You may hear people are calling it Facebook for business professionals and while that may or may not be true, it’s become clear that anyone with a business life should be on LinkedIn. Why? It has so much to offer. In fact, most of what it has to offer isn’t even realized by a majority of its 175 million users. There are entire websites dedicated to each benefit of having a LinkedIn profile and how to make the most of it. It can almost be overwhelming. Following are some basic steps you can take to make use of your profile as well as some facts and figures to convince you to get one, in case that hasn’t happened yet.
Facebook for the business world
While it is considered to be Facebook for the business world, it’s probably not best ‘etiquette’ to present yourself on LinkedIn the way you’d present yourself on Facebook. LinkedIn is where you put your best business foot forward. You can use a LinkedIn profile as a way to present yourself to the rest of the world in a more professional way. If you’re a job hunter, you’ll use the network to develop an online business profile that includes a resume as well as recommendations. On the other hand, you’re a business professional, you’ll use LinkedIn to establish connections and relationships with colleagues, other industry professionals, and even job seekers. You are just “on” LinkedIn, you’re not really experiencing LinkedIn. If you work for yourself, LinkedIn will help you with your own personal branding and networking. If you are a business, LinkedIn will help you with your development. Did you have any idea all that was possible? Keep reading.
Upload a photo
Making a profile is easy. You set it up just like you would any social media profile, but it must be approached delicately. The right profile will get you noticed on LinkedIn, while the wrong one will make you disappear. In your description of yourself, you’ll want to use keywords. LinkedIn already works hard to make sure it rises to the top of most search engines.
Profile
You may want to upload a photo of yourself to include on your profile. Although some like the anonymity of a pictureless profile, you should remember that the reason you have a LinkedIn profile is that you don’t want to be a faceless name. The best way to be remember is to put your face with your name, and LinkedIn makes this possible. Under your picture, you will be asked to enter a professional headline. This should communicate what you are all about, and it should do so using as few words as possible. This is also a good place to use keywords.
Building your LinkedIn profile
Most of all, when building your LinkedIn profile, you’ll want to allow your personality to show. Sterile descriptions attached to a great picture will likely get you nowhere. While recruiters are looking for interesting, real people to fill positions, other professionals and business leads may be evaluating your products and services based on your description of yourself.
Once you’ve developed a profile, you can begin making connections. Keep in mind that this is not the same as garnering friends on Facebook. You should make your connections count when you are using LinkedIn. Find groups to be a part of that are applicable to the kind of business and industry you’re a part of. Once you make some connections within your industry, take a moment to introduce yourself to the people you have added that approved your addition. Once you get to know the people you are connect with within your field, share recommendations to strengthen your relationships. Carefully evaluate random connection requests. Try to think of your business network as exclusive. Don’t let just anyone in. There’s nothing wrong with networking offline as well. LinkedIn provides opportunities for people with connections in the same area to organize events and meet.
Connections
Once your profile is built up and you’ve establish relevant connections, you’ll have to maintain your account. This shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes a day. Update your status to keep your connections aware of your business successes and your personal skills. During your time on LinkedIn, you can use the site to find new connections and answer LinkedIn questions to make it easier for other professionals to find you. Don’t be afraid to ask past colleagues, clients, and customers for recommendations. Try to connect with everyone you’ve worked with as they too can provide you with quick access to referrals and leads.
There are so many ways LinkedIn is helping business professionals. If you want to know more about using, there are plenty of websites that boast a plethora of information regarding every aspect of the site you can imagine.
Examples
Some Examples Include:
Smarterer “and all-encompassing LinkedIn how-to resource guide” – lists links to other websites based on subject matter and relevance.
LinkedIn Learning Center – Provided by the website with links to blogs and articles.
Linked Intelligence – “100+ ways to use LinkedIn.”