some major companies have found unique ways to make use of it. For instance, Best Buy used it to highlight an interview with the company’s CEO. Others have used it to host ask me anything sessions to interact with customers.

At this time, you can live stream on LinkedIn for up to 4 hours. Once the live stream is over, it becomes a native video on LinkedIn. after that, you can include the link in follow-up materials or promotions. Though direct sponsorship of the content remains unavailable, there is analytics information including the number of views, watch time, and unique demographics including the company’s, rolls, and locations of the viewers.

How to Create LinkedIn Live Streams

Before you can go live on LinkedIn, you must apply for approval via an online form. Once you’re approved, you’ll get an email that will point you toward the approved streaming platforms you can use. You’ll choose the one that best suits your needs and sign up for an account, then connect your service to your LinkedIn account.

From there, you’ll log into the streaming service you chose and start your live video. Be prepared to interact with viewers on LinkedIn as that’s one of the main benefits of live streaming. It’s a good idea to have a script or general outline so you can make sure your video content is helping you work towards your company’s goals on LinkedIn.

Ways to Use LinkedIn Live

Answer Questions

Perhaps the biggest benefit of using a LinkedIn Livestream compared to a standard video post is the ability to interact with your audience in real-time. If you find that you get a lot of questions from your followers are customers, you can host a live stream to answer them for your entire audience.

Introduce Staff

Putting a face to a name creates a stronger connection between the audience and the people you mention. Followers may feel more comfortable interacting with you and your team after you put a face to the name. Live video can introduce your employees with Q&A or just some basic information about each person.

Show Your Company Culture

LinkedIn is a powerful recruiting tool and can help you bring new talent to your company. Live streaming on a regular basis can help people be what it’s like behind the scenes and your company, which may make it more appealing for applicants.

Special Events

If you attend or host any special industry events, using LinkedIn life is a wonderful way to share the experience with your followers. It can make people want to attend the event in the future or share valuable information from the sessions.

Announce New Products or Services

if you want to get people excited about a big announcement for your business, you should go live to make your announcement. Promote the launch of new products or services with extra posts that lead up to the big reveal.

Demonstrate Products or Services

If your business offers products or services that require a bit of an explanation, live streams could be the perfect format. Demonstrating how to use your products or services in a video Lets people see how everything works firsthand. And because you’re alive, they can interact with you or ask you questions throughout the process in the event that something isn’t crystal clear. This is a worthwhile strategy for companies that offer software tools and related products that have a lot of features to go over.

Interview Industry Experts

If you have connections with others who have a lot of influence in your industry or with your target customers, using a live stream to interview them could be an effective strategy. They will likely share insights that are valuable to your audience and they may share it with their followers as well to help you increase your reach even more.

Discuss Industry Issues

LinkedIn is a wonderful place to make industry connections and establish yourself as an expert. Going live to discuss a trending topic in your field can help start conversations with other professionals while also giving you credibility on a variety of subjects relevant to the industry.

Start a Recurring Series

You’re likely to get more viewers in a live stream if people anticipate your content. Rather than just going to live whenever you feel like it every now and then, consider starting a series that goes live at the same time every week or month. And remember, promote it in the days leading up to the Stream. This gives people a better chance to actually be logged in when you go live especially on a platform like LinkedIn where people are not checking in as often as they would on say Facebook.

Share Tips or Tutorials

Tutorials are among the most popular format for online video because they give your audience actionable tips that will help them accomplish a specific goal. On LinkedIn, gear your tutorials toward a B2B audience with topics such as setting up an account on a new advertising platform, or editing photos for social media.

With live streaming, the possibilities are nearly endless. If you need help coming up with content ideas that you feel may resonate with your audience, look at your website analytics. What pages or areas of your website are most popular? What are the most commonly asked questions on support tickets? Do a little keyword research to find out more about questions people are asking as they relate to your industry, products, or services. Plan your live streams in advance just as you would plan any other kind of social media content for the greatest chance of success.

