Getting started with LinkedIn

A couple weeks ago we had a post that talked about getting started with social media for your business and touched on a few areas. In the next few week’s we’re going to talk about each individual platform and how to get started there. This week we’re going to chat about LinkedIn!

LinkedIn is my favorite Social Media Platform and one of the best tools for anyone who is B2B. I still talk to people that think of LinkedIn as a platform that is meant to look for jobs or getting recruited for a job and think LinkedIn is just an online “resume”.

Those days are long gone and LinkedIn has grown so much over the last several years. Now LinkedIn is essentially a networking event online.

Optimizing your Profile

When it comes to your profile you want to make it something people will want to look at and there is a lot more to it than making it look “pretty”. Of course you’re going to want a professional headshot for your profile picture and a great cover photo but there’s more to it than that.

Let’s start with your profile photo. When I say professional headshot, that doesn’t mean  you have to go out and spend tons of money you may not have on a photographer to have the best photo possible. The cameras on our smartphones are amazing and will do the job. The key to the headshot is making it professional and not a “selfie”. You’ll want to prop your phone up or use a tripod and then use the timer on your camera to take a good photo.

The next area you’re going to want to focus on is your Headline and your About section. When you scroll through LinkedIn, you’re going to see the person that posted something and with that you’ll see their headline. This is huge and a great way for people to see exactly what you do and what you want them to see.

If being a social media manager I don’t have what I do and have a headline that says, “I love to help businesses grow”. What are you going to think? Will you know what I do? How am I going to help businesses grow? You want a headline that is clear and to the point. You want to tell the world this is exactly what I do and how I can help you.

Once you get to your About section, you’re going to want to make sure the first sentence is something that catches the eye of the reader as that’s the first thing they see before they hit “more” to read the entire About section.

Here you’re going to want to talk about what you do and the problems you can solve for your clients or your customers. One huge way of doing this is stacking your wins. This is something I’m a huge fan of and if you look at my About section you’ll see that I have wins like being an SMU ambassador and being nominated for Social Media Manager of the year in 2019.

After you finish your About section, you’ll want to start working on your skills. Having skills on LinkedIn and your friends and colleagues endorse you for those skills will show the value you provide in each area.

Another huge benefit is to reach and and get some recommendations. Having a colleague, former boss or a close friend that is an industry leader will go a long way with a recommendation. These recommendations are like testimonials and something that will be seen and noticed.

Time for some content!

Like any other social media platform, you are able to post content on LinkedIn. While doing this, make sure you’re posting and following the 80/20 rule that we have talked about before. You’re going to want to provide more value to your audience then selling to them. The more value you provide, the more of an expert your audience will see you as.

Another great way to provide value is to write an article. Artiles are like a blog post for LinkedIn and a great way to provide even more value to your audience. To start, take a topic that you are passionate about and something that will provide value and post that as an article on your LinkedIn profile. What I do for articles is I’ll take my weekly blog post, like this one and have it here on LinkedIn as well. Instead of creating a post and linking it to my blog page the article is right here on LinkedIn as well.

Now that you have your profile optimized, skills up and recommendation or two, it’s time to start connecting with others in your target market! Since you’re connecting, why not start with me!