Maximising Your LinkedIn PresenceChris Lavery

Pierce Communications

What is Linkedin?

• World’s largest online professional network -- really a huge database of professionals.

• Connects you to your trusted contacts.

• Helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities.• Helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities.

• Powerful search tool to pinpoint the person you are looking for.

• Great tool for both business intelligence and business development.

Why Should You Use LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a superb tool to help:

• Create, develop and maintain business relationships.

• Create awareness of yourself among potential clients • Create awareness of yourself among potential clients

and candidates (aka “personal branding”).

• Demonstrate your competence and expertise to

establish the trust upon which business relationships

depend.

LinkedIn Facts and Figures

• Over 70 million members in over 200 countries

• New member joins approximately every second

• Executives from ALL Fortune 500 companies are

LinkedIn membersLinkedIn members

• About half of all members are outside the U.S

• Highest income & education level of any social media

platform

• Over 1 million company pages (similar to Facebook

Fan Pages)

LinkedIn Best Practices

1. Find Who You Know

• Start with your existing contacts

• Let LinkedIn scan your email address book to find out

who you know is on LinkedIn

• LinkedIn will NOT automatically send connection

requests to your contacts; you choose which requests to your contacts; you choose which

contacts to invite

2. Personalise Your LinkedIn URL

• Change your LinkedIn profile URL (web address) from

the default setting to

www.linkedin.com/in/"yourname"

• E.g.: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrislavery • E.g.: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrislavery

• Helps people find you when they search for your

name within LinkedIn, Google and other search

engines

3. Complete Your Profile

Complete Your Profile

• By providing more information, you’re creating more

opportunities for people to find you

• Include former employers and the colleges you

attended on your profile

• You never know how an ex-colleague or ex-classmate

can help you (and vice-versa)

• Change the settings on your profile to “Full View” so

your profile can be fully indexed by search engines

4.Have a LinkedIn Profile Headline That

Properly Brands You

• The space underneath your name is your

“Professional” or Profile Headline

• This is the single most important piece of real estate

on your LinkedIn Profile, and you need to brand it as

such

• Appears in search results next to your name

5. Ask To Connect At Every

Opportunity

• Whenever you have business interactions with

people, ask them if they’re on LinkedIn and if they’d

like to connect

• Send connection requests after meeting with

candidates and prospective clients

6. Recommend

• Give, and ask for, recommendations

• Be sincere and authentic when giving recommendations (the recipient will often return the favour)

• When you recommend someone and when someone • When you recommend someone and when someone recommends you, that fact is displayed on your profile

• Ask people who you think have high regard for you for a recommendation

7. Update your Status Regularly and

Strategically

• Going to an event? Attending a conference? Read

something interesting that is relevant to your brand?

Launched a new project?

• Post interesting information (and URLs) and people in your network will be more likely to pay attention in your network will be more likely to pay attention to your updates

• This keeps you top of mind & positions you as an expert in your area.

• LinkedIn now automatically shortens them for you

8. Learn Advanced Search

• LinkedIn’s Advanced Search is extremely powerful –

get familiar with it

• Helps you find very targeted audiences

9. Join Groups

• Search for and join industry-related LinkedIn groups

• Group icons show up on your profile which tells people you

are involved in your industry

• Easy to connect to a potential client if you already share

membership in a groupmembership in a group

• If the group is active, join in the conversation where

appropriate.

• Many groups allow you to post links to news articles intended

to spark conversation – Don’t Spam!

10. LinkedIn Answers – Ask Questions

• You can use LinkedIn’s Answer feature to attract a

new connection by posing a question to the LinkedIn

audience.

LinkedIn Answers - Answer Questions

LinkedIn Answers - Answer Questions

• Yet another avenue to demonstrate your

competence

• Only answer the questions for which you know the

answer intimately

• If you are truly helpful, the person asking the

question may assign your response as the "best

answer"

• Your answer, as well as the fact that it was the best

answer, will be displayed on your profile

11. Install Applications

Install Applications

Summary

• Profile completeness is vital – you wouldn’t send in

an incomplete CV.

• Connect at every opportunity.

• When you meet a potential client, ask to connect • When you meet a potential client, ask to connect

with them on linkedIn.

• Get recommendations from people you work with.

• Join groups (and participate!)

• Use LinkedIn answers as a information resource, but

also as a reputation builder.

That’s All Folks!

Chris Lavery

Pierce Communications

chris@piercecommunications.co.uk

Twitter: ChrisALaveryTwitter: ChrisALavery

Any Questions?