The complete User Guide To LinkedIn, Optimize your profile for the search engines
|
|
|
The complete User Guide To LinkedIn, Optimize your profile for the search engines
With 200 million users, LinkedIn is by far the most popular professional social network web. As such, it is important to ask yourself if you use it at full potential. Are you attentive to the slightest changes and updates to the platform? Do you know all the features?
While Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest monopolized public attention in recent years, we must not forget that LinkedIn is still a powerful platform yet often underutilized or sometimes even literally put aside.
I draw particular attention of marketers who evolve in a BtoB context. For them, controlling LinkedIn today becomes a necessity. This ticket offers a tour of all the tips for using LinkedIn optimally. 28 valuable tips cut into 3 parts: optimizing its presence, enhance their professional network and use LinkedIn as leverage marketing for his company.
MAXIMIZE YOUR PRESENCE LINKEDIN
1 - Book your own URL
Before it is too late and another user reserves itself the URL that you wanted to get ... By generating a customized URL, you will also be able to share your profile more easily. You will finally face some credible professional or recruiter who come to visit your profile. A customized URL will always do better effect than a series of random numbers.
While Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest monopolized public attention in recent years, we must not forget that LinkedIn is still a powerful platform yet often underutilized or sometimes even literally put aside.
I draw particular attention of marketers who evolve in a BtoB context. For them, controlling LinkedIn today becomes a necessity. This ticket offers a tour of all the tips for using LinkedIn optimally. 28 valuable tips cut into 3 parts: optimizing its presence, enhance their professional network and use LinkedIn as leverage marketing for his company.
MAXIMIZE YOUR PRESENCE LINKEDIN
1 - Book your own URL
Before it is too late and another user reserves itself the URL that you wanted to get ... By generating a customized URL, you will also be able to share your profile more easily. You will finally face some credible professional or recruiter who come to visit your profile. A customized URL will always do better effect than a series of random numbers.
2 - Create a badge to integrate into your personal website
If you own a personal website or blog, promote your profile and enhance your professional network by integrating a profile badge redirecting your public profile on LinkedIn. You will be offered different design to form your badge if you want to set up your own.
3 - Customize your links
Instead of using the default labels "Personal Website" or "Blog" in the "Websites" section of your profile, please change these labels to encourage users who visit your profile to click these links. This will increase the CTR on your online references.
Customize links LinkedIn
In this example against, I replaced the value "Blog" by "Inbound Marketing Blog." Yes, it is indeed the blog you are reading.
Each profile can customize up to 3 websites links. To do this, simply edit your profile and then the "Websites". Then select "Other" from the drop down menu to display the field that will allow you to enter the text of your choice.
4 - Optimize your profile to the search engine
Include in your profile key phrases that you want to be associated to be found by the right people. Add these key words and phrases in different sections of your profile and more specifically in the fields "professional photographer" and "Summary".
5 - Install applications
LinkedIn offers several applications to enrich your profile. I recommend first application "SlideShare Presentations" to share your presentations LinkedIn and "Blog Link" that will connect your blog to your profile.
Install applications LikedIn
6 - Rearrange the sections of your profile
LinkedIn allows you to easily change the locations of the sections that make up your profile. When you enter "edit" mode, hover the securities of a section with your mouse to bring up the icon with 4 arrows which then gives you the ability to drag and drop your section where you like.
7 - Take advantage of the "Saved Searches"
Each user is given the option to create three saved searches. After starting a search, the interface provides indeed save your search criteria in order to run the same search later. Simply click on the "Save Search" which appears above the results.
It is also possible to receive weekly or monthly alerts to learn about new results from the saved criteria.
See you in the "Saved Searches" to select and start a search again already registered.
8 - Quickly change your LinkedIn profile in a CV
Search job is one of LinkedIn's most common uses. The platform offers even a tool, "Resume Builder" which transforms your profile in a CV. The operation takes only a few seconds. Several templates are available. You may edit the proposed CV and then export it to PDF and print it, send it by email or share it.
9 - Find a job via LinkedIn job offers
Now that you have created a brand new CV since the tool "Resume Builder", you are able to find the post so sought by LinkedIn and its vacancies. The interface offers to find your new job according to criteria such as the location or industry.
The same offers are suggested based on the information you entered in your profile.
