Tips on why and how to set up your LinkedIn profile

1. Using LinkedIn
Catherine Elder
2014
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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2. Why you should have a LinkedIn profile
To strengthen your professional network
To build and cultivate business opportunities
To further relationships with clients and potential clients
To share knowledge and expertise
To support the company brand
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3. Step 1: Join LinkedIn
• If you haven’t joined yet, it’s time.
• LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with
300 million members in over 200 countries and territories
around the globe.
• 23 million members added this year so far
• 67 percent of LinkedIn members are located outside the United
States
• US accounts for over 100 million members
• LinkedIn was founded in 2003.
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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4. Step 2: Build your LinkedIn
profile
• Upload a professional photo
• Write a compelling headline (this will appear under your name)
• state what you want to be known for professionally
• Customize your public profile URL (e.g. www.linkedin.com/in/yourname)
• Add your contact information – your company email and phone number
• Add a link to your company website under your contact information; add direct links
to any article or paper relevant to you
• Review privacy settings (e.g. you can set it so people don’t see each time you update
your profile)
• Add rich media in the summary, education and experience sections
• include videos and presentations (including SlideShare presentations)
• Fill out your summary
• what is your personal brand? What is your value proposition? What is your
expertise? What value do you bring to clients?
• Add your current and past positions
• emphasize how you manage client relationships, solve business problems etc.
• Add your education, courses, skills and interests
• Not only does this information give credibility to your expertise, it will help others
when doing a people search to be able to find you.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for recommendations from colleagues and customers
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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5. Strengthening your
professional network
• Start by connecting to people you know in your current and
previous positions
• You can extend your network by connecting to people your
contacts know, but its always best to have an introduction or
set up relevancy (either get your contact to introduce you or
send a message as to why you’re connecting – I thought you
might be interested in…)
• Follow your company
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/companyname
• Like, Comment, Share – our updates as appropriate for you
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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6. Build and cultivate business
opportunities
• Join Groups relevant to your professional, industry, or practice;
participate in the discussions.
• Add status updates that are relevant to your profession, your
area of expertise and your personal brand.
• Follow companies and influencers that you’re interested in;
add news that is relevant
• Use LinkedIn Pulse to follow relevant influencers, channels, and
publishers
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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7. Further relationships with
clients and potential clients
• Follow your clients by company and individuals
• Join groups relevant to your client industry
• Add relevant information to discussions
• Share your relevant updates
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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8. Share knowledge and expertise
• Post status updates linking to relevant articles and presentations – including your
own!
• Can be once a day or a few times a week
• Like, comment and share your Company updates relevant for you
• Add comments that add to the conversation
• Post your presentations in SlideShare and link to them within LinkedIn for double
exposure opportunities
• Join and participate in groups (search groups and review its profile and statistics
including demographics to see if its right for you)
• Ask questions and discuss answers in comments
• Answer questions and discuss in comments
• Follow other group members that interest you
• Consider starting a group if you have a compelling topic – and then promote
the group with you status updates
• Opt to receive weekly digest emails from the group so you aren’t inundated
with emails
• You can “Leave Groups” at any time
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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9. Support your company brand
• Supporting the company brand helps to build awareness of the
company and our people which in turn helps when it comes to
building client and prospect relationships and informing
organizations of what we can do through our expertise
exemplified through our professionals
Use your Company email address in your profile to be associated with
the company and counted as an employee
Follow us: https://www.linkedin.com/company/companyname
Like, share, comment on our updates and those of your colleagues
Include links to our website articles and publications in your status updates
Follow your company on Twitter: @companyname
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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10. Start connecting.
© 2014 Catherine Elder
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