16 Ways to Build a Powerful Business Presence on LinkedIn
Today there are 175 million users on LinkedIn and chances are you may already be a member but are not using it to its full potential. Of the top three social networks –Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—only LinkedIn concentrates on connecting business professionals. According to LinkedIn, members did nearly 4.2 billion professionally-oriented searches on the platform in 2011 and are on pace to surpass 5.3 billion in 2012; its corporate hiring solutions are used by 82 of the Fortune 100 companies; and more than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.
LinkedIn isn’t just a powerful job search tool; it is also a great tool for business development, competitive research and analysis, and networking through its one million groups. Here are 16 tips to use LinkedIn effectively.
- Sign up and complete your LinkedIn profile. If you are not yet on LinkedIn, sign up and fill out your profile. Make sure to fill it out completely and also add a picture of yourself. A complete profile makes it easier for potential partners, customers and prospective employers to find you.
- Don’t neglect your headshot. Although it may not seem a big deal to you, if your ultimate goal is to use LinkedIn to network a profile with a LinkedIn photo is “seven times more likely to be viewed” according to Nicole Williams, LinkedIn’s Connection Director. Make sure it’s a flattering head shot and only includes you.
- Search for and add your business connections. Many people never make it to this step and unfortunately nothing looks worse than a bare profile with few contacts. To speed the process of adding connections, you can select “Add Connections” and LinkedIn can send out invitations to those you correspond with through email or you can enter the email addresses of your contacts.
- Decide on your strategy for making new connections. One school of thought is to only connect with people that you actually know while another school of thought is to connect with everyone who asks to connect. My opinion is somewhere in between. I accept invitations to connect only if the person requesting to connect is someone that isn’t just blindly sending me an invite, makes sense for me to connect with and has a legitimate profile. After all, you need to make sure as best you can you are protecting yourself and your contacts from spammers.
- Make sure to add some recommendations from others once your profile is complete. The easiest way to get a recommendation is to give a recommendation. Search your contacts for those you want a recommendation from and give them one first. On LinkedIn the recommendations you receive really set you apart from others and make you appear more credible. Make sure you get at least three recommendations. Many jobs advertised on LinkedIn require applicants to have at least three recommendations in order to be reviewed.
- List your skills and expertise. This is a fairly new feature from LinkedIn but it makes your profile so much more searchable. Look though your resume and perhaps the skills required for your dream job –that you of course possess—and list them here.
- Customize your LinkedIn URL. LinkedIn assigns each profile a URL with a bunch of numbers and texts in it. To get a clean URL you can customize it for your public profile which will help Google bring you up more quickly in a search. Go to “Profile” page and then select “Edit” next to “Public Profile.” Select the URL you want.
- Delete an unwanted connection. It happens. Deleting a contact you no longer want is pretty straight forward and best of all they will not be notified. Once you are logged into your profile select “Contacts” and on the far right you have two options: “Add Connections” and “Remove Connections”. Click “Remove Connections” and then check the box of the contact you want to drop, click OK and it is done.
- Activate your blog from LinkedIn. If you have a blog and are taking the time to keep it updated make sure to publicize it through LinkedIn. By adding a widget from LinkedIn for your blog –both WordPress and Bloglink are supported– you can automatically display your latest posts. Your business blog is a great way to show your connections and prospects that you are in expert in your field.
- Don’t forget to showcase your favorite presentations. In addition to sharing your blog posts, the Slideshare app allows you to add your favorite presentations to LinkedIn. This is another great opportunity to showcase your expertise to the world.
- Hide your status updates from prying eyes. If you are looking for a job while still employed, you may not want to let all your connections know each time you make a new contact. You can fly under the radar by clicking “Settings” underneath your name on the right side of the screen. Next select “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts” and uncheck the box and don’t forget to “save changes.” When you’re ready for everyone to see your updates again make sure to reverse the process.
- Start sleuthing by making yourself anonymous. If you want to do some serious undercover work on LinkedIn and don’t want the people you are researching to know you have been digging around, you can go into stealth mode by switching your profile to anonymous. Simply go to Settings>Privacy Controls>Select what others can see when you’ve viewed their profile. Now, select one of the following three options: your name and headline; an anonymous profile with some characteristics including industry and title or being totally anonymous. Just remember when you are done “researching” to revert back to your name and profile.
- Make use of your personal updates. Have something to share with your connections like news about your company or something you would like to promote to your connections? Add it to the update box along with a link. This is then automatically shared to all your connections. In the event a connections.
- Make sure to create a “Business” page. The LinkedIn business page is a good way to publicize your business to your LinkedIn connections.
- Join groups on LinkedIn. By joining groups on LinkedIn in your industry you can meet others in your field and potentially add them as contacts as well. Also see if your alumni group is there as well. LinkedIn lets you join up to 50 groups.
- Make use of your personal updates. Have something to share with your connections like news about your company or something you would like to promote to your connections? Add it to the update box along with a link. This is then automatically shared to all your connections. In the event a connection comments on your post or likes it, your post is then shared among their connections.
