LinkedIn | The Fundamentals | Social Media Sphere Strategist

Some  facts and figures to start with about LinkedIn
LinkedIn logo

1) March 1st 2020 there are over 675 million registered users… Of which 303 million are active users!!!

2) This means there are 120 new LinkedIn members per second…

3) A few other demographics and interesting facts

  • After the US, India, Brazil, UK and Canada have the highest number of LinkedIn users.
  • 57% of men and 43% female are users of LinkedIn.
  • Over 40 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn.
  • Over 30 million companies are on LinkedIn
  • Microsoft paid $26.2 billion to buy LinkedIn.
  • 41% of millionaires use LinkedIn.
  • The most overused profile word continues to be “Motivated” which also topped 2014 and 2015
  • LinkedIn is the most-used social media platform amongst Fortune 500 companies.
  • 63 million unique mobile users monthly.
  • 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn as a content distribution channel, compared to Twitter at 89%, Facebook and YouTube both at 77%, and Google+ 61%.
  • more than half of all social traffic to B2B sites comes from LinkedIn.
  • 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn vs. 13% on Twitter & 7% on Facebook.
  • An Ad on LinkedIn can reach 12% of the Worlds Population
  • Sponsored InMail has a 52% open rate average

Ok the basic Fundamentals

Keep your profile updated

o   There is just no excuse for having an outdated profile as it will reflect badly on you as an individual

o   CHECK your “headline” this is where you entice people to click on your profile

o   TELL EVERYONE who you are, what you do, and why you are someone to connect with

o   LOCATION: is this accurate if not correct it NOW…

o   INDUSTRY: is this accurate if not correct it NOW…

o   USE A PROFESSIONAL PHOTO- believe it or not profiles with photo are 11 more times likely to be viewed

o   DEVELOP A GREAT SUMMARY– this is where you can really sell yourself to potential connections

o   EXPAND YOUR HEADLINE - highlight awards, highlight your key skills, and highlight your career experiences

o   CORRECT ANY SPELLING MISTAKES and misspellings and any bad grammar

o   KEYWORDS are so important, especially using the right KEYWORDS and can be a major influence in being found and being invisible

o   WEBSITE LINK – inside your Contact Info, we are given the option to link to a website or blog…- however by default the text that shows is your extremely dull LinkedIn blog/website so SELECT the “OTHER” option … now you can select your own website and URL

o   You can add several sections to your profile to give it a more visual feel and depth, add sections for posts, languages, honours/awards, advice and tips and many more – these sections open up a new world with new connections

o   ENDORSEMENTS – yes we all get endorsements for all sorts of skills including skill sets we do not even have… just because you've been endorsed for Bungee Jumping, White Water Rafting, or Flying to the moon does not mean you have to show other LinkedIn users--unless, of course, bungee jumping plays a critical role in your professional life. LinkedIn lets you remove any irrelevant skills and endorsements. You should avoid "lying" about your skill set, even if it is by omission.

o   FIND AND JOIN GROUPS - Connect with people and start building business relationships - When someone accepts your request to connect, don't start pitching your service or product. This is a relationship killer. Start slow. Comment on, share, or Like their posts and endorse their skill set  Build the relationship and trust before you start asking for favours!

o  Remember to occasionally download your connections. After you've gone to all the trouble of building an amazing network, you don't want to risk losing their contact info! To do this, click on Connections, then Settings (the gear icon), and on the next page, under Advanced Settings, you'll see a link to export your LinkedIn connections as a .CSV file.  Now you have a file containing your contacts' first and last names, email addresses, job titles, and companies.

You have probably by now if not before, understand that LinkedIn is the Premier Social Networking Site that is devoted solely to professionals, you have the potential to meet and connect with millions of other professionals. There is no other networking site like it where you have a greater chance of being able to interact with many decision makers...

The LinkedIn power is all the groups. LinkedIn cannot be underestimated, consider the LinkedIn Groups like virtual trade shows!!!

Functionality provided by LinkedIn groups include a discussion board where you can post a link to an article of interest on your website  or you can just simply engage in conversation. We can undertake a member search and directly send a message to someone provided they are using the default settings LinkedIn provide therefore attracting your target demographic to your group and engage with them.

linkedIn groupsCreate a linkedIn Group

So let’s look at creating a LinkedIn group. 

First create a mission statement stating what your group will offer. Now consider the group name, once your name is chosen it is important to brand it to make attractive to the target audience coupled with a group logo

Promote your group

Okay we now have a LinkedIn group promote it just like your website and that starts with introducing your connections to the relevant professionals in your own LinkedIn network but do not spam other LinkedIn members that are not part of this demographic

Announcement feature

LinkedIn groups allow group admins/manager to send an announcement to all its members once a week. So when should you use the announcement feature? basically when there is a strategic event that would be relevant and timely to present your target audience for example a network event or a trade show there is no rule as to how often you should send the announcements or what the content should include, think about what you would be unhappy about receiving treat others as you would like them to treat you

Everyone is a connection

Its crazy that some people have fewer 100 connections on LinkedIn same with Facebook same with Google or same with FutureNet. it’s possible that they think that having a small trusted network is the way to go but this is a mindset that restricts your development 

Everyone is a potential connection start by adding your LinkedIn link to your email signature on other social networking sites like Google Facebook, and FutureNet and also start by adding your LinkedIn link on your business cards and anywhere else you think would help inspire others to connect with you and once you start receiving 10 to 20 inbound invitations a day then you know you’re doing a good job marketing yourself

Oh and if you have found this topic useful then give me an endorsement on LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellspotted/

Other LinkedIn Tutorials

2) LinkedIn | Everyone is a Connection

3) Linkedin | Birthday Script

4) LinkedIn | Anniversary Script

5) LinkedIn | New Position Script

6) LinkedIn | Endoresement Script

 

 

Topics

Apps (13)
Dance
Books (8)
Films (25)
Legal (1)
Music (9)