How to be a LinkedIn Superstar by Famous Folks

HOW TO BE A LINKEDIN SUPERSTAR

HOW TO BECOME A LINKEDIN SUPERSTAR

LINKEDIN CURRENTLY HAS 259 MILLION+ MEMBERS. With 184 million monthly visits, and a net worth around $24 billion. It’s rolling in the dough, and it can help you do the same.

LINKEDIN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT

CROSS-INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL NETWORK.Anyone who is serious about their career and their business should get an account.

LINKEDIN IS LIKE YOUR VERY OWN PUBLICIST.It helps you manage your professional identity. Who doesn’t want to shine amongst their peers, be recognized by and connect with leading professionals in their industry?

YOU HAVE THE POWER!LinkedIn helps you build and engage with your professional network, gain access to industry insights and create your own opportunities.

HOW ARE YOU PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS?Sure, you’re sponsoring and attending events, you have a website, you’re doing traditional advertising, and attending conferences.

LinkedIn is another way to get increased visibility, but with way more substance than your other marketing tactics.

BAKING A SCRUMPTIOUS LINKEDIN PRESENCE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

9 INGREDIENTS – Creating a basic but outstanding profile

21 MAKING THE DOUGH – Profile details to make you delicious

32 SECRET INGREDIENTS – Establishing yourself with content

44 ADDING THE CHEESE – Paid accounts

50 EXTRA SAUCE ANYONE? – LinkedIn business pages and content

56 TASTING THE PIZZA – Devour those delicious results!

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INGREDIENTS

9

ADD A PROFILE PHOTO: Upload a professional photo, or at least one that looks professional, which is cropped to clearly show your face.

Make sure there is no lettuce in your teeth and that your background isn’t a visit to the aquarium.

JOIN LINKEDIN.COM AND ADD ALL YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS.

INGREDIENTS

YOUR HEADLINE LETS PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOU DO.

INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTS

MAKE YOUR CURRENT POSITION CATCHY AND KEYWORD RICH.(PMAC-certified project manager – Known for successfully leading multi-million dollar projects in developing countries.)

IT SHOULD ENTICE PEOPLE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOU.Your headline comes up on company listings pages, invitations to connect, messages, and when someone hovers over you.

Keep it keyword optimized to help when people search for your LinkedIn profile. Accreditations are awesome. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

SUMMARY:What makes you a killer professional? Bring it.

Use active language.

Keep it written in the first person.

Highlight your best skills and use keywords relevant to your field.

Keep it short and sweet. People are interested, but keep your memoir for your mother.

Include contact information so people outside your network can get in touch.

INGREDIENTS

EXPERIENCE: How have you kicked ass in each of your roles?

Why would you just upload your resume? Being precise with past and current roles and experiences will be more beneficial. You can include lots of details, more than you would on your resume.

Use active language and mention what skills brought you deliverable results.

INGREDIENTS

USE LINKEDIN AS A PORTFOLIO. Showcase the best of your completed work.

Use media to stand out – enrich your profile with videos, presentations or photos.

There are hundreds of ways visual elements can help you market yourself. Charts, photos, videos are all great since they speak for themselves.

LASTLY, CHECK FOR TYPOS!

INGREDIENTS

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PRO

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DON’T LEAVE ANY GAPS IN YOUR BASIC INFORMATION.Let LinkedIn’s step-by-step wizard guide you towards a completed profile.

It prompts you to include any work samples or projects, published works, education, awards, volunteer experience, causes you care about, and organizations you belong to. Remember that this is a professional networking site – so don’t include your cheesecake of the month membership.

INGREDIENTS

YOU’LL ALSO BE ABLE TO ADD MORE SECTIONS TO YOUR PROFILE. Take note that any sections you haven’t filled out yet show up on the right side of your screen when you go to edit your profile.

You can also rearrange your sections. Showcase your best background elements by putting them at the top, the same way the grocer does with the fruit aisle.

INGREDIENTS

DOIN’ IT WELL

CHANTELLE LOUTH A pastry chef with an outstanding profile.

