Linked to Influence

by Stephanie Sammons

  The entire “Endorsements” section on your profile can also be moved up or down.

  What is the best way to earn endorsements?

  Simple. Endorse your 1st-degree connections liberally! It takes no time at all to go through and endorse a few of your connections daily. You could even ask your connections what skills they prefer to be endorsed for. This simple activity of endorsing your connections is meaningful. It can trigger the Rule of Reciprocity and many of your connections will endorse you in return.

  Rather than giving blanket endorsements across numerous skills for a connection, be selective about it. Look for the skills they have that you know them to be most competent in.

  If you are unable to display your endorsements on your profile due to company policy, you can hide them, but do not delete them! You can never get them back if you delete them, and you may want them back if you ever change jobs or careers.

  When you receive endorsements from others, consider also sending them a thank-you message!

  Make a Human Connection through Rich Media Content

  The ability to add rich media content (video, audio podcasts, images, presentations, e-books) throughout your profile is something that makes LinkedIn quite unique. Rich media can bring your profile to life!

  Integrating rich media into your profile is a great way to make a human connection and showcase your insights in a variety of formats. You can demonstrate your expertise more effectively!

  You can include rich media content in your LinkedIn “Summary” and “Work Experience” sections of your profile. Although you can add multiple pieces of content in each space, showcase your best work. Most people are not going to take the time to go through all of the rich content you have posted.

  Do you have video footage from a recent speaking engagement or interview? What about a slide presentation that tells your personal brand story or a video introducing yourself?

  In order for your media to display properly, it needs to be compatible with LinkedIn’s supported providers. If you want to add a video, for example, you will want to add it from YouTube or Vimeo. For slide presentations, you would add them from SlideShare. You can also add podcast episodes from SoundCloud.

  If you enter your own web links here, the visual will not render properly on your profile and will not look as professional as media that is supported by LinkedIn. When adding your rich media, you will see a link to further explore LinkedIn’s supported providers.

  Visit profiles of individuals in your industry or people who influence you. What are they showcasing on LinkedIn? You may be able to get some ideas to build from.

  Don’t neglect this fantastic opportunity to make your profile more dynamic and memorable. Your rich media can be a significant differentiator. Your profile visitors can really see who you are and connect with you on a more personal level, especially with video and audio.

  Think Outside the Box with “Projects” and “Publications”

  “Projects” and “Publications” are the only sections of your profile where you can actually link to your content or third-party content. Not only can you utilize these sections to enhance your credibility, you can showcase and link to your own content here as well.

  For your “Projects” section, share relevant work that would be important for a potential client to see. The “Projects” section is great for work you’ve done that doesn’t fit under your current or past work experiences. For example, have you run workshops or webinars, or recorded speaking presentations that you can link to here? You can also add consulting work that you’ve done or any projects that deserve visibility.

  Your “Publications” section is a great place to link to your blog, any guides or e-books you may offer, books you have authored, and third-party publications where you have contributed or been featured.

  For both “Projects” and “Publications,” you can include a title, description, date, and link. The title you enter will actually point to the web link you insert.

  In the “Publications” section, I list a complimentary e-book that links directly to a landing page on my website where someone can opt-in and receive the guide instantly.

  Taking advantage of the “Projects” and “Publications” sections will allow you to expand on your expertise and strategically drive traffic to your own educational offers on your website.

  Add Your Volunteer Work, Awards and Certifications, Associations, and Causes

  In keeping with the goal of completing your LinkedIn profile, do your best to complete every section I’ve listed above. When you do, you create more and more connection points and you make LinkedIn smarter about you.

  Adding volunteer experience can be a valuable way to make connections with others in your community. Awards and certifications enhance your professional credibility. Listing the associations you are a member of can show your commitment to your work, industry, or profession.

  Don’t forget to include your date of birth. When you do, your network will be notified about your birthday and be prompted to send you a message. When your connections have birthdays, take the time to send each of them a personalized message! This is a subtle way to acknowledge the people in your network once a year on their special day!

  Include Contact Information in Your Profile

  In the “Advice for Contacting You” section of your profile, it’s important to add descriptive contact information to make it easier for your profile viewers to reach out to you. This section of your profile is open-ended, which means it’s a blank canvas to enter whatever you deem appropriate for your business.

  In this section of my profile, I point to my website and my primary call to action, which is a free guide. I also link to my Twitter account and Facebook page here and encourage viewers to connect with me on those channels as well. Because it is a blank canvas, you can explain how you prefer to be contacted.

