Are you Simply on LinkedIn or Truly LinkedIn? Take the Quiz and find out!

Are you Simply on LinkedIn or Truly LinkedIn?

Count the number of Yes' you have and see how LinkedIn you really are?

1. Do you have a customized background photo connecting you to industry, business, or specialty?

2. Is your tagline truly your unique value proposition (UVP)-catchy and charismatic with a sprinkle of keywords?

3. Does your "About" section start with an enticing 2 line opener that is both compelling and catchy?

4. Do you market your TOP 3 skills and place them strategically at the top so they can be seen and endorsed?

5. Is your URL customized to be LinkedIn/in/yourname?

6. Is your story written in 1st person since it is your story?

7. Have you created 3 customized anchor links for the 3 websites you can use to increase your marketability? (Select “Other” and make the 3 websites count)

8. Is your story authentically speaking to your viewers (not a copy/paste) of your resume?

9. Do you have at least 3 recommendations/testimonials on your profile, since social recognition matters (character, professional, academic)?

10. Are all "4-key" LinkedIn search areas fully developed: Tagline, Summary, Experience, and Skill sections?

11. Is your profile picture approachable, friendly, front-facing, & only you?

12. Is your profile accessible, current, & visible?(check privacy settings-This is important so recruiters and employers and find out all about you even if you are not connected)

13. Do you start each experience section with a summary to show who you are behind the title instead of what's intuitive like roles and responsibilities? (Think of each experience as a cupcake and start with your Cherry on Top!)

14. Do you customize EVERY connection request even using your mobile? (use "More" instead of Connect to personalize every request on your mobile)

15. Is your location/industry accurate?

16. Have you identified "key" words you want to be found for and sprinkled them throughout your LinkedIn story?

17. Do you include a Call-to-Action (CTA), in your "About section", to tell people to follow you, reach out, or whatever you want them to do?

18. Do you write longer articles / blogs via LinkedIn Pulse to increase your professional credibility & show thought leadership?

19. Do you put Relationship Building first and avoid starting things off with that annoying sales pitch or spam that nobody wants to receive?

20. Do you introduce everything you share on the news-feed to help spark conversation / discussion?

21. Do you use #hashtags and encourage people to follow them? (a few of mine are #decidetobekind, #kindclub, #peoplepod if you want to follow them)

22. Have you added images, documents, presentations, or video to your LinkedIn story to make it more robust?

23. Do you offer readers a glimpse into your future goals, ideas, and objectives?

24. If you are a job seeker, is your profile optimized and written for the job you want and not the job you have?

25. Do you have a tagline that makes people curious about who you are and what you offer?

26. Is the name you use on LinkedIn, the same name you use day to day? (Why don't you ask someone to do a search to see how easy it is to find you!)

27. Is the name section of your profile made up of your name only with maybe 1 or 2 credentials; not jam packed with information and emojis that make it harder for you to be found or tagged?

28. Are the skills on your profile relevant and ones you really want to market?

29. If you don't trust your own eyes to catch mistakes, and you don’t have a human proofreader, do you use an app like Grammarly to check your grammar and spelling for you?

30. Do you belong to some LinkedIn Groups relevant to your profession, industry, academic background, or career interests?

31. Do you comment and engage with other people's posts or simply passively use "like" most of the time?

32. Do you reference job descriptions (especially on LinkedIn) for any desired positions you are seeking to find keywords and craft your profile in a way that would be attractive to potential employers?

33. Do you have at least 50 connections to get you started as an official LinkedIn networker?

34. Is your LinkedIn profile mobile-friendly?

35. Have you filled in the optional sections that LinkedIn provides to help you make your profile more robust (languages courses, volunteer experience, etc?)

36. Do you ask people to endorse you?

37. Do you format your LinkedIn posts and create ones pleasing to the eye: shorter sentences, visuals, spacing, and the use of well out emojicons to break up the post?

38. Do you mention (@) others, in your posts, when the time is right (give credit, relevance, social reciprocity)?

39. Do you have both quantifiable and qualifiable achievements highlighted in your story?

40. Have you thoroughly familiarized yourself with the privacy options in the ‘Settings and Privacy’ section?

41. Do you make it easy for people to reach you by adding your email address and cell number to the contact information section?

42. If you are a job seeker, do you include your major skill-sets in your "about" section and again in the "skill" section?

43. Are you effectively telling your company’s story by showcasing your products and services, sharing updates with followers, and speaking directly to your targeted audience on your LinkedIn company page?

44. Have you deleted additional LinkedIn profiles?

45. Are you making sure to avoid using "buzzwords" commonly used by everyone? (Sometimes there is a way to much "passion??" on LinkedIn!)

46. Do you proactively network and build your community (not just people you know but people you should know) on LinkedIn to show that you are open to social connectivity?

47. Is the first letter of each Word Of Your Name Capitalized?

48. Is your "About section" more of a conversation piece rather than a dry recollection of your experience and skills?

49. Are you putting in the time to make your LinkedIn profile AWESOME by taking LinkedIn's suggestions and offers on how to make it stronger?

50. Do you initiate discussions in the groups you belong to? 

51. Do you regularly give endorsements?

52. Do you report any bad behavior / bullying / fake profiles to LinkedIn? (Take a screenshot of any bad / unacceptable behavior and report immediately: https://bit.ly/2Rr7dLn)

53. Do you take Advantage of LinkedIn's Saved Searches Feature (With the free account you can have three saved searches)?