Her relevant visual posts and excellent work details made her one of LinkedIn’s Must See Profiles of 2013.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/chantelle-louth

/51/397/655?trk=ss-trsry-cl

DOIN’ IT WELL

MAKING THE DOUGH

21

USE YOUR PROFESSIONAL EMAIL ADDRESS. Connect with contacts in your industry and people you know who are already on LinkedIn.

You can conveniently use your existing email address book. Leave the drama at home. Don’t add personal connections unless you met them through business.

Find people from previous jobs and former classmates – not the kind you partied with, but the kind you did school presentations with.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Marketing Yourself

CREATE A STRONG NETWORK OF PEOPLE. Connect with those you know before connecting with those you don’t.

When you add people you will be prompted to explain how you know them. You should ALWAYS change the personal note to show that you’re not just click-to-connect-happy, but genuinely interested in making their acquaintance, especially if it’s someone you don’t already know.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Marketing Yourself

FIRST DEGREE CONNECTIONS ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY IN YOUR NETWORK.Second degree connections are people who are connected to people you are connected to – sort of like friends of friends.

Without trying to get all Inception-y, third level connections are connections of those second degree connections. People who are in the same groups as you are listed as group.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Connections Explained

KEEP YOUR LINKS LIMITED. Stick to mostly professional accounts, but if you feel like your personal accounts are still a professional representation of yourself, by all means add away!

• Add a company website or a personal website• Add your company or personal twitter account• Add any professional or personal blogs you manage

MAKING THE DOUGH – Links

THERE ARE 2.1 MILLION LINKEDIN GROUPS IN TOTAL. The average user joins 7 groups, so join a few!

Join relevant groups as it improves your visibility within your industry. They allow you to contact any group member even if they are outside your network, which you’re normally not allowed to do.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Groups

SKILLS: Add skills that you actively use in your career.

You can only have 50 skills listed, so consider carefully! Tying a knot in a cherry stem with your tongue does not need to be included.

When people view your profile, they will be prompted to endorse you for the skills that you have listed. They can also add their own but its best to showcase the skills YOU want others to see.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Skill Endorsements

GET ENDORSEMENTS.The more you get, the better your search ranking becomes, and the more popular you’ll get!

You get notifications and emails when others endorse you, which gives you the opportunity to pay it back and endorse some of their skills.

MAKING THE DOUGH – Skill Endorsements

GET 5-10 RECOMMENDATIONS Don’t be afraid to ask valued and trusted colleagues, bosses and subordinates.

PAY IT FORWARD: Endorse others and write recommendations for people you val-ued working with.

The easiest route to getting a recommendation is writing one for someone else. When they get the recommendation, they are prompted to write one for you in return. Nothing like mak-ing someone feel guilty!

MAKING THE DOUGH – Recommendations

DOIN’ IT WELL

JASON C MAYDEN Jason has a great profile, complete with photos, skills, recommendations, and relevant group membership.

Check out this LinkedIn Superstar:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmayden?trk=ss-trsry-jm

DOIN’ IT WELL

SECRET INGREDIENTS?

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DON’T JUST CREATE A PROFILE. Posting updates and pushing out original content makes you stand apart and gets you noticed for all the right reasons.

Spend some time developing original content like presentations, whitepapers, and blogs. You gotta put in the work to reap the rewards.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Engagement & establishing yourself with content

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SCROLL THROUGH YOUR DAILY FEED. View updates from your network at least once a day.

Scroll through at optimal times, usually around noon and early evening. If others are posting content you find interesting, comment and let them know you appreciate their post. Commenting is a great way to get attention from other networks.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Reactive Engagement?

ENGAGE WITH YOUR CONNECTIONS. Spark interesting conversations. Make others notice just how brilliant you are!

POST YOUR OWN STATUS UPDATES: What you’re working on, sharing what you’ve read, resources you use, giving advice and opinions, posting about events and asking questions.

You can also share your status updates with groups you’re part of. This helps drive traffic to your blog or website. Be wary that not all groups welcome members sharing links so use your judgement.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Reactive Engagement?