What are your favorite LinkedIn tips?
Build Your Network and Influence through Twitter Chats
If you have been here before you probably know that I am a very enthusiastic participant on Twitter. So enthusiastic in fact that twice a month I moderate #CollegeChat on Twitter. Recently, Up and Running asked me to write “How can Twitter chat help your business?” to help guide startups and small businesses on how to participate in Twitter chats to help build influence and enhance engagement in your targeted market. You can read the entire post at Up and Running. An excerpt follows below.
One of the best ways for small businesses to build their networks and increase their influence is by participating in Twitter Chats. Twitter chats are Twitter based conversations that anyone can participate in and are kept on track through the use of a #hashtag, a topic with a hash symbol (“#”) at the start to identify it. There are currently more than 600 ongoing Twitter Chats, ranging from weekly to monthly discussions on a wide variety of topics. You can review an exhaustive list of ongoing chats maintained at the Twitter Chat Schedule.
Participating in a Twitter chat is a great way to network and interact with other people who may also share your professional and personal passions. It is also a great way to introduce yourself and your business to key influencers whom you want to connect with.
Be Strategic
Look for a chat where you can bring value to the conversation. For example, I moderate #CollegeChat twice a month on Tuesday evenings. Most of the chats I moderate are in question and answer format and include an “expert” guest on a particular topic. The majority of guests I first met by their attending and participating in #CollegeChat. My guests have included professors, authors, independent higher education experts and business owners targeting the higher education market.
With hundreds of ongoing Twitter chats, you should be able to find a number of chats that are ideal for both networking and for your business. Perhaps you have developed a business tool, application or book that you are targeting to business to business marketers? Then you might want to check out #B2Bchat. A recent #B2Bchat focused on “Facebook for B2B -The Times They Are a-Changin’.
Expand your Knowledge
Also consider joining in Twitter chats just to expand your knowledge. Have you been considering adding a blog to your website but really don’t know where to start? Consider checking out #Blogchat on Sunday evenings to get fresh ideas from blogging experts. Recently Brian Solis, a thought leader in new media and a best-selling author, was a guest for #Blogchat and discussed with attendees how to use blogs as tools to build influence.
Do you need some new ideas for your start-up or small business? #Smallbizchat is a great chat for small businesses since its focus is on helping small businesses to succeed as they start to grow. Recently on #Smallbizchat, Dina Dwyer-Owen, a certified franchise executive with more than 30 years of industry experience and a recent guest on the television program “Undercover Boss”, shared with attendees “How to Live Rich in Your Small Business”. #Smallbizchat is hosted weekly by Melinda Emerson, a noted small business expert, coach and author.
How to Participate
In order to participate in a Twitter chat, attendees will need to have a Twitter account. To sign up for a Twitter account, go to http:// twitter.com. Once you have your Twitter account, you are ready to go.
There are a number of formats to use to follow a Twitter chat but the easiest way I have found to participate is by using TweetChat, a platform designed to make “Twitter chats” run easily.
Don’t be a Bystander
In order to get the most out of any Twitter chat is to make sure you join in. Most moderators ask attendees to go ahead and introduce themselves. Your introduction is a great way to begin meeting others.
By joining in a chat you are not only sharing your ideas with the attendees but also with the attendees’ followers. Don’t be surprised if you pick up a number of new followers after the chat based on comments and interactions you had during the chat. Every time you write a tweet that is then re-tweeted – quoted or rebroadcast by other attendees – your tweet is not only repeated across the chat but also to the followers of the person who re-tweeted you, thereby expanding your reach exponentially.
And, the best parts about participating in Twitter chats are the people you meet and the network you build.
Flattening of Higher Education on #CollegeChat October 18
Mark Greenfield, a noted higher education web communications expert and speaker, will discuss how higher education is being flattened and what that will mean for the future of education during #CollegeChat on October 18, 2011 at 9 pm Eastern.
According to Greenfield, “Our system of higher education is based on a model that is centuries old. It was built for a world that no longer exists. Change is coming and faster than you think.” During #CollegeChat, Greenfield will discuss with attendees what the “flattening of higher education” will mean including:
- What the similarities are between the flattening of the business world and the coming flattening of higher education
- Whether higher education has already reached the tipping point
- How will stealth fighter parents replace helicopter parents and how will these parents impact higher education
- How are the explosion of higher education competitors accelerating the flattening of higher education
- Why is higher education ripe for the unbundling of services and activities
- What does the future hold for higher education
Mark Greenfield is a highly regarded, influential member of the higher education web community. He is an experienced consultant and an award winning speaker who is known for his thoughtful vision of the future of the web and technology on college campuses. He is very active in the web community serving on numerous boards and committees as well as being the owner and driving force behind the uwebd social network, an active community of over 3,500 higher ed web professionals from across the world.