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Social Media

Global Launch of LinkedIn Events

In October, LinkedIn announced the global launch of LinkedIn Events. This feature allows members to create, share, and discover professional events. This program hopes to foster offline community building and help members nurture deeper professional relationships. LinkedIn data shows the chances of people accepting connection requests on LinkedIn increases two-fold if they have attended a face-to-face meeting.

What is LinkedIn Events?

With LinkedIn Events, all members can create and join professional events. They will be able to have conversations with other attendees on the platform and stay in touch online after the event ends. LinkedIn Events also allow members to create private events to enable members to have safe conversations in a trusted closed-door environment. Invite filters allow members to tap into their professional network and find members based on their industry, school, company, and location to help curate their guest list.

Ajay Datta, Head of Product, India at LinkedIn had this to say:

“At LinkedIn, our core focus is to help our members connect and build lasting professional relationships. Face-to-face interactions are key to realizing this vision and bringing online communities to life. With this launch, our members now have a safe and trusted avenue to engage with their network online and offline. We see them using this product to host networking meet-ups, workshops, alumni meet, product launches, and other face-to-face gatherings.”

LinkedIn Events is the first product to be built out of the Bengaluru Research and Development Center for a global audience. The Bengaluru R&D Center also conceptualized and built the LinkedIn Lite Android app. Since 2017, it has scaled to more than 70 emerging markets across the globe and supports more than 21 languages. As of October, the app had seen more than 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store.

Datta added this to his statement:

“After the launch of LinkedIn Lite, I am excited to roll out our first ‘made in India, for the world’ product out of LinkedIn’s Bengaluru R&D Center. With Events, we are now taking on a larger mandate of building products to foster offline communities and help our members connect offline. This launch showcases LinkedIn’s commitment to the Bengaluru R&D Center and in the team’s talent in building world-class products.”

In addition to LinkedIn events, the team is developing and testing other methods to connect members such as business cards, proximity-based Bluetooth beacons, and QR codes.

How to Create a LinkedIn Event

  1. Visit the “Community” panel found on the left side of the newsfeed and click “+Create.”
  2. Enter a description, date and time, and venue information for the event.
  3. Invite your connections using a number of filters including location, company, industry, and school.

Though optional, sharing the event as opposed is highly recommended. This allows you to leverage the power of the feed to reach relevant attendees.

You can easily track attendees and invitees from the event page. The event page also allows you to post updates and interact with other attendees. The LinkedIn algorithm automatically provides timely and relevant notifications to attendees to ensure they don’t miss any important updates about your event. Members who have joined the event can also invite people from their own networks to attend.

Finding Relevant Professional Events to Attend

As a member, you can also search LinkedIn to find professional events. You will see invites in you’re my network tab. You can do the event and choose to attend from there. Look through your LinkedIn feed to discover events that people in your network have shared. Once you have chosen to attend an event, you will be able to see the details of who else is going so you can connect with other attendees. You’ll be able to share updates along with photos and videos on a dedicated event page and in your main feed. You will be able to continue to interact with other attendees and organizers both during and after the event.

LinkedIn began running a pilot program of LinkedIn Events in key metropolitan cities around the world last November. Two members share their experiences in the blog post announcing the global rollout.

Michael Quinn, Ernest & Young Senior manager said:

“What I really like about LinkedIn Events is the fact that I can plan an event with my network and not be required to go to another platform to organize the event. I’ve organized events all across the country, and LinkedIn Events made it incredibly easy for me to market those events and invite my local connections to that specific location. Since I was sharing the event through a post, it also enabled my network to share the event with people they felt would be interested in attending.”

Anna McAfee, a community creator, and educator said:

“What I really like about LinkedIn Events is the fact that I can plan an event with my network and not be required to go to another platform to organize the event. I’ve organized events all across the country, and LinkedIn Events made it incredibly easy for me to market those events and invite my local connections to that specific location. Since I was sharing the event through a post, it also enabled my network to share the event with people they felt would be interested in attending.”

Now that you can use LinkedIn Events much the same way you can use Facebook Events, will you be interested in finding events to attend in your local area? Will you be using it as another platform to share the events you are hosting?