54. Do you connect with 15 people, from common groups, each month? (You can send 15 free 1:1 group messages to fellow group members each month. This limit is set for all the groups you belong to and not for each group individually)

55. Do you effectively stay on top of your LinkedIn inbox so that incoming messages don't languish there for months?

56. Do you connect your experience to specific company pages to show company logos and add to your credibility?

57. Do you use video (3x more views) on LinkedIn on your profile/page, LinkedIn Publisher, and / or in your News-feed Posts?

58. Have you created a content schedule so you are showing up regularly and viewers get into the habit seeing you and tuning in to what you have to say?

59. Do you control your clinginess by giving your new connections some time and space before bugging them within 10 minutes of connecting with them?

60. Are you incorporating LinkedIn’s analytics into your content marketing strategy so you know who is checking you out, and most importantly, which posts and articles are resonating the most with viewers?

61. Are you blurring the lines between way too personal and professional posts? (When in doubt, don’t post it to LinkedIn!)

62. Have you downloaded the LinkedIn app?

63. Do you send a personalized congratulatory note to important connections you know who just landed a new job, is having a birthday, or celebrating an important anniversary?

64. Do you utilize the “People You May Know” and "Who has Viewed your Profile" features to help build your LinkedIn network?

65. Do you use the “People Also Viewed,” feature to see who the competition may be? (You can turn this feature off if you don’t want to be included in it)

66. Do you make it a point of offering valuable content that showcases your expertise on a consistent basis?

67. Do you highlight more than one position at the same organization to show your progression in the experience section? (LinkedIn automatically groups the information so you can spotlight multiple roles at a specific organization)

68. Do you make sure not to sound desperate, and waste valuable LinkedIn story space, by using headlines such as “Actively Seeking Opportunities”, "Looking for Work", or "Looking for Work Again"?

69. Do you write your story using short paragraphs and easily digestible words in order to make it readable, understandable, and enjoyable?

70. Are you exercising patience (leaving the quickie mindset behind) on LinkedIn; keeping in mind that patience and persistence will help you achieve LinkedIn success?

71. Do you post at different times throughout your week?

72. Do you send voice mail messages to make it more personal?

73. Do you market your customized LinkedIn URL on all of your marketing and branding materials?

74. Do you highlight important achievements in your education section and connect your education section to the page of the educational institution you attended?

75. Do you make sure to connect with generous commenters?

76. Do you view someone’s profile before inviting them to connect to find out more about them and possibly find some common ground?

77. Do you follow influencers on LinkedIn?

78. Do you stay on top of your LinkedIn inbox so that incoming messages don't languish there for months?

79. Do you take advantage of "LinkedIn Learning" by building your skills then uploading the certificates of achievement on your profile?

80. Do you use "advanced" searches using the filters available and Boolean logic to help you target and find information more efficiently?

81. Do you follow targeted company pages of interest?

82. Do you showcase volunteer work/community involvement?

83. Do you act as a connector and introduce people, in your network, who should know each other?

84. When you write an article, do you make sure to also share it on your newsfeed?

85. If you are actively looking for a job, do you have the "open for job opportunities" feature turned on to privately send out the message?

86. Do you take a 70-30% or 80-20% (hard and relevant career skills verses transferable skills) approach to showcasing your skills?

87. Do you use your personal address to log in to LinkedIn and not your work address?

88. Is your Twitter Account (providing it is professional) added to your LinkedIn profile so you can post your LinkedIn update to Twitter and expand your reach?

89. Do you use the "LinkedIn Events" feature to create and join professional events on and offline?

90. Have you asked for a copy of your data so you have an archive (you get to choose the date files you are most interested in)?

91. Do you have members of your team added in "Teammates"; the new feature that helps you quickly add your current teammates on LinkedIn so you can prioritize targeted updates in your feed about your team’s activity on LinkedIn such as posts, comments, likes, shares, and work anniversaries?

92. Have you created your profile in another language to help users find you easier (LinkedIn matches viewers’ language to your available language profile. If there’s no match, your default profile will show)?

93. Do you make sure that your LinkedIn headline remains customized, by removing the check, when you add a new experience?

94. Do you ignore and never add Chrome extensions for LinkedIn (to avoid ending up in LinkedIn Jail)?

95. Do repurpose your content for the LinkedIn platform?

96. Do you hustle to make your way to that magical number of 501 to ensure that you don't put yourself at a disadvantage?

97. Do you use the "find nearby" feature to connect with like-minded individuals at networking events or other business-related functions?

98. Do you use LinkedIn as a stepping stone to generate real, in-person connections?

99. Do you edit your comments when necessary, just as you can change a published post, by using the icon on the top right of the comment?

100. Do you believe in your story, enthusiastically think of yourself as an AMAZING brand, and do all you can to market your AMAZING story to your target audience on LinkedIn?

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HOW LINKED-IN ARE YOU?

?? 80-100 Bravo! You are on fire on LinkedIn!

?? 60-79 You are still LinkedIn HOT but, a bit more work will fire things up!

??? 50-59 Not bad but there is some heavier lifting to be done-It could be time for a LinkedIn Make-Over!

?? Below 49-Make the decision to rewrite the amazing career story of you and apply what it takes so you are totally LinkedIn!

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****If there are some that do not apply, adjust accordingly!

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Some quotes for LinkedIn Success:

• “If you are on LinkedIn, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong."
• “Don't promote negativity online and expect people to treat you with positivity in person.”
• “What you post online speaks VOLUME about who you really are. POST with intention."
• “LinkedIn Networking isn't how many people you know, it's how many people know you.”
• “Don’t second guess your professional first impression.”
• “Don’t second guess your professional first impression.”
• “The first thing you should do as a Social Seller is enhance your LinkedIn profile. Social sellers should make sure they create a good impression before jumping in.”
• "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

Shelly ??