Month after month when I review website traffic stats with my clients, LinkedIn invariably comes up as a top source. In fact, recent stats show that LinkedIn represents about 50% of all social traffic coming to most websites. So, if you’ve been thinking about ramping up your social media game to generate more B2B inbound hits, now’s the time, and LinkedIn is your best opening day ballpark.
I’ll be giving you some more advanced tips and strategies over the next few months, but before we can score some major web traffic, we have to start with the basics at home plate first, then work to get on base. That means fortifying your Personal Profile with interesting experiences, intriguing images and an approachable tone.
- First consider the goal of your personal profile: If you are a top executive you may want to demonstrate thought leadership, attract new talent to your firm, and grow your connections; if you are in tech you may want to establish credibility through credentials and certifications; if you are in sales you may want to illustrate broad interests to be more relatable and draw in more connections.
- Select a unique banner Image: This image does not have to be all-business! Choose an image that speaks to your personality, location, or industry; consider a photo of you during a speaking engagement, a lively company event, a still shot from a recent video/webinar; you could use a local skyline or landscape image of your current location or hometown, or a hobby/sport that you love.
- Use a recent, quality profile photo: Make sure you use a photo of sufficient pixel quality that is recent and cropped to the head and shoulders. I prefer to see more casual, approachable profile images, but if you are a sharp dresser, show it off. If you are a quirky creative style, show this in your profile pic.
- Be clever in your headline: President and CEO is good, as is Web Developer, but you have 220 characters you can use here. If you want LI to be a way people discover you or your company, you’ll want to emphasize key words that people search and will show up on search engines. Consider adding creative ways to use key words for how you help clients like Full Stack Engineer, JQuery, Digital Transformation, CRM, or SaaS Product Marketing.
- You don’t need to include every job in the Experience section. Include all major roles and companies as this expands your network and connections.
- Beef up your Education section. Include school, degree, continuing ed, licenses and certifications.
- Don’t forget to select specific Skills and request Endorsements. Give recommendations and ask for recommendations (from select people whose recommendations you value.)
- Request new connections every week to increase connections. You can do this by syncing up your profile with your email address book and joining groups and affiliations; more names of groups you belong to helps you rank higher in searches. Also, follow more industry influencers.
Following these home plate LinkedIn tips is a great start. Next month I’ll give you tips on how to develop an engaging summary paragraph to include. Then your next at-bat is content development and posting strategies for optimal RBIs. Need help? Contact an account manager at Michael Mackenzie Communications and let’s get some leads batted in from LI!
This post is courtesy of MMC Account Manager Jeni Stephens