  Depending on your business model, you may want to include your phone number and e-mail address. Just be aware that when you list your e-mail, people who don’t know you can send you an invitation to connect if they find this in your “Contact Information” section. Your e-mail may also be susceptible to being scraped by certain software programs. I’ve had to remove my e-mail address from this section of my profile for these reasons.

  On the flip side, if you are looking to connect with someone and don’t have any way to do so without their e-mail address, check this section of their LinkedIn profile. Many times the e-mail address will be listed here.

  Add Your Interests and Leverage for Connection

  Adding interests to your profile is not only simple, it’s another valuable way to get discovered via LinkedIn search. It’s also a way for your connections to learn more about you. When you add your interests, include both professional and personal interests. Separate each of your interests with a comma.

  Interests are discoverable within LinkedIn search. This means someone can find you based on your interests, or you can find people to connect with based on their interests. You can also search your 1st-, 2nd-, Group-, and 3rd-level connections for specific interests.

  I did an advanced LinkedIn search of my 1st-degree connections for the keyword “snowboarding.” My search results showed thirty-four of my 1st-degree connections also had snowboarding listed as an interest. These are thirty-four people I’m already connected to. Now I can engage with each of these individuals around a common interest! It gives me a great excuse to connect and strike up a conversation.

  You can also find groups to join based on your interests. I ran the same “snowboarding” search but this time allowed LinkedIn to find all results for me, not just my 1st-degree connections. The results showed over ninety LinkedIn groups for “snowboarding.”

  Joining groups based on common interests that members are passionate about is a great way to discover, engage, and connect with new people.

  Lastly, review the interests of your clients, prospects, and important connections. This information can come in
handy when you engage with people who are important to your business!

  Connect Your LinkedIn Profile to Your Twitter Account

  In the settings area of your LinkedIn account, you can add your Twitter account. When you do this, your Twitter handle will be displayed under the “Contact Info” tab near the top of your profile. Viewers of your profile can click the link to go and connect with you on Twitter. The other benefit of adding your Twitter account to your profile is that you can share LinkedIn status updates simultaneously to your Twitter account.

  When you share a status update, if you select the Share with: Public + Twitter option, your update will also be shared to Twitter.

  Set Your Profile Up for Maximum Visibility

  The number one rule for being visible on LinkedIn is to complete your profile. Don’t leave any part of your profile blank! You are not finished building your LinkedIn profile until you reach “All-Star” status. (LinkedIn will give you your status in the sidebar of your profile.) Don’t stop until you become an All-Star!

  There are a number of account settings that pertain to your profile on LinkedIn that you will want to review to make sure you are completely visible to the maximum number of people. Whenever I review LinkedIn profiles for my clients, I almost always see that their settings are not configured for maximum visibility.

  Visit your LinkedIn “Privacy & Settings” to adjust these settings.

  In order to maximize your profile visibility, there are a few settings to double check.

  Under the “Profile” tab in your “Privacy & Settings,” you will see an option to change your profile photo visibility. This link will take you to your LinkedIn photo where you can select who can see the image. I recommend setting this to “Everyone,” making your headshot visible beyond your connections and network.

  Also under the “Profile” tab in “Privacy & Settings,” select “Everyone” for who can see your activity feed and choose who can follow your updates. If you limit the visibility of your activity and updates to just your connections, you limit your reach on LinkedIn.

  There is one more section to check to make sure your profile is visible. In your top navigation menu, select the option to “Edit Profile.” Next to the blue button that says “View Profile As,” there is an arrow that will show a dropdown menu when you hover over it. There you will see an option to “Manage public profile settings.” This will take you to a view of your public profile. There you can select which sections of your profile you would like to be visible. I make ALL sections of my profile visible.

  There are a couple of settings you will want to think about, such as deciding who can see your connections and whether or not to show your profile details when viewing other profiles. If possible, I recommend allowing your connections to be visible (unless you don’t want competitors to see) and keeping your profile visible when you view other people’s profiles.

  Limiting who can see your connections will limit your network growth. Making your profile visible when viewing other profiles will generate interest. Many people will view you back and invite you to connect!

  Lastly, I do suggest turning OFF your activity broadcasts in your settings. This option will hide when you update your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies. You don’t want to broadcast when you make changes to your profile, especially if you tweak it frequently like I do!

