LinkedIn is social media for business. It is the largest professional social network online today boasting over 135 million users and unlike facebook, has a target audience made up of primarily of business professionals. If you are a b2b company, it is important that you have a powerful presence on LinkedIn. If not, you are missing out on valuable opportunities to connect and grow your business.
One of the most important things you can do while on LinkedIn is completing your profile. Studies have shown that having a completed profile will give you a 40% greater chance for networking success. A completed profile will allow you to show all of your skills/expertise, background, experience and interests.
Here are 8 Steps to Help you Complete Your LinkedIn Profile
1. Include your full name and image- List your first and last name so people can find you. Only listing the first initial of your last name can make it hard for prospective clients to find you. Uploading an image will increase the odds of your profile being viewed, just make sure it is a professional image!
2. Make your headline personal- Use descriptive, brief, compelling keywords. You only have 120 characters to grab their attention. Some people choose to list their current job title. Personally, I prefer to list what I do;
Inbound Marketing,
SEO, Social Media, Content Marketing and
Blogging.
3. List work history- Include your current position and at least your two past positions. Use descriptive keywords to describe your role for each position.
4. Customize your LinkedIn URL- Customizing your profile will optimize it to show up in search engines when someone searches your name.
5. Customize your website URL's- Same as #4 above. Be descriptive here and use keywords. Customizing will provide you a greater chance to rank for the keywords in search engines.
6. Ask for recommendations- You will need at least three recommendations for your profile to be labeled 'Complete'.
7. Include a link to your Twitter profile- This will give your connections another method to connect with you.
8. Make your LinkedIn profile publicly visible- If people can't find you, they won't be able to connect with you. Make your profile visible so your fellow professionals can find you and help you build your network.
Now that you have your personal LinkedIn profile page set-up, you can turn your attention to your company page. You want to make sure your company can be found and followed by people who want to stay up-to-date with your organization.
5 Steps to Complete Your Company Page
1. Include Company Information- Make sure this information matches the information on your company website. It is a good idea to include details about the value your company offers and what distinguishes you from your competitors.
2. Add keywords in the Specialty Section- Any keywords you want your company to be found for should be included here.
3. Include products/services you provide- Easy enough, list the products and services your company offers.
4. Link to your companies Blog RSS- Enter your company blog's RSS feed to show your latest blog entries.
5. Post status updates- Post regular status updates on your company page and include links back to your website and blog. This will help make your page interactive, and send traffic back to your website.
If you would like to learn more about how LinkedIn and Social Media Management can be a powerful marketing tool when used as part of an overall
Inbound Marketing Strategy, contact us at
sales@bluefrogdm.com.
Blue Frog is a Des Moines based marketing firm specializing in
Inbound Marketing,
Commercial Printing,
Graphic Design,
Social Media Management,
Website Design and SEO.
