LinkedIn

Five Ways To Use LinkedIn To Build Your Visibility

Thanks so much to my friend, confidant and mentor, Sue Painter, The Confident Marketer, for being my quest blogger today.

I consider LinkedIn to be one of the “big four” of social media (the others are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube). But after I read a few recent articles about LinkedIn, I realized I was not using my profile in a very business-savvy way. Here are 3 ways to update your LinkedIn profile that will increase your visibility and help build recognition for your expertise.

1. Change what you have in the fields for first and last name. Instead of using Sue Painter, for example, I kept my first name (Sue) but changed the last name field to read Painter, Owner, The Confident Marketer. This puts your business name front and center and leaves you the next field free for key terms about who you are and what you do.

2. Change the next field (the headline). Most people put the name of their business in this field. But your business name often doesn’t tell people exactly what you do or what you are expert in. And, you now already have your business name above, in the “last name” field. Since LinkedIn is keyword searchable (and is indexed by Google) this is a great place to use your keywords. For example, I used the terms SoloPreneur Marketing Strategist, Mindset Shift Expert, Neuromarketing, Coach, Speaker, Internet Marketing Expert. So now, right at the top of my profile I have much more information about myself and what I do than just my name and my business’s name. Here is the before and after of the very top of my profile.

Before: Sue Painter
Owner, The Confident Marketer
After: Sue (Hawkins) Painter, Owner, The Confident Marketer
SoloPreneur Marketing Strategist, Mindset Shift Expert, Neuromarketing, Coach, Speaker, Internet Marketing Expert

Can you see how much more information that offers someone viewing my profile? And, the keyword terms are searchable within LinkedIn, so if someone is looking for a mind-shift expert for solo business owners, I’ll be found more easily.

3. As you build your profile, weave the keyword terms you have used into “Summary” field. It’s your chance to give a fuller explanation of what you do and how you work. Be sure to use your keyword terms again at the very bottom of the Summary field, where LinkedIn asks for “Specialties.”

4. If you are a blogger (and as a solo professional, you should be!) click on the “More” tab at the top of the Linked In page, above your profile, and then click on “Applications.” You’ll see several applications there, the important one links your blog postings to to LinkedIn automatically. You can also add Twitter accounts if you wish.

5. Be sure to hit LinkedIn a few times a week to see what’s new with your connections and to provide an update about what you are up to, as well. Share information about upcoming products, events, and offers.

Personalizing your LinkedIn page will lead those you don’t know toward the “know/like/trust factor, which is very important to building your business.

Sue Painter works with solo professionals to boost their income through marketing and mindset shifts. She is an expert in web design that converts visitors into prospects, information marketing, and personal growth for entrepreneurs. An experienced trainer and well-respected speaker, Sue delivers content that both holds the listener’s attention and is immediately usable. Sue shows her clients to mindfully and enthusiastically build profitable, successful, customer-based businesses.

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Want to Maximize Your LinkedIn Connections?

So, you’ve created your LinkedIn profile and started adding connections. Now what? Is it enough to just make connections in LinkedIn? The adage “out of sight, out of mind’ is very applicable on LinkedIn. Unless you are utilizing your contacts, not only will you be forgotten, you’ll also be defeating the whole purpose of business networking. Want to maximize your LinkedIn connections?

What is the purpose of networking in real life? To promote business, make new deals and reach out to people who can be potential customers or partners. Similarly, LinkedIn connections are also there to help you promote yourself, reach out to the right people, find a new job etc. To use your LinkedIn connections to their full potential, here are a few tips.

More the merrier

The best way to use your connections is to use them to build even more connections. Just like you would do on Facebook and other social networking sites, you can also look into the connections of your connections. Since LinkedIn keeps users updated on new connection of their existing contacts through emails, take a few minutes to see who they are. You might find people you want to connect with via them. Your shared connection can then introduce you to each other. Be careful, not to jump past your connection and request a second or third degree connection. The “linking” of each other is what makes LinkedIn so powerful and you can run the risk of getting a “Do Not Know” from that second or third degree connection and those can be fatal to your LinkedIn account.

Give and Take

Networking is all about building relationships. You can’t have anything unless you give something in return as well. With LinkedIn, giving translates to making recommendations and introductions. Everybody wants a recommendation. A recommendation can boost your career scope, get you noticed and makes it easy to network with big bosses. So, if you start recommending your colleagues, you are bound to make them grateful. In return, they will surely start recommending you back on LinkedIn. If you have your previous manager or boss in your LinkedIn network and leave him a good recommendation, imagine how good it will look on your profile to have a recommendation from the boss.

Introductions are icebreakers in LinkedIn. After all, you are trying to connect with people you don’t know personally. However, when you introduce one of your connections to another one, be sure you are confident that both are on the level. Any negative incident between these two will reflect back on you as you were the go-between. So when someone asks for an introduction, consider carefully. Also, see if that person is well connected enough to return the favor.

Socialize

So how do you socialize on LinkedIn? You join groups and contribute to discussions and threads. LinkedIn is full of groups that bring people with similar positions and fields together. You will not only find good connections by joining the right group but you will also gain a lot of information. Group members are always sharing tips, information and news. It is like having free access to a hotline.

Share your two cents by writing articles, features, and starting discussion threads, asking and answering questions. This will also allow other group members to understand you better and many will come forward to connect with you. If you are having doubts or facing problem in your business or career, you can post relevant questions in your group. You will most likely find help from experts on the field and it is the perfect way to find these knowledgeable people.

If we’re LinkedIn, let me know if I can help you. If we’re not, “let’s connect!”

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