LinkedIn is a professional network built around one’s employment capabilities. It is often referred to (I believe somewhat incorrectly) as an online version of your CV or resume. People who use LinkedIn expertly, like Christopher S. Penn, will be the first to say that this service is sorely underrated as a place to develop business, grow your capabilities, and promote your projects and opportunities. Here are some thoughts on amping up your LinkedIn presence.
Write to be Read
The first horror show I see when reading other people’s LinkedIn profiles is that they’re written completely dry, as if robots are the only thing that will read them. Though one should write with robots in mind, this is still a human network, so write as if you want someone to actually read your profile. Here’s the first paragraph of my summary:
I show businesses how to use social media technologies for external community building and outreach, and for internal collaboration. I have over 10 years experience with social media and 16 years experience in enterprise computing environments. I blend emerging tech knowledge with enterprise culture understanding.
You can tell what I do, have a sense of what I’m hoping you want from me, and get a hint at my unique value proposition to businesses on this regard. It’s not the best paragraph ever written, but it’s definitely clear in explaining my core interests.
Make your summary explain, succinctly, why someone would want to tap your shoulder for business. If you’re not sure why, that’s another matter altogether. Read it aloud a few times to see how it sounds.
Make Your Job Descriptions Work Two Ways
I want people who read my profile to see that I’m happily employed, that I work for a “real” company, and that my company has capabilities in certain areas. If you work for yourself, be clear about that, too. There’s no shame in being a solo operator. Just be clear that you’ve chosen to build a profile to signal your professional capabilities, and write it in such a way that people understand where you sit.
Further, make sure that when people read your job description, they are thinking about how to put you to work on their issues. I state my company’s primary functions in the first sentence of my current role, so that people can see what I’m bringing to the table alongside my own personal skills. Thus, my job description states what I’m doing, but also what I can do.
Recommendations are Your Friends
I ask for recommendations all the time. I’m not shy about it. Why? Because I want other people’s words to guide you to choosing me for your business needs. I want you not to have to take my word for it, but instead, to know what others have to say. Don’t be shy about this, but also be very realistic about asking for recommendations.
I will not recommend people whose professional work I’m not familiar with enough to suggest to a close, personal friend. I’m willing to “friend” anyone, but I only recommend people I can vouch for professionally.
Connection Strategies
LinkedIn has an official opinion on connecting up with others. They recommend that you only connect with people you know well personally. You’re welcome to take their opinion on that.
I’ve chosen to accept with anyone who connects with me, and I’ve only had to drop one person ever for abusing that connection. Why? Because in my view, expanding my network means that you will find the person you need by searching through my network, and that I, at least in theory, can help you get to the person you need for your business efforts.
Your mileage may vary. I will do it my way, as most folks who connect with me eventually come calling to reach someone else that I’ve added, and I feel good every time I can be helpful.
Some Last Thoughts
- Check your contact settings. Be explicit about who you want connecting with you.
- Consider putting up a photo.
- Use the groups features and find groups where you might want to contribute.
- Participate in the Q&A function to share your expertise (it’s like free advertising, when done tastefully).
- Update at least every three months. Your role has changed. Make sure your profile reflects that.
For the bonus round, I recommend staying up to date via LinkedIn’s community superhero, Mario Sundar.
What about you? Any other advice you’d offer to others?
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR.
Many good points here, Chris.
I use Q&A a lot and that has proven to be an excellent way of building the network, learning new stuff and even promoting my blog and business. When you ask questions, make sure you follow up by thanking people for taking the time to answer and offering them to connect if you would like that.
I’ve asked for recommendations and have a pretty decent profile going on LinkedIn. I know I could do more, especially after seeing Christopher S. Penn at the last Social Media Breakfast presenting ‘LinkedIn Ideas for the Super User’.
Recently I post in the LinkedIn Answers section … a lot! It seems to be the only way for me to reach out to new people. To expand my network. I post whatever might be on my mind at the moment. Questions that are sometimes surreal and playful, but typically questions that are entirely appropriate to LinkedIn. And I get some really great insight from the community on LinkedIn. And occasionally I get a new contact or 2 to add to my connections.
Great post Chris.
I recently became a power user growing my network from 100 to 2000+ connections.
It helped me a lot setting up a group about my passion who was joined by 1000 people.
What also helped me was joining groups of open networkers such as Toplinked. The great thing about these king of groups is that invites are welcomed and you can introduce yourself to a lot of interesting people.
I made a choice of Linkedin over Facebook preferring it for its business perspective and it is paying off in terms of job contacts.
Thanks
Julius
I did a presentation on this recently, actually, at PodCamp NYC…
http://www.mdialog.com/video/show/8633-using-linkedin-to-build-your-personal-network
LinkedIn is great as a more static self-billboard, and for helping make connections. On immediacy and interactivity, however, I find it nowhere near as valuable as a Twtter/blog combo.
In addition to writing clearly about your interests, those looking to stand out in particular fields should think carefully about keywords. I ran a few experiments with keywords on my profile and adding the right mix really boosted the results.
Of course, you can actually draw too much attention to yourself.
I ended up getting a ton of calls for jobs I wasn’t interested in, so I spent some serious time reflecting on what I wanted from LinkedIn. I now have a profile that some consider a little frivolous (see my name link above). Yet it’s an accurate reflection of who I am and let’s people know what I’m all about right from the start.
Chris,
Early on I used it as a billboard; over time it became a tool to bring together more people within our company seeing that we’re spread out over four states.
The individual page strength shouldn’t be ignored – what a great way to get more eyeballs on your brand.
Thanks for the article. The only action my LinkedIn account sees right now is the occasional yes to invitations, so I’ll be looking at ramping that up more.
