Source: Sheila Scarborough – flickr
With more than 347 million members and 4.2 billion people searches per year, LinkedIn is a key resource for building your brand and your business. If you’re new to LinkedIn or haven’t quite found its usefulness yet, there are a few things you should take into consideration to get things rolling with LinkedIn.
Polish your Profile
Make sure your profile is complete and up-to-date. Your profile is what gives viewers their first impression of you. The key elements are displayed towards the top of your profile so you want to make sure all the critical information about you is displayed in those fields. Business people are busy people…they don’t have time to read long naratives. If they don’t find something of interest immediately, they probably won’t take the time to scroll through your entire profile.
For 10 Tips on Making Your Profile Work for You, download our free guide.
Incorporate your most relevant Keywords
Having the right keywords in your LinkedIn profile will determine whether or not you are found when someone is performing a search on LinkedIn.
It is important to consider all the terms and phrases that someone might use in their search. For example, if you are a “mortgage banker,” others may use the term “lender” or “broker” instead of “banker.” Including all of these alternatives in your profile will increase the number of times you appear in search results.
There are many places you can include keywords in your profile. Consider using them in the following areas:
- Headline
- Current & past titles
- Summary
- Experience
- Skills
- Recommendations
Remember it’s all about Relationships
Keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile is not your sales page. The saying goes that people buy from those they know, like and trust. Think of LinkedIn as a tool to engage people so they can get to know and like you. By offering assistance, engaging in a discussion, providing valuable information, or introducing them to beneficial contacts (before asking for the sale) you gradually build a trusting relationship. Once you reach the trust level, the sales transaction can occur.