I’d love to hear thoughts. Talk to me in the comments below.

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Social Media

Keys to Running a Successful LinkedIn Group

If you want to or are already using LinkedIn to connect with your ideal clients and prospects, you may want to consider running a LinkedIn Group. Why?  Starting your own LinkedIn group can be a wonderful way to increase your credibility and thought leadership while attracting a highly targeted group of people.

Benefits of Managing Your Own LinkedIn Group

  • You’ll be able to significantly grow your LinkedIn network which makes it easier to find or be found by your target market.
  • You can message up to 15 group members every month to whom you are not directly connected. Remember that if you are managing multiple groups, the 15 messages are split up among all of them.
  • Position yourself as an authority in your niche or on your topic
  • Create the ideal environment for interacting with clients and prospects
  • Increase your visibility. Because groups are discoverable and accessible from the LinkedIn homepage, and relevant group conversations will appear in the main feed, managing your group and help keep you at the top of mind among your target market.

To ensure your group has the power to become one of the most successful groups on the platform, you must remain committed to maintaining quality wall consistently providing value to your group members here are some tips to help you get started with your own group.

Step One: Creating Your New LinkedIn Group

Creating your LinkedIn group is fairly simple. To get started, click work at the top right navigation bar and select groups from the popup menu.

This will open a list of LinkedIn groups you belong to. Click “Create new group” in the top right corner of the page and start filling in the details of your group.

When choosing your group name, consider is the target audience you want to attract. The more focused you make your niche, the more attractive your those people when they stumble upon it.

If you’re looking to attract people from a certain geographic area, include the name of the area or the city. This way some of the keywords people will search for will make it easier to find your group when people are looking for groups to join.

Remember, your group name cannot exceed 100 characters and can only being used by one group at a time so you’ll need to create a unique group. Don’t make the mistake of starting a LinkedIn group named after your business and use it to broadcast your company updates. People who join LinkedIn groups do not want to be bombarded by your updates so reserve those updates for your LinkedIn company page or a status update on your personal LinkedIn profile.

People join LinkedIn groups to be part of a community of like-minded people where they can have conversations about things that are important to them and to the community as a whole.

It helps to remember how LinkedIn defines groups.

“LinkedIn Groups provide a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share their insights and experiences, ask for guidance, and build valuable connections.”

Keeping this goal at the front of your mind as you build your LinkedIn group will make it that much more successful.

Step Two: Branding Your LinkedIn Group

You’ll want to spend some time branding your LinkedIn group with a custom logo and cover image. This helps it look more professional which adds credibility and encourages new members to join.

Uour LinkedIn logo needs to be at least 60 by 60 pixels and square. The recommended dimensions for the group cover image are 1776 x 444 pixels. Your images need to be either in PNG or JPEG format.

Step Three: Optimize Your Group Profile

It’s also important to spend some time optimizing your group profile for search visibility. One of the main areas you’ll want to focus on is the about this group section. This allows you to define the purpose and culture of your group. There is a 2,000 character limit but you want to take advantage of as much of the space as possible.

In this space, provide people with a good idea of the content they can expect from the group. Keep in mind that when people search for groups on LinkedIn they will see only the first 200 characters or so of the about section. It will be visible beside the group name in the search results.

You only have a sentence or two to capture a potential members attention and encourage them to join the group, focus on certain key details when writing the first part of your “About this Group” section.

If you’re looking to attract a specific profession or industry, included here. Write a short sentence about what users can expect and the value they’ll gain by joining your group. Make use of specific keywords that will grab your target audience’s attention.

Take some time to consider the various rules you want to implement in your LinkedIn group. Be clear about the rules and guidelines when you set up your LinkedIn group. This ensures you will be able to maintain the integrity of your group and avoid dealing with spammers. Make sure all posts and conversations provide value and are engaging to group members.

