Do you consider yourself an average user of LinkedIn? Chances are you do! And yet, there are so many angles to the networking community left to investigate.
Down to basics
Name, title, picture, education, earlier work – its all very basic really. And yet, it took me 5+ years to fill in my profile to 100%. How many % complete is your profile?
What’s in a name
If you’re lucky you have a name people remember after hearing it once. If you’re like me, you have a fairly common name. But maybe you have a specialty? Some creative individuals add that right after their name (in the same field), ensuring it shows up everywhere your name does. A bonus is it supports the title section of your profile.
Your title, sir
Does your title and company say enough about your skills? Or are there other keywords that should be included? At first glance your name and title section is all another member can see, so make sure it reflects your areas of expertise (especially useful for groups and discussions)
Bells and whistles
- Even though you might not use LinkedIn at work, make sure to link to any website that relates to what you know. Work website or blog, you own blog related to your line of work, whatever fits the bill really
- Add your areas of expertise as short keywords (but many of them). It helps people find you in general search as well as get a quick overview of what they could ask you about
- Explore the add on’s. You can show a custom reading list, your latest tweets, presentations or a feed from your blog. All this will help you build the personal brand you want and it can act as a conversation starter
- Join groups that are in your area of interest and join the discussion
Last but not least
Interact with people! Find ppl you know, but also ppl you’ve only met once or twice. However, unless you know them really well, make sure to change the standard message to something a bit more personal when you send a contact request!
Happy networking!
Dolly - Marketing words 