Using social media for YOU: Professional branding on LinkedIn

Using social media for YOU:

Professional branding on LinkedIn

Scott Brown, Social Information Group

SLA Pacific Northwest Chapter

23 May 2012

Twitter: @socialinfo

What are we doing today?

What do we mean by brand? And what does LinkedIn have to do with that???

LinkedIn The essentials Writing for LinkedIn “Advanced” features

Connecting and visibility

How does this fit into my “brand?” Settings and that Maintenance and workflow

Branding

What’s your brand?

Professional vs. personal

Intentional branding

Owning your brand – and your future

What are your passions?

Combined with - what are your skills?

What do you want to learn?

What do you really want?

Your uniqueness

Social tools give you another

means of being in the world.

More than 120 people signing up every hour.

More than 150 million members in over 200 countries.

4.2 billion people searches in 2011.

Why LinkedIn?

• Familiar format

• Great place to jump in and “get good” at social networking practice

• Centralized place to have your professional content

• Part of your marketing of yourself and your services

Why LinkedIn?

The essentials

• Why?

• People can put a face to a name

• And because, this looks unprofessional:

• Why?

• Your “one-liner” about you and your impact

• Gets posted anytime you are active in LinkedIn!

Headline

• Why?

• Personal branding – looks professional

• Put anywhere – signature, business card, web site, etc.

Customized profile link

• Why?

• Personal/customized look

• And because, even though this is standard, this looks unprofessional/unbranded:

Customized URLs

Writing for LinkedIn

• Why?

• This is your “elevator pitch” in written form

• Quickly illustrate your impact, key points

• Key words and phrases for searching

• Can also call out “Specialties”

Summary

Summary examples

• Why?

• Specifics of your experience & impact

• Add in keywords & details that don’t fit in your summary

Position descriptions

Talk about benefits

Some words and phrases that might show up in your skills: • Value-added • Provide insights, identify trends • Facilitate good decision-making, better decisions • Competitive advantage • Customer service (not just “reference”) • In-depth research for content Google can’t find (not just “online searching”) • Information analysis (not just “search results”)

Benefits!

“We don’t make the strategic decisions; we make them better” “I bring insights from the outside” “I help people make better decisions” “I make critical information findable”

“I saved $50K in a very tight budget year by identifying non-essential programs that could be reduced.” “Ensured excellent customer service by providing quick and accurate search results.”

Benefits!

More “advanced” features

• Why?

• “Tag” yourself for more “findability”

• People searching for you use these to find you!

Skills

• Why?

• Highlight your awesomeness!

Honors & awards

• Why?

• Draw in your additional content

• Let your employers/clients know more about you

Publications

• Slides, blogs, skills, certifications, reading list, events

• Why?

• Draw in your additional content

• Let your employers/clients know more about you

Applications & extras

Connecting & visibility

• Search

• Import email contacts

• Colleagues

• “People you may know”

• Groups – and “Groups You May Like”

• Good connections for expanding your network:

• HR recruiters

• “500+” connections

• Large groups

Connecting

You never know who you might find!

Groups

• Why?

• See your industry/employer pain points

• Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise

• Connect with industry and professional experts

• Capture industry “buzz”

• Why?

• Demonstrate your industry awareness

• Keeps you in your connections’ awareness

• “Like” & comment on others’ posts

Status updates

Settings and that

Maintenance and workflow

• Go through them all & understand them

• Check and set your public profile settings

• What are your goals?

• Visibility?

• Research?

• Both?

• Review quarterly

Settings

How do you market?

• Update bit by bit

• Moving around your profile sections

• Review quarterly

• Add articles, new presentations

• Tweak your summary, specialties, descriptions

• See what new features are available

Maintenance

• Task-oriented

• “I update LinkedIn after I check my email”

• Schedule-oriented

• “Friday AM is my LinkedIn time”

• “Real-time” interaction

• It has to work for you

• It’s OK to take a break

Workflow

• Expertise

• Contribution

• Openness

• Integrity

• Participation

• Inclusion

• Quality

• Service

Building social capital

• What’s working for me?

• What’s not working for me?

• How does this fit into my career objectives?

• How does it change with my career plan and goals?

• Am I having fun?

Keeping the big picture

• InMail: LinkedIn “email”, can send without connection or introduction

• Who’s Viewed My Profile

• “Featured applicant”

• Job seeker community on LinkedIn

• Additional features

Why subscribe?

Be visible.

Be yourself.

Your value is in your passion, your skills, and your experience.

Your brand and career are bigger than your current position.

In summary

Your next three steps

Now… It’s your turn.

What are your questions? What are your next three steps?

What’s got you fired up?

Scott Brown

Social Information Group

Don’t hesitate to contact and connect with me: scott@socialinformationgroup.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrbrown http://www.socialinformationgroup.com @socialinfo 303-834-7553

Coaching also available virtually

Thank you!

Using social media for YOU: Professional branding on LinkedIn

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