You only have a 4,000 character limit for rules. You don’t want to make reading the rules boring and long. For example you can use rules like this:

  1. No network marketing or multi-level marketing of any kind can be promoted in this group.
  2. No political, nonprofit, or religious discussions are allowed
  3. Do not continuously repost the same message in the group over and over again.
  4. No direct sales pictures or spam is allowed. Anyone posting these kinds of content will be warned once and permanently banned upon the second infraction.
  5. Follow this basic rule of thumb: if your message does not provide a contribution of valuable, you shouldn’t post it.

These rules are short, sweet, and only take up 495 characters.

It’s important to police your group rules because if you allow people to spend the group, members will stop visiting engaging because they struggle to find the value. You may even find that lots of people start to leave your group.

All of this in mind, your group number should be encouraged to post if they offer clear value and relevance to your group’s purpose and members.

Next, you’ll set your LinkedIn privacy settings for the group. You’ll have two options standard groups which are visible in the search results. Members are also allowed to invite other members to join. Alternatively, there is an unlisted group that does not appear in LinkedIn search results and only group admins can invite members to join. generally speaking, you’ll want to choose the standard group.

Step Four: Create Seed Content

Before you start inviting members to join or promoting your group, it’s important to post content to the group. If you skip this step, people will assume that it is not active or worth their time to join. It’s up to you as to whether you create the content yourself or curated, but no matter which path you take you should carefully choose the content and make sure it is both of interest and value to your numbers.

Ideally, you should create three or four posts.  these posts can’t include things like solving a key challenge for your target market, discussing current issues a new trends in your industry or choosing topics that you want to create some discussion about using a question or by expressing your opinion.

To make sure all new and existing members always find new content of value, plan to share something new at least once a week. As the group grows and generates more interactivity, you can adjust your posting as necessary.

Step Five: Invite People to Join

With content in place, you’re actively ready to invite people to join your group. The number of LinkedIn members that can join will depend on the type of group you’ve selected.

If you selected an unlisted group, only you and any other group admins can invite people to join the group so you were in complete control of who’s in the group and how big it becomes.

If on the other hand you’ve chosen a standard group there are three ways people can join:

  • You can invite your connections based on how well they meet the membership criteria
  • Other group members can invite them
  • Members can find and request to join your group when they are looking for groups to join.

Any member of standard LinkedIn groups can invite their connections to join. Those members can also approve request to join the group.

While this approach allows you to build your group more quickly, it may also lower the quality of the group so you need to make sure where you are regularly moderating the group by accepting or denying request to join your group, blocking and deleting members who have broken the rules and removing spam.

To help mitigate this issue before it becomes unmanageable, determine membership criteria before you begin inviting people to join. Carefully review member profiles before approval and start with a smaller group and then gauge numbers before you aim to grow your group size.

The default maximum group size is 20,000 members. If you find that your group reaches close to 19,500 members and anticipate that you’ll exceed this limit while still complying with LinkedIn policies, it is possible to contact Linkedin and request that they increase your member limit.

Step Six: Promote the Group

To help your group grow faster, you can promote it by:

  • Encouraging group members to invite connections they believe would benefit from the group as well as contribute value to it.
  • Displaying the group in your profile and encouraged other members to do the same.
  • Sharing the group link with a brief summary in your email marketing messages
  • Including the group link in your email signature.

Take time to welcome new members to your group by @mentioning their name. You definitely need to do this when your group is small and just starting to grow.

To grow engagement levels ask new members to introduce themselves and tell the group what they hope to gain from the community. This helps foster a sense of community among the members.

Once things get up and running you’ll need to spend some time performing group management tasks, such as responding to members, generating new content, and moderating member requests and content.

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Social Media

How to Make the Most of Your LinkedIn Experience

LinkedIn is a wonderful social platform for those in the B2B space. Once thought of as a tool for job seekers, the platform has evolved into so much more than that. You can publish content as you would on a blog, go live, tag others, create a page for your company, and more. There’s plenty of advice out there as to how to improve your profile to make better connections and build stronger relationships, but this blog post is taking things in a different direction with some tips and tricks you’ve probably never heard of.

Swap the Connect Button for Follow

To change the button on your profile from Connect to Follow, you’ll need to access the LinkedIn mobile app as the option is not currently available on desktop. From your settings, look for the “Who can follow you” setting and then tap on that. Choose the call to action for your profile.