10 - Do you recommend
LinkedIn recommendations
Since September 2012, LinkedIn provides the ability for each user to recommend a profile for her skills or expertise. Simply click on the "+" sign appears in front of each entry in a jurisdiction of a relationship profile.
Make sure the "Skills and Expertise" section of your profile is busy. Do not hesitate to ask your relationships so that they come to give credit to your profile by recommending one or more of your skills.
EXTEND YOUR NETWORK PROFESSIONAL WITH LINKEDIN
11 - Use OpenLink to send messages
LinkedIn allows you to send messages only to the level of relations 1. One tip though circumvents this rule. This trick relies on the use of OpenLink network that a key benefit is the ability to send and receive messages relations Level 1 and above.
OpenLink is only available for those with a premium account. It is nevertheless possible for such licensees to be contacted by any member of LinkedIn. So do not hesitate and contact the interesting members of OpenLink network with whom you are not directly connected!
You will recognize the OpenLink members logo below.
use OpenLink
12 - Read the news on your network
From your LinkedIn home page, you will be able to read the new information related to your network. Take a look regularly to keep in touch with your relationships.
13 - identifiable Stay
Check who views your profile while making sure that other users are ability to see who you are. In your account preferences, and then in the Profile section, click on the "Select what others see when you view their profiles." Then select the first option: "Your profile name and title."
For information on the home page of your session, click on the information in "Who's Viewed Your Profile", you will be able to know which users have viewed your profile, how many times your profile has been viewed and how often it appeared in search results.
14 - Export your relationships
In case you need to transfer your LinkedIn connections to another contact manager, be aware that export feature is available. Just fly over the "Contacts" tab, then click on "Relations". At the bottom of the page that appears, find the link "Export your relations." An option allows you to make export to CSV or VCF format.
Export LinkedIn connections
15 - Optimize your use of LinkedIn groups
Did you know that you can send a message to a member of a group you belong linkedIn without necessarily being in direct contact with this user? Similarly, members of a group are allowed to view the profiles of each member without being in direct relationship. So do not be shy to join new groups and thus be interesting ability to view profiles for which you will also be able to send them private messages.
16 - Take advantage of advanced search options
Lean absolutely on advanced search capabilities LinkedIn. It is, for example you can check if you are connected to any user working in a specific company. Enter the company name in the field provided for this purpose in the advanced search, then sort the results by "Relations" to view the possible relationship of level 1 or 2 from the displayed employees.
17 - Share your publications on Twitter
In June, Twitter and LinkedIn have announced the end of a partnership that allowed Twitter users to automatically publish their tweets on LinkedIn. The reverse is also available. In the field that allows you to share an article on LinkedIn, a drop-down menu gives you the opportunity to share this content on Twitter also.
Connect Twitter and LinkedIn
LINKEDIN USE AS LEVERAGE MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
18 - Publish content targeted
Give LinkedIn users a reason to follow you. Regularly post content that interests your target. Once your community begins to grow, continue to the next level by segmenting your messages using the "Target Audience".
As administrator of the page, you will be able to segment your audience with the following criteria:
company size
sector
profession
seniority
geographical area
employees / non-employees
A study by LinkedIn reveals a significantly greater commitment on the part of an audience exposed to targeted publications.
LinkedIn hard target audiences
19 - Add a video to your Company Page
To make the page dedicated to your company a little more interactive, feel free to incorporate video. Appointment for this on your company page as an administrator and click on "Products" tab and select "Add a product or service" in the menu "Tools". Steps 10 and 11 of the creation of a new product allow you to associate a video to your product or service. It is currently possible to load only videos hosted at YouTube.
20 - Use LinkedIn Today to complete your sleep
LinkedIn Today is a nice feature to stick to the news of your industry. You can subscribe to email notifications to receive a selection of the best news of your domain.
21 - Generate Leads on LinkedIn
In a study by HubSpot to his contact database, it appears that traffic from LinkedIn generates the highest rate of transformation facing trafficking from Twitter and Facebook (2.74% against 0.77 for LinkedIn % to 0.69% for Facebook and Twitter).
Promote your marketing offers in the news posted on the home page of your company page in the "Products" section of the same page and in the appropriate groups. Redirect links in your messages to your Landing Page relevant.
Generate leads on LinkedIn
A Mercatik post is dedicated to generating leads from LinkedIn. Do not hesitate to consult it.