WHAT IS CONTENT MARKETING? Brand relevant + interesting story = content marketing.

Post content on your Newsfeed around noon and early evening. Posting between 10pm and 6am is great if you want to make sure absolutely no one sees what you post.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Storytelling?

MAKE SURE WHAT YOU POST IS RELEVANT TO YOUR INDUSTRY. It should be engaging and promote what you’re doing and where your expertise lies. It doesn’t necessarily need to be limited to your industry, but it should speak to your audience.

Post your slideshares and blog posts if they will create conversations or connect with members of your network. Don’t post updates on your personal life. That’s what Facebook is for. Family and personal life is inappropriate unless you’re working for Pampers.

SECRET INGREDIENTS?

CURATE YOUR CONTENT. It’s a quick and easy way to put together some blog posts that are industry relevant.

Use sites like Forbes, Business Week and dailyfinance.com for specific topics that you can develop into a blog post.

Use images and call to actions.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Where To Get Content?

POST AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. Never post more than once a day.

Again, we’ve got to remind you to post during times when people are trolling their news-feeds – noon and early evening.

Be smart and create a content plan and strategy. Picture yourself having a big meeting. Everyone is staring at you. Hopefully you’ve prepared and got something to say. Content is pretty much the same thing – it’s ensuring you have something for people to look at when they are expecting it.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Where To Get Content?

PULSE IS A FULLY INTEGRATED APP WITHIN LINKEDIN. Whether you want it or not, Pulse is there.

It can be a goldmine of excellent content from influencer blogs, major publications and other trusted sources.

Pulse provides you with news that is relevant to you. It provides valuable content which is generated based on your profile, your job, your interests and the companies you follow. It’s a great place to start looking for blog ideas.

A recent addition to Pulse will allow anyone, including you, to become an elite influencer on Linkedin. Members will be able to write articles using a new tool and if you get lots of traction from your network on the article, they will push it out to a larger audience. You will retain ownership of your content but LinkedIn can publish it. This new tool will help you raise your professional profile and become better known in your field.

SECRET INGREDIENTS – Pulse?

DOIN’ IT WELL

MICHAEL M. Michael is the chairman of Sequoia Capital.

While not all his posts are relevant to the financial industry, they are all interesting – and the content is still relatable to his professional audience.

http://www.linkedin.com/today/influencer?authorId=25760&goback

=%2Elit_*1_*1&trk=tod-yn-sname

DOIN’ IT WELL

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130516122628-36792-the-best-talent-is-bringing-out-talent-in-others?trk=corpblog_1213_chipcutter_stories

BRUCE KASANOFF This was the Most Engaging Influencer post of 2013 on LinkedIn.

Be sure to check out his other posts as well for some great content.

DOIN’ IT WELL

ADDING THE CHEESE

44

ADDING THE CHEESE – LinkedIn Pro Accounts

LINKEDIN OFFERS PREMIUM ACCOUNTS. They’re geared towards recruiters, job seekers, sales professionals and business owners.

The majority of people are happy with the free, basic LinkedIn. However, you can always try the paid features for a month to see whether you will benefit from them or not. Often they will offer the paid accounts at a discounted rate as part of a promo to get you to join – why not take the deal and see if it helps you become a Superstar? Click Upgrade in the top right hand corner to see how.

ADDING THE CHEESE – Different types of Pro Accounts

LINKEDIN PREMIUM BUSINESS PLUS Starting at $10.95 per month.

Allows you to see who has viewed your profile, see full profiles of people you are not connected to and send them direct messages, get more introductions, let anyone message you, gain access to premium search filters, see more profiles in search results, create saved search alerts, and get a full list of people who can provide a reference for someone you are interested in.


LINKEDIN PREMIUM TALENT FINDERStarting at $39.95 per month.

Allows you to see who has viewed your profile, gives you full network visibility regardless of connection and send direct messages to anyone, and use premium search filters.

LINKEDIN JOB SEEKER PREMIUMStarting at $19.95.