According to LinkedIn, “When members follow you, they are more likely to see your content in their feed. This allows members to stay up to date with topics they care about and join your conversation. We’ve heard from you that it can be overwhelming to receive a large volume of connection requests from people you do not know. This option makes it easy to establish a relationship and share your insights with people who are interested in what you have to say.”

Changing the call-to-action makes it a bit more difficult for people to connect with you. They can still connect but they have to look for The Connect option in the “More” menu. Placing this tiny obstacle can help improve the caliber of the people you connect with. You don’t have to do anything when people follow you. You don’t have to accept or ignore so it’s perfect for people who are busy and cannot handle the volume of requests they get every day. Your network count still increases because when people follow you LinkedIn commingled connections and followers. Followers are basically potential connections so having a follow button is a sign that you are particular about how you’re building your network.

This option was previously only available to influencers but now that it’s available to everyone you can be pickier about who you interact with on the platform while also boosting your overall visibility.

Take Advantage of Mobile App Functions Not Available on Desktop

Using the LinkedIn mobile app is more convenient for many of us, but it also has unique functionality that is not currently available at linkedin.com. Specifically, you can use a relatively new voice message and an introduction of being able to share a video message one to one with your connections. Text is one-dimensional. You can’t see the tone or quality of voice or expression. It lacks personality. Using the video introduction allows you to connect on a more personal level because people can see and hear you.

Check Your LinkedIn Profile on Desktop and Mobile

On the LinkedIn desktop website, go to your feed page and look in the upper left corner. There you’ll notice your photo is centered over your background photo and it’s probably too small to see clearly. Now hold down your control key while pressing the plus key to begin magnifying your entire feed in varying increments with each press of the plus button.

Keep pressing the plus button while holding control until you see the background and profile photos in the upper left corner of the page in better detail. then you’ll be able to tell if anything important on your background photo is covered up by your profile photo when people are looking at your profile on mobile devices. While the method isn’t an exact pixel-by-pixel match between the two platforms it’s close enough.

When you’re finished, hold down the Ctrl key and press the zero button on your keypad to return to the standard 100% view. This ensures the design of your background photo always shows what you want any LinkedIn user to know about you or your brand regardless of which device they use to view your profile.

Trick the Algorithm

Add a photo and post text to your  post and publish it. Then click the edit button to edit the post an ad in the relevant external link. This approach seems to be a good way of getting interactions on your post because it confuses the length in Alberta them into thinking the link is an internal platform link.

Yes, it’s an extra step that takes a few minutes longer to accomplish, but the visibility and potential engagement on the post makes it worth investing a little extra time.

Remember, It’s Not Facebook

This may seem obvious but it’s worth repeating. LinkedIn users must be aware of the difference between LinkedIn and Facebook. though they share many of the same features and capabilities, the purpose for each network is quite different. Treating them as though they are the same network may give your peers and professional contacts a bit of doubt about you. Save the personal ran and photos for Facebook because they are rarely embraced on LinkedIn.

Even if you’re brand-new to the LinkedIn platform and you’re experimenting on how you can include it in your overall marketing strategy, these tips can help you make the most of it as you navigate the platform and make connections.

Do you use any of these LinkedIn tricks to enhance your experience? Do you have any other tips and tricks to share? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

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8 Things You Can Do to Better Utilize Your LinkedIn Profile

If you’re like a lot of other people, you might have a LinkedIn profile…but it never really sees the light of day. Maybe you log in once a year and tweak it slightly, or you log in regularly but don’t really “get” how to use it effectively.

That might be a mistake!

Professionals and business owners who don’t utilize their profiles are leaving a lot of opportunity on the table. You are missing out on incredible opportunities to network, form valuable partnerships, and maybe even find a new client or customer.

Ready to give LinkedIn another go with fresh eyes? Here are some things you can do to better utilize your account and profile.

