Using LinkedIn to your advantage

LinkedIn is the fastest growing social platform for business. Right now it has over 660 million users! 40% are active daily. And don't thinks its peaked.... Its goal is to get to 3 billion users! 61 million LinkedIn users are senior level influencers and 40 million are in decision-making positions.

So if you want to network, increase your leads, expand your business, get that new job, recruit the best talent etc. LinkedIn really is a great platform.

Here are some tips to help you get the most from LinkedIn:

1. Photos. Add a great head shot and a back drop photo that shows who you are - perhaps one of you in action - mine is of me speaking at a conference. Or maybe create a banner for your business? Profiles with photos get 21% more views and 36% more messages.
2. Heading. You get 220 characters so use wisely. Imagine you ideal client reading it and write accordingly. State what you do and what benefits it brings to others - remember key words. But please don't put something so wishy washy people haven't got a clue what you actually do!
3. The about section. This is a really important section, one often overlooked by many. This needs to be a mix of who you are (inject some personality), what is your ethos, what you can do for them, what have you accomplished etc. Start strong with a catchy opening and remember to optimise this section - use key words you would like people to find you for if they searched. Make it eye catching in design (but don't go overboard with emojis etc). Have a clear call to action at the end. You have 2000 characters, use them all and make them count!
4. Experience section. You don't need every job role since you paper round. I have my current role ad MD of my company and my previous 2 - which are relevant to my current role. One client came to me and had over 18 roles in this section - we quickly changed that to 5. Don't forget you can add multi media to this section and LinkedIn likes that. You can add a company brochure, CV, certificates, client references, web links etc.
5. Featured section. Again a section too many people don't make use of. This should have a maximum if 5 things and changed frequently. you can add links to articles, pdf files, tag a post, add a CV, link to a website etc.
6. References. Ask everyone you know for a refences. Current colleagues, past colleagues, suppliers etc. Also be generous in giving them.
7. Connections. The more connections the better BUT make sure they are people you genuinely want to be connected to. When I deliver LinkedIn training or coaching I always say imagine you are in a room full of people at a networking event, who would you want to speak to and connect to them.
8. Engage. Once connected actually speak to them! No hard selling, but engage. Send a mail, a voice note or video to say hi. Look at their profile, do you have anything in common to talk about. Have you got a free event, article etc which may interested them. Behave as if they were in front of you at a networking event and talk to them. You are working towards a meeting but not right away.
9. Post / show up. Daily - yes daily. You can post a range of things - pictures, text only, polls, videos, articles etc. In fact there are 16 types of posts and 14 mediums. Use # but a maximum of 3 and check how popular they are first. You can always use a free service like Hootsuite and schedule posts up to a month in advance. The ideal post is about 250 characters, so only 40/50 words. Increase the success by asking a question. Keep headings short and catchy.
10. Groups. Don't go overboard. Join a few and show up. Post / comment weekly / monthly and become to go to expert in that group.

I hope this helps you start your path to LinkedIn success. For more help with LinkedIn, I run training, webinars and one to one coaching on all things LinkedIn.