When I talk to clients about social media their first thoughts are of Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. 90% people name LinkedIn last, and their marketing budget follows accordingly.
Yes, it doesn't have the numbers of followers as Facebook or Twitter but LinkedIn is still the most popular and largest professional network/business-oriented social networking site out there (with 300 million registered users).
Don't get me wrong LinkedIn isn't for every company, but if you are looking to connect with industry professionals, recruitment, or you have business-to-business (B2B) activities, then you need to make sure LinkedIn is part of your marketing plan.
So how to do make your LinkedIn profile successful? I've recently helped a client MDLman update both their company and personal profile. Here's a few of the tactics I used:
1) Search
In both your personal and company profile you can get more search results by making sure you've got the relevant keywords for your industry. For your company profile ask yourself the following to help establish which keywords you need to target:
- What keywords are you targeting on your company website?
- What ones are relevant to you?
- What problems do you fix for companies?
2) Personal profile
This is your place to shine and show who you are.
- Headline - Craft a headline that sells you and your ability (don't forget to add keywords)
- Professional photo - please peeps, no dating photos or holiday snaps... and I know you looked good on your wedding day, but it's probably not the right place to show it off. Don't forget to make a background photo as well.
- Add your own personalised URL
- Website links - change your links to specific pages on your website, or social media pages.
3) Professional skills & recommendations
Your LinkedIn profile has 13 times more chances to get viewed if you add skills. Make sure you add skills that are relevant to you.
You can also request a recommendation by going onto the colleague profile that you want a recommendation with, pressing the tab '...' and scrolling down to request a recommendation.
4) Company profile
Make your profile a mini value proposition for your company profile.
- Company description - Explain what problems you fix for your customers (don't forget to add keywords)
- Professional photos to sell your companies
- Contact information - make sure all information is all up to date. email address, phone number, company website, social media handle.
5) SHOWCASE YOUR PRODUCTS
Use the showcase section to highlight products services and other projects on your company profile.
Adding this section will allow you to name your project and input a URL, leading the viewer to the project's website and thus creating an inbound link.
6) groups
Find groups related to your industry or niche, then join them and be an active participant in at least three of them
Ask the following:
- What industry groups are relevant to your business?
- Am I currently targeting them on either my company or personal profile?
If you're looking to find out more tactics to make your LinkedIn profile work for you and your business, then please call me today.