Update Your URL

Did you know you can update your LinkedIn URL just like you can on other platforms? Taking this one step makes it easier for people to find you. Got to your main profile, click edit, and then look for the option to update your URL under your photo.

Try to use your first name and last name whenever possible. If that’s taken, add your middle initial or some sort of industry monicker. After all, it’s a lot easier to find Sachs Marketing Group or Eric Sachs (our owner) than it is to find Eric2347809.

Update Your Headline and Summary

Your little headline is going to follow you around LinkedIn, showing up everywhere you comment or post. Keep it short, sweet, and to the point, with a few concise words about what you specialize in. Save the longer description for your summary section, but try to have a little fun with it. You have a lot of space to talk about your accomplishments, but don’t let it read like a resume – inject it with a bit of personality!

Review Your Job Description

One of the biggest mistakes we see people make on LinkedIn is creating a profile with jobs – and then never updating their employment history again. We’ve received prompts from LinkedIn asking us to congratulate people on ___ number of years with a company we know they’re no longer working for. How awkward!

Make sure you treat your LinkedIn profile like a resume, keeping it up to date at all times. A three-month update schedule helps; otherwise, just update every time you experience a major change. This is also true for business accounts, too, if you keep a record of clients or partners.

One more thing: this advice applies whether you’ve moved on or not. Check from time to time to see if your responsibilities have changed and need to be updated. What you were doing on day one may be different at month six or year two. Do you have a new title or new responsibilities? Make sure they’re clear.

Clean Up Your Connections

Most people who started out on LinkedIn years ago tried to build a network of people they knew. Some of these individuals were just starting out, too, and we’re working on the same outdated advice (add as many people as you can).

This isn’t Facebook. There is no reason for you to be connected with some guy you haven’t seen since third grade unless you have something industry-specific in common. You don’t need to connect with your bestie or with your mom unless you’re confident they’re also using LinkedIn to create a proper business network. In those cases, the potential for a future connection is more important than your personal relationship.

You don’t have to accept every connection request you receive, either. Review the person’s profile, assess whether or not the connection has some quality, and consider sending a private message to the person before you make your final decision.

Actually Network with People

Let’s say you really want to work with a particular company but you aren’t sure who to connect with. Start by looking for the main business page and then follow it. You’ll likely see a list of people on LinkedIn who have noted they work for the company. Choose the ones at or near the level you’d like to network with and send a request.

Don’t send empty requests, though. Make sure you are doing your homework first. Let the person know that you’ve been following the brand on social, compliment something they’ve been doing, and let them know you’re interested in what they have coming up. This is not the time to send a sales pitch or babble on about yourself. Connect and let the content you publish speak for itself.

Check In Daily

Using the platform daily doesn’t mean you need to let it turn into a time-waster. Hop on, quickly skim your newsfeed, leave a couple of comments, share a piece you find relevant (with a thoughtful comment of your own), or create your own unique post. You can spend a little more time, but try to limit yourself to once or twice per week. That’s when you can spend more thoughtful time in group chats or publishing a full-length article right to your profile.

Publish Articles Regularly

The people networking with you on LinkedIn are looking to connect with people who stand out in their areas of expertise. Take advantage of the article publishing platform by regularly publishing opinion, news, or tutorial pieces at least a couple of times per month, if not weekly. People who appreciate your knowledge base will end up coming to you to do business, making the platform into a funnel for warm leads.

Keep an Eye on Video

As of right now, text content seems to do better on LinkedIn than any other format. This includes video content uploaded to the feed. LinkedIn is getting ready to roll out a “live” video function. We’ll be keeping an eye on how things progress and whether or not this format becomes more popular.

This new feature might not be live yet, but you can still use video on LinkedIn, even right now. Upload your videos to the site; just use YouTube or some other platform as the host. You’ll still enjoy the same benefits.

LinkedIn is a more serious social platform, but it’s a great place to have a lot of fun with industry leaders, too. Show off your knowledge (without acting cocky), be inviting and engaging, and be willing to give as much as you hope to take. Do your best to avoid sounding desperate, even if you are in need of quick work. Think of it like a microcosm of give and take; the more you give, the more you’ll get!

