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Archive for LinkedIn – Page 3

5 Ways Entrepreneurs Use LinkedIn To Grow Their Business

Posted on January 20, 2015
by Andrea J. Stenberg

Unlike other social networks, it’s not always intuitive as to how to use LinkedIn effectively. If you have a LinkedIn profile and are scratching your head about what to do next, here are 5 ways entrepreneurs are using LinkedIn as a business tool.

1. Establish Your Credibility

Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business

People prefer to do business with those they know, like and trust. If they can’t do that, they would prefer to do business with someone who is known, liked and trusted by a friend or colleague.

LinkedIn can help you with that. By having recommendations and endorsements on your profile, prospects can see that real people think you’re good at what you do.

They can also see which of their connections also recommends you.

This transfer of trust can make the difference between having the opportunity to pitch to someone or them choosing someone else.

2. Better Purchasing

When making a purchase for your business you don’t want to waste your money.

And when you’re a solopreneur this can be challenging because you don’t have someone to discuss the pros and cons of a particular product with.

That’s where LinkedIn comes in.

A few years ago I was looking to purchase some software for my business. I’d done the research and narrowed the field down to two choices. I didn’t have any way to differentiate the two so I asked my LinkedIn network for any comments or advice.

Within 24 hours I had ten thoughtful comments about the two pieces of software.  People had put considerable time and effort into answering me. Best of all, I had an 11th response that included a recommendation for a third piece of software that I hadn’t discovered in my research. It better fit my needs and best of all, it was considerably cheaper. By asking my network I saved thousands of dollars

3. Better Hiring

Hiring can be a Read More→

LinkedIn, social media
LinkedIn endorsements give you the warm fuzzies but they aren't as valuable as recommendations

LinkedIn Endorsements vs Recommendations

Posted on December 1, 2014
by Andrea J. Stenberg

When it comes to your LinkedIn profile you can have both recommendations and the relatively new endorsements from your connections. However they are not of equal value.

My friend Dave Delaney said it best: “LinkedIn endorsements are a smile and a nod, while a recommendation is a hug or a high-five.”

There are a few problems with endorsements. Don’t get me wrong – I love it when someone endorses me. Having a long list of smiling faces next to the various skills on my profile gives me the warm fuzzies, but the value is somewhat lacking.

First of all, I have been endorsed for skills I either don’t want to use, or even don’t have. I’m not the only one. I frequently hear this same complaint from my clients. There are two reasons why this happens.

First, LinkedIn suggests skills you can endorse your connections with. Sometimes these recommendations are not accurate or corret.

The second and biggest problem with endorsements is that some people use them as a way to get endorsements for themselves. I’ve seen several heated discussions in Groups around this topic. Some people get genuinely angry if they endorse someone and that person doesn’t immediately endorse them back – even if these people don’t really know each other well.

This is the deep flaw I see in endorsements. For me, if my little photo is going next to a skill on your profile, I want to make darned sure that you actually have the ability to deliver that skill. When my name and photo is attached to a skill, I’m lending you a piece of my reputation. When my name is attached to a skill on your LinkedIn profile, I’m lending you a piece of my reputation. [Tweet this]

Because I know some people on LinkedIn aren’t approaching endorsements the same way, I tend to take them with a grain of salt when looking at someone else’s profile. They’re nice to see but they don’t give me a ton of information.

Recommendations are a completely different story. When I see a recommendation on someone’s profile I pay much closer attention. The person giving the recommendation had to do much more than click a button. They had to take the time to think about and write down what is so great about you. It took effort and time. They had to really want to let the world know how great you are. As a result I take recommendations much more seriously.

What do you think? Do you like LinkedIn endorsements or has their value been eroded because of how some people use them?

LinkedIn, social media
Who's viewed your profile on LinkedIn

Who’s Viewed Your LinkedIn Profile

Posted on October 9, 2014
by Andrea J. Stenberg

LinkedIn has had the “who’s viewed your profile” feature for a while. But in the past year it’s become more robust and gives you more information: how many people have viewed your profile, what industry they’re in, how they found you and more. Of course, if you pay to upgrade to the Premium account you can learn more, including the names of everyone who has checked you out.

They’ve now announced that they’ve added a new feature – what actions you took to cause the views of your profile. This is a great addition because now you can make better decisions about what you’re doing on LinkedIn. If posting a link to your latest blog post gets you views, do more of that. If it’s commenting in certain groups, do more of that.

However, I checked out my “Who’s viewed your profile” stats just this morning and I don’t yet have this feature. I’m assuming this means they’re rolling out the new feature gradually. And since those of us in Canada seem to be second class citizens when it comes to new features I’m guessing I’ll be waiting with bated breath.

 

Have you got the new feature on “Who’s viewed your profile”? Leave a comment and let me know if you have it, where you’re from and what you think.

LinkedIn, social media

Create a better LinkedIn profile to get found more often

Posted on June 21, 2014
by Andrea J. Stenberg

What’s the secret to creating a powerful LinkedIn profile that gets found? Completing the Summary section.

I think the Summary section is possibly the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. It’s one place where you can really show off your personality – give people a taste of who you are.

Also, you may not realize that LinkedIn gives more importance to the summary than elsewhere in your profile when it comes to determining how often you show up in searches. Yes, your connections matter too but the summary is key.

Therefore a well-written summary complete with important keywords for your business can increase the likelihood that your profile shows up in a LinkedIn search.

So here are three tips to making your summary better:

1. You have 2000 characters — use all of it. Tell a story or showcase your accomplishments. Highlight new products/services. Brag about awards. Talk about how you’ve helped a client.

The experience section reads like a resume, the summary is more like a conversation. This is like your elevator pitch on steroids.LinkedInProfileVideoTip

2. Make it look pretty. Never have one long block of text. Large chunks of text look ugly and are hard to read online. Create short paragraphs with a blank line between.

Although you can’t use standard formatting like bold, italics or different fonts, you can still create interest visually. Use headers with all caps and blank lines above and below to highlight sections. Use bullet points to add some additional visual interest.

3. Finally, add a way for people to contact you. Yes I know there are other places in your LinkedIn profile that include your phone number or e-mail address but you want to make it easy for people to get in touch. Don’t make someone hunt for your contact information.

If you use these tips to edit your LinkedIn profile, please come back and leave a link to your profile in the comments so I can see what you’ve done.

LinkedIn, social media, Videos

Your LinkedIn Profile – a quick improvement

Posted on June 17, 2014
by Andrea J. Stenberg

In order to make the most of your LinkedIn account you need to create the best possible profile you can. Here is a short video I created with a quick tips for improving your profile. And yes, you should be able to complete this step in less than a minute.

If you enjoyed this video please head on over to my YouTube channel and subscribe so you don’t miss a video. I’ve made a commitment to myself to add one or more videos per week over the summer so there will be lots of free training coming up.

Thanks

LinkedIn, social media
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