About #CollegeChat
#CollegeChat is a live bi-monthly conversation intended for teens, college students, parents, and higher education experts on Twitter. #CollegeChat takes place on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. PDT/ 9 p.m. EDT. Questions for each #CollegeChat edition can be sent to Theresa Smith, the moderator of #CollegeChat via http://Twitter.com/collegechat , by entering questions online on the CollegeChat Facebook page at http://ht.ly/1XIqV , or by email. More detailed information about signing up for Twitter and participating in #Collegechat can be found at http://pathwaypr.com/how-to-participate-in-a-twitter-chat .CollegeChat can also be found on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/collegechat .
The Khan Academy: Educating the World in 12 Minutes via Bill Gates
Listen to Bill Gates talk about the Khan Academy, a fantastic online resource with more than 2200 free tutorials. The tutorials cover everything from “arithmetic to physics, finance, and history”.
Check out the library of information and tutorials .
How To Set Up Google Reader
Two questions I have been asked about a lot in the last six months are what is RSS, Real Simple Syndication, and how do you use it to track the web sites that you read must frequently. The Business Insider recently tackled this in their “How To Use Google Reader.” The how to article follows. Enjoy.
Martin Zwilling: The Best Entrepreneurs Share These Traits
If you don’t know who Martin Zwilling is and are either interested in starting a business or have a startup in progress, you should be following Martin either on his blog, Startup Professional Musings, or on Twitter. Martin is a veteran startup mentor, executive, blogger, author, tech professional, and angel investor. Today he wrote the following excellent post for The Business Insider :
Next #CollegeChat: How to Plan an Effective and Economical College Visit
photo credit: Vironevaeh
Z. Kelly Queijo, founder of Smart College Visit, Inc. and publisher of SmartCollegeVisit.com, will discuss how to plan an effective and economical college visit for college bound high school students on the March 15, 2011 #CollegeChat on Twitter at 9 p.m. Eastern.
During #CollegeChat, Queijo (http://twitter.com/#!/collegevisit) will discuss with attendees:
- When should high school students ideally begin their college visits
- When is the best time to visit a college
- Where can parents find the best deals on travel for college visits
- How do you go beyond the official college tour
- What is the 2-2-2 rule and why is it important
- Are overnight visits on campus just for accepted students and how do you arrange
- If the school you want to visit is too expensive to travel to what other options do you have to “visit”
- How much credibility should you give the “official college led tour”
Queijo is a working-writer-turned-entrepreneur, recovering helicopter parent, and higher-ed marketing and public relations professional. She has taken her 16 years of experience working in, or with, college and universities and focused her attention on helping families navigate the fascinating journey of the college-bound. Queijo is also the host of #CampusChat, a Twitter chat on all things college: campus visits, college admissions and college life.
About #CollegeChat
#CollegeChat is a live bi-monthly conversation intended for teens, college students, parents, and higher education experts on Twitter. #CollegeChat takes place on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Pacific/ 9 p.m. Eastern. Questions for each #CollegeChat edition can be sent to Theresa Smith, the moderator of #CollegeChat via http://Twitter.com/collegechat , by entering questions online on the CollegeChat Facebook page at http://ht.ly/1XIqV , or by email. More detailed information about signing up for Twitter and participating in #Collegechat can be found at http://pathwaypr.com/how-to-participate-in-a-twitter-chat .CollegeChat can also be found on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/collegechat .
College-to-Career Expert to Discuss on #CollegeChat: How to Find and Get the Right Internships
Emily Bennington, Founder of Professional Studio 365 and author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job, will discuss what college students need to do to find the right internships and stand out during #CollegeChat on Twitter on February 15, 2011 at 9 p.m. Eastern.
During #CollegeChat, Bennington (http://twitter.com/emilybennington) will discuss with attendees:
- How to land your dream internship
- Are internships for college students only
- How to identify target internships
- What resources are available
- How to tell if internship is “legitimate”
- Should you take a paid or unpaid internship
- How to outshine other applicants
- How to stand out as an intern
Emily is a frequent speaker to students on the topic of career success and provides professionalism and onboard training to new grads and their employers.She has been featured on CNN and ABC News, and has been quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, US News and World Report, Yahoo Jobs, and the Washington Post Express. She is also a contributing writer for Monster.com and a featured blogger for The Huffington Post. Emily is dedicated to giving young professionals the resources needed to achieve their highest potential, and she is particularly passionate about volunteerism as a means of leadership development and advancing the skills of young women in the workplace.
About #CollegeChat
#CollegeChat is a live bi-monthly conversation intended for teens, college students, parents, and higher education experts on Twitter. #CollegeChat takes place on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. Pacific/ 9 p.m. Eastern. Questions for each #CollegeChat edition can be sent to Theresa Smith, the moderator of #CollegeChat via http://Twitter.com/collegechat , by entering questions online on the CollegeChat Facebook page at http://ht.ly/1XIqV , or by email. More detailed information about signing up for Twitter and participating in #Collegechat can be found at http://pathwaypr.com/how-to-participate-in-a-twitter-chat .CollegeChat can also be found on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/collegechat .