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Social Media

How to Build an Impressive LinkedIn Profile to Get You Noticed

LinkedIn is a powerful social network, and not just for those in the B2B space. LinkedIn users are more likely to actually visit your homepage, and have higher conversion rates compared to other social media platforms.If you want to make the most of your time and effort spent connecting with others there, it all starts with a stellar profile. The thing with LinkedIn, though, is you can’t treat it the same way you’d treat a personal Facebook profile. Yes, it takes time and effort to get it done right, but anything worth doing is worth doing the correct way, wouldn’t you agree?

A Good Profile Picture

LinkedIn isn’t the place for a cutesy photo of you and your dog. Here, you need to have a professional photo of yourself. If you haven’t taken the time to have professional headshots taken, add that to your to-do list and make it a priority. Until then, use the cleanest, most professional shot you have. Whatever you use, make sure you’re smiling, because this photo could easily be your first impression with potential employers or clients.

A Stand Out Headline

When you first create a LinkedIn profile, your headline will be your job title and current company. But, you don’t have to, and really shouldn’t, leave it that way. Instead, list your specialty, and use the space to speak directly to your audience.

It’s a good idea to include keywords in that space to ensure your profile is searchable – more about that in the next point – but if that’s not a priority for you, you may want to avoid using industry jargon. This can help your profile stand out. The best headlines are about 10 words, so do your best to limit it to that.

Optimized for LinkedIn and Search Engines

There are billions of searches done on LinkedIn every year, and if you’re not using keywords appropriately, you could be missing out on new business. Research keywords using Google’s Keyword Tool to find out what you should be using on your profile and in your group discussions.

The most important keywords should be featured in your profile title and your summary. Include the top keywords in skills and expertise, as well as the interests section.

It’s always a good idea to consistently make new connections on LinkedIn because those first degree connections will appear first in the search engines.

Sign out of your Google account. Then go to Google.com and enter your keywords. Use the auto populated suggestions for searches so you know what people are searching for most often. Use that to your advantage as you’re crafting your profile content.

Answers the Important Questions

LinkedIn comes off like it would be an online resume, but that’s not what people are looking for. If they were, they’d just email you and ask for it. Instead, they want to know who you are, what you do, and why you’re the go to person for the product or service you provide. And they want to know that information as quickly as possible. We all have the same number of hours every, and we want to be as efficient with our time as possible. Think about how annoyed you’d be if you couldn’t find the information you were looking for. You’d probably complain for a second and then move onto the next person in your list.

If you want to use LinkedIn to connect with people for any professional purpose, you’d better make it easy for them. That means answering the critical points, succinctly.

  • What I Do: Say how you help your target audience.
  • Who I Work With: Describe your target audience. What job titles do they have?
  • Why It Works: Describe benefits of partnering with your company. Showcase real numbers and achievements here.
  • What Makes Me Different?: Answer that question, again with hard numbers if possible. How are you different than the competition? What kind of experience do you have? Do you have certifications or anything else that makes you unique compared to similar vendors?
  • What Others Say: Include two to three testimonials here. Make them specific to the product or service you’re offering, and include the full name and company of the person who left the testimonial.
  • How it Works: Explain your process. Do you start with a free evaluation or consultation? What is the end result? About how long does it take to get there?
  • Call to Action: Then include your call to action – more on that below – that suggests people who are interested get in touch with you as soon as possible.

Keep it Organized

Honestly, there’s a lot of fields to fill out when you’re completing your LinkedIn profile, so unless you’re making it a point to keep things short as you go along, it can add up quickly. The best way to approach it is to keep it scannable. Bullet points are your friend.

Harness the Power of Recommendations and Endorsements

Recommendations are essentially testimonials from others on LinkedIn, that you’ve worked with in some capacity or another. You can include a few of them in the “what others say” section I talked about above, but I like to reserve that for testimonials from customers I’m not connected to on LinkedIn.

There’s an entire section of recommendations on your profile, so you can easily display them. Yes, there’s an automated feature within LinkedIn that allows you to ask for recommendations, but I say you should avoid that. Ask in person when possible, and if not, write them a personal email that lets them know what their recommendation would mean to you.