I hope you don’t mind, but your summary is kind of jargon-y, I think people may better understand what you do if you say something like this:
I show businesses how to use social media to reach new audiences and build communities for their products and services, as well as to promote more internal collaboration among different divisions and departments. With more than 10 years experience in social media and 16 years in corporate IT, I am an expert at leveraging emerging technologies within the corporate environment.
Tracy
What’s the best way to represent freelance work? I’ve been in one position for a while but have done some freelance work in my spare time. How do I get that on there?
I really like this article because I have had a LinkedIn account and I have been completely passive with it and not been wise enough to see the potential. Hmm, myabe too lazty would be more accurate.
One thing though Chris and I hope you don’t mind me saying this, it is just a point of view. I found your sample profile….er….dry. To me it was industry speak and ‘normal’ people just don’t talk like that.
A minor complaint in a good article and I have subscribed to the feed so I hope you’ll forgive me ;-)
Chris:
I found this really helpful.
Thanks,
Best always,
- Peter
Great article! You’ve inspired me to abandon my shyness about asking for recommendations. I actually launched my copywriting business using LinkedIn & recently wrote a couple of blog posts about how independent consultants can use it to market ourselves. They’re here: http://copylicious.com/blog/http:/copylicious.com/blog/are-you-making-these-mistakes-on-your-linkedin-profile/
and here:
http://copylicious.com/blog/http:/copylicious.com/blog/how-i-used-linkedin-to-get-a-41-response-rate-6-new-clients/
KP
Very useful article, Chris! As always :)
And, yes, for any of your readers – feel free to follow me on twitter and let me know if you’ve any questions on LI.
BTW, Chris, great new look and feel for your site. Nicely done!
hey Chris, great post I wrote a post called 15 ways to market yourself on linkedin that you might enjoy. check it out
http://www.jmorganmarketing.com/15-ways-to-market-yourself-on-linkedin/
Hope to see you again at an upcoming event!
Jacob
LinkedIn remains my favorite social networking tool. The two things I’ve found most resourceful for me lately have been 1.) requesting recommendations from those within my network, 2.) answering question in the Q&A forum (it’s good quality publicity). Actually, they’re both good publicity.
Simply put, recommendations from your colleagues are a strong source of credit to you and your business.
Good thinking, I’ll be reviewing my profile…
Couple of points tho’
I’ve been checking the “who has looked at your profile
in the last 14 days” section to see how PR and other
marketing has gone.
Also I’ve got a Voip “Call me” button on my profile,
it lets folks call immediately without me having to
publish my number.
Chris! My profile needs help, so thanks for this post. It’s been neglected for so long. I even deleted the robot stuff I had before. So it’s really sparse. Anyways, this post if a great start.
Thank you, sir. I’m going to print this out and use it.
Is it bad that I took notes? Hah – I’ve been seeing LinkedIn becoming more and more popular but I’ve never really been able to shift it past the “online resume” mindset.
Loved the suggestions and will definitely get going on putting some to good use!
-James Connors
This is a super batch of info Chris, and I must say that there is an awesome amount of supplemental info in the comments. I have recently been thinking about LinkedIn and how to best use it.
Now I can plan some action steps.
Thanks for the help. You reminded me that audience awareness is everything is communicating.
Thanks for the article. Interesting Read:)
Great article. I’ve found LinkedIn to be an amazing networking resource, both for finding employment opportunities and for helping your own company find qualified applicants (connections on LinkedIn seeking employment).
One thing I’m hesitant to agree with are the amount of recommendations you display. I’d rather ask for 10 recs from my closest supervisors/team members than from just anyone I worked with.
I would like to appear on the linkedin
Great suggestions, Chris. Edit, edit, edit it until your LinkedIn resume pops in all the right places. I’m nowhere complete yet, but I’ve been working on mine for some time. I don’t have mine linked to my RSS feed, but rather to my actual page.
Thanks again for some great work!
OK, I’m embarrassed at how dry and impersonal my LinkedIn profile really was, so per Chris’ suggestion, I did my best to ensure that I come across as a human being. http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickdriscoll
Thanks, Chris!
Actively participating in the Q&A, and providing well thought out answers is another way to expand your network, and make valuable connections with others that might otherwise not know that you exist.
I just wish there was an entertainment category :)
Thanku
what a bunch of losers dont you people have anything better to do than love yourselves WOW!!!!
Excellent Recommondations. As a talent manager I often get asked how one goes about creating best in class linkedin profiles. I have collected some good examples of profiles – would you have other examples ?
The Top Profiles on Linkedin to Learn From http://tinyurl.com/l3384q
The individual page strength shouldn't be ignored – what a great way to get more eyeballs on your brand.
great post, this is useful for me, defiantly i suggest my friend this article.
Thank you
Subbu
great post, this is useful for me, defiantly i suggest my friend this article.
Thank you
Subbu
Hello Chris,
I found you on Linked while searching for help writing my Linked profile etc. Is that a service you provide?
hey i think you are really moving on your blog.that's so great of you and i think we can share alot
not bad..nice try!
keep making your good works
It works! Thank Chris.
thanks for very insightful tips on how to use this network.
cheers
Parag Risbud
Nice one !!
Hi Chris
Enjoyed reading your article.
I would add to consider adding keywords to your titles and descriptions whereever possible and including your website links. Also creating a unique linkedin ID (vs having one with lots of numbers (the default).
Maria
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariamarsala
A couple of questions as much as comments:
What's your view about the settings for your visibility on “Who's viewed my profile”?
I have it set to reveal my identity, since I find it quite frustrating to see I've been visited but not know by whom.
A nice article to guiding 'How to use Linkedin” However, I feel that the although profile should not be robotic a lot of things around What I do or What I can do, make it feels like an advertisement. A, subtle profile with clearly mentioning the objective will be more use (its my personal view).
Chris wat r your thoughts on this?