Allows you to send direct messages regardless of connection, be a featured applicant when applying to jobs on LinkedIn, get a premium badge so you stand out in search results when recruiters are looking to hire, see who has viewed your profile, and get access to a job seeker group and webinar.


LINKEDIN SALES NAVIGATORStarting at $15.95 per month.

Sends you sales alerts for leads, gives access to a lead builder to manage your pipeline, pinpoint leads with premium search filters, see full profiles, see who has viewed your profile, get introductions, and send direct messages to anyone.


EXTRA SAUCE

50

EXTRA SAUCE – LinkedIn For Business

ADD A COMPANY PAGE. Perhaps you noticed when you were adding your job history that some companies come up as pages. If you’re a business owner and your page doesn’t come up it’s time for that to change. If you’re not on LinkedIn, you essentially don’t exist :) (insert sarcasm)

Go to Add a Company. You will need an email address at your company’s domain such as [email protected] since LinkedIn does not accept the generic emails like Gmail or Hotmail.


FILL OUT ALL YOUR COMPANY’S BASIC INFORMATION. Do it in the page overview section: name, description, company size, website, and industry.

This is the stuff that will show up when someone hovers over your company name throughout LinkedIn.

You can also add company specialties, featured groups and page admins that will be able to make changes to your company page. Choose your admins wisely. You don’t want a disgruntled employee going postal on your business’ LinkedIn page.

DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE. Add a banner image with a call to action that links to your website.

Add status updates to help drive engagement. This is similar to your own status updates.

If your company is hiring, create a careers section for your company page where people will be able to find job listings and hiring information. There is a fee associated with having job listings.


MARKET YOUR BUSINESS PAGE Do it with content much like your own:

relevant messages + interesting story = content marketing

Post engaging and industry relevant content, like slideshows, videos, blog posts and reports. Again, it doesn’t have to be specific to your company as long as it’s relevant.

EXTRA SAUCE – Content marketing for your business page

EXTRA SAUCE – Content marketing for your business page

POST COMPANY STATUS UPDATES: What you’re working on, if you’re hiring, resources you use, advice and opinions, and events. And ask your readership questions to get some interaction.

Recycle, reuse, recycle: Duplicate your own personal content efforts by showcasing them on your business profile. Make sure your intent is accessible on every platform.

To see how your content is performing, go to your page and click the Edit button. You’ll see tabs for follower insights, page insights, and employee insights.

TASTING THE PIZZA

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JOINING LINKEDIN CAN IMPACT YOUR PRESENCE. It increases your visibility and allows people to connect with you.

It showcases that you are a superstar at what you do! Your network can become a valuable resource that you can draw off of for jobs and future projects.

TASTING THE PIZZA – Devour Those Delicious Results!

IT’S DEFINITELY RISKY TO DELVE INTO BRAND NEW TERRITORY. A profile revamp and creating your own content can be intimidating.

However, let’s be honest: the risk of not doing it will leave you on the sidelines with millions of other wannabe’s who have underdeveloped profiles and no intent. It’s riskier to not do it than to dedicate some time to making a superstar profile.

TASTING THE PIZZA

MARKET YOURSELF AS AN EXPERT. With the right branded content, you can also market yourself as a leading expert in your field, expand past your current network and gain international attention.

Put yourself in the lane for business opportunities - become associated with similar people who are doin’ it good. It’s all about people knowing who you are and what you and your company stand for in hopes of attracting both the right clients, the right employees and the right conversations.

TASTING THE PIZZA

2014 IS THE YEAR OF LINKEDIN.LinkedIn is set up to become the most important publisher of 2014:

100 million captive readers and writers, including people like Richard Branson, will push LinkedIn to become a premium destination for industry news. The time is now to create your profile, publish original content, network in groups, and become a LinkedIn Superstar. Go get ’em, Tiger!

TASTING THE PIZZA

QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?

www.famousfolks.ca www.linkedin.com/company/famous-folks twitter.com/famousfolks facebook.com/famousfolks @famous_folks

THANK YOU

How to be a LinkedIn Superstar by Famous Folks

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