If you’ve taken the time to ask for recommendations from people in your network, you should expect to leave some in return. After all, it is a social platform where interaction and engagement are important.

Endorsements are quick and easy to give, and are votes of confidence from others in your network about your knowledge in a certain skill. This helps establish your credibility, so when you notice that someone has taken the time to endorse you in any skill, take a few moments to endorse them in their relevant skills, too.

Add Media to Your Experience

If you can, add media files to your experience. Adding images lets you create a visual portfolio alongside the slew of text in your profile. Visual content is a cornerstone of online marketing, as Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than those without. Tweets with images get 1.5 times more retweets than those without. The point is, people will pay more attention to images than they will text. Beyond photos, you can share videos, presentations, links, PDFs, and more. The more creative you can get with how you showcase your work, the more you will stand out against your competition.

Fill Out As Much of the Profile As Possible

Get the profile as complete as you possibly can. Include your skills, volunteer organizations, education, and so on. Use the space to include all the awesome stuff that doesn’t fit on your traditional resume, but shows that you are a well-rounded individual. If your volunteer experience is directly related to your job search, you should include it in your work history. This way it is in the relevant section, rather than down at the bottom of your profile.

Use Status Updates

Using status updates allows you to share industry-relevant content, so you can show recruiters you’re up-to-date on what’s going on in your industry. And if you’re not using LinkedIn to find a job, you can use the status updates to share content that originates with your company, as well as curated content that will resonate with your potential clients and customers.

Link to Relevant Sites

If you have any kind of online portfolio or blog related to your work, make use of the three URLs you’re allowed to include on your profile and link to it. Fight the urge to link to cat videos and the blog chronicling your child’s life, though. If it doesn’t’ relate to your work or your end goals for using LinkedIn, skip it. You can also use the links to direct people to other places you can be found online.

Network with LinkedIn Groups

The groups you participate in are displayed on your profile, and will demonstrate your interests to prospective clients and employers. But more so than that, they are a great way to connect with people in your industry and build relationships. Just make sure you’re there for the right reasons – to connect with and learn from people – rather than spamming them with your products and services.

If you find that you are struggling with a problem and you don’t know how to fix it, you can reach out to people in the group and get help. There are hundreds of thousands of groups on the LinkedIn platform. I recommend searching and finding groups that are not necessarily the largest ones available – but at least active on a regular basis. The size of the group matters far less than the activity in the group. If you post a question or comment for a group of 10,000 people, but it takes months to get an answer, is it worth it? Not exactly.

Actively participate in your groups – ask for help when you need it, but don’t forget to offer help when you’re able. It’s those interactions that will help you build connections and relationships with people, and you never know when you’ll find value in any one of your connections.

Use a Good Call to Action

A call to action is an important part of your summary if you’re willing to speak to recruiters or potential clients. Encourage the people who are visiting your profile to get in touch with you. If you are however, not wiling to speak to them, you can still encourage them to connect via email.

Include Contact Information

Make sure you include some form of contact information, whether it’s an email address or phone number, so that people can connect with you outside of LinkedIn, too. The point of the network is to get to know people, so neglecting to provide contact methods is detrimental to the success of your profile. You can include your email using a format like email address AT domain DOT com to avoid the likelihood of spam from bots.

Edit Accordingly

Just because your LinkedIn profile is stellar right now, doesn’t mean it’s a set and forget type thing. You’ll want to go back and look at it from time to time to make sure the information is accurate and up to date. If you want to be sure you’re on the right track, ask a trusted friend or colleague to look over it for you. Another set of eyes can be a good way to catch typos and grammar issues that may turn some prospects off.

Having a great LinkedIn profile can make or break you as an online marketer. If it’s terrible, you will likely still be able to land deals, but those deals wouldn’t come as easily or be as big as if the ones you’d be able to get if you’d focused more effort on creating a profile that resonates with your target audience.

Are there any other tips you’d like to add? Share them in the comments below.

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