  Profile Discovery in LinkedIn Search

  You can be discovered within LinkedIn’s own internal people-search engine based on how you build out your profile. Your profile will also most likely rank in the top five Google search results for your name (unless you have a very common name).

  LinkedIn’s internal search has continued to become more and more powerful. When search numbers were last reported by LinkedIn back in 2012, there were nearly six billion people searches that year. That number has continued to grow.

  The reason LinkedIn’s search engine is so powerful is the relevancy of the results. LinkedIn dramatically improved its search algorithm in January 2015 for relevancy and personalization. They also expanded search results for members with free accounts to see 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-degree connections (previously, this was limited).

  LinkedIn now incorporates shared or common connections, groups, and companies into its search results. This means you can see overlap in these areas when conducting people searches on LinkedIn.

  Your profile data is also integrated into LinkedIn search results. Posts that you publish on the LinkedIn Publishing Platform or SlideShare content you upload can also be found in LinkedIn search results if relevant to particular keywords.

  The smarter you make LinkedIn about you through your profile, your connections, and the content you upload or post to the platform, the greater the opportunity to be found by the right people. I’ll discuss how to effectively use LinkedIn search in greater detail later in the book.

  Promote Your LinkedIn Profile

  To continue growing your network with relevant connections, there are numerous ways to promote your LinkedIn profile outside of LinkedIn.

  Add your LinkedIn profile URL to your e-mail signature and business card. Link to your profile from your website. Whenever you do a speaking engagement or podcast interview, invite attendees and listeners to connect with you on LinkedIn. I usually ask people to mention where they saw or heard me so I will know to accept the invitation to connect!

  You can also create an embeddable profile snippet for your website with this tool here.

  Promote your LinkedIn profile across other social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. An easy way to do this is to ask this question in your status update: “Are we connected on LinkedIn yet? Send me an invite!”

  Why You Need a LinkedIn Company Page

  Even if you are a solo entrepreneur, a LinkedIn company page is a good idea for your business for a number of reasons.

  First, when you create a company page, you create another positive digital asset for your business that can be found in search engines like Google and Bing.

  Next, you can build followers for your company page and share status updates with your followers, just like you can with your personal profile. However, I have found that company page status updates get more visibility and engagement than the updates you post to your personal profile!

  Another huge benefit to a LinkedIn company page is the ability to run direct sponsored updates (ads) on LinkedIn. Direct sponsored updates look like normal LinkedIn status updates. They are native to the LinkedIn news feed. The only difference is your sponsored updates will be identified as “sponsored.”

  As organic visibility and engagement continues to decline across most of the major social media platforms, the next wave is paid social ads. LinkedIn ads are not nearly as saturated yet as ads on other social platforms. The ability to target professionals through LinkedIn ads is also unmatched. You can’t find the same kind of targeting capabilities anywhere on the Internet.

  Creating a LinkedIn company page is easy. Enter your basic company information, as well as a description and a link to your website. You can also upload a graphic header for your company page.

  SlideShare

  LinkedIn owns SlideShare. SlideShare in and of itself is a very powerful content channel for growing your visibility and influence. SlideShare continues to exist as a separate site from LinkedIn, but the two are integrated very tightly.

  You will need to create a SlideShare profile and give LinkedIn permission to access it (you will see this option within your SlideShare settings). As I mentioned previously, you can link to your SlideShare content in the “Summary” and “Work Experience” sections of your LinkedIn profile.

  When you share content from SlideShare as a status update on LinkedIn, viewers of your update can view the presentation without ever leaving LinkedIn.

  With SlideShare, you are not limited to slide presentations. You can also upload PDF and video content to your profile.

  One killer feature of SlideShare is the abilit
y to collect leads from the viewers of your content. This works especially well if you have a presentation in SlideShare that gets significant visibility. I’ve been able to generate a significant number of qualified leads through a single SlideShare presentation that received more than six thousand views. This is now a paid SlideShare feature. Expect to pay dollars for leads and make sure the cost per lead fits with your business model.

  SlideShare is a great opportunity for demonstrating your knowledge and expertise more visually. This powerful, visual content channel is becoming more popular. Consider turning some of your blog posts into presentations. You can also upload PDF files such as guides and e-books, as well as incorporate videos into SlideShare.

  Now is the perfect time to start leveraging SlideShare in conjunction with LinkedIn to grow your influence.

  As you can see, there is a lot of work that goes into powering up your LinkedIn profile with precision. This is a strategic and ongoing process. You really need to think through exactly who it is that you want to reach on LinkedIn.