22 - Adapt your pages "Products" your different target segments
Just as we saw how to publish content in a targeted manner from the home page of your "company page" Linkedin gives you the ability to deploy pages "Products" according to typologies of your target. In this way, you can target content related to your products and services according to your target segments, offering visitors to your page a personalized presentation of your expertise.
From the "Products" your "company page", click the "Edit" button and then the button "Create new targeted audience" at the top of the page. A popup will then guide you through the creation of this new audience. You will find the same segmentation criteria in paragraph 18.
23 - Test the LinkedIn Ads
To be clear, this is a paid advertising program. I Will Not! Do not run away to realize that the first major program of the benefit is its ability to target very finely. Second benefit: The program is available for a relatively short time. Advertisers are still few, the competitive pressure is still bearable. The cost of your campaigns should finally be relatively low and return on investment rather satisfactory.
Hover over the "Home" tab and select "Advertise LinkedIn" to register the program.
24 - See Groups statistics
It is possible to view statistics from any LinkedIn Group including those for which you are not a member. This is an opportunity to not only know the number of registered members but also some indicators such as localization, experience levels, functions or industry.
Whether choose to join the right groups and sharing or target a specific group within your campaigns created from the LinkedIn Ads program or whether it is still deploy different versions of your pages "Products" according to your target segments, these data are valuable to direct you to the best in each of these cases.
To access the statistics of a LinkedIn group, find the group, click on "More" then select "Group Statistics".
LinkedIn Groups statistics
25 - Create your own LinkedIn Group
Feel free to create your own group! Choose a carrier theme of your business and animate this group better. It is in this way that you can position yourself as a thought leader in your niche and even hope to generate new leads.
26 - Send emails to members of your group
The big advantage of being the creator of a group is the ability to send emails to your members. Yes, an email. Yes, a real email directly in real inbox members of your group. This email address in the form of a LinkedIn announcement is a real opportunity to generate leads from the LinkedIn network. Especially if you have done things seriously and have built a targeted community, active and loyal.
You are also able to query your members through a survey. Display the group you want to query and click "Survey" to enter your question, propose different answers, stop, end date of poll and share it on Twitter poll.
27 - Collect recommendations
LinkedIn users can at any time propose a recommendation from one of your products and services within your Company Page. So encourage your prospects and customers to use LinkedIn and recommend your products and services. Once you have gathered a significant number of recommendations, feel free to use them as a source of evidence for the landing pages of your website.
28 - Add buttons "Follow Company" and "LinkedIn Share"
Optimize your company's presence on LinkedIn and scope of your Company Page by adding a "Follow Company" button on your website. Also add the LinkedIn share button for all tickets of your blogs, in your emails and your landing pages to ensure maximum visibility for your content.
If you own a personal website or blog, promote your profile and enhance your professional network by integrating a profile badge redirecting your public profile on LinkedIn. You will be offered different design to form your badge if you want to set up your own.
3 - Customize your links
Instead of using the default labels "Personal Website" or "Blog" in the "Websites" section of your profile, please change these labels to encourage users who visit your profile to click these links. This will increase the CTR on your online references.
Customize links LinkedIn
In this example against, I replaced the value "Blog" by "Inbound Marketing Blog." Yes, it is indeed the blog you are reading.
Each profile can customize up to 3 websites links. To do this, simply edit your profile and then the "Websites". Then select "Other" from the drop down menu to display the field that will allow you to enter the text of your choice.
4 - Optimize your profile to the search engine
Include in your profile key phrases that you want to be associated to be found by the right people. Add these key words and phrases in different sections of your profile and more specifically in the fields "professional photographer" and "Summary".
5 - Install applications
LinkedIn offers several applications to enrich your profile. I recommend first application "SlideShare Presentations" to share your presentations LinkedIn and "Blog Link" that will connect your blog to your profile.
Install applications LikedIn
6 - Rearrange the sections of your profile
LinkedIn allows you to easily change the locations of the sections that make up your profile. When you enter "edit" mode, hover the securities of a section with your mouse to bring up the icon with 4 arrows which then gives you the ability to drag and drop your section where you like.
7 - Take advantage of the "Saved Searches"
Each user is given the option to create three saved searches. After starting a search, the interface provides indeed save your search criteria in order to run the same search later. Simply click on the "Save Search" which appears above the results.
It is also possible to receive weekly or monthly alerts to learn about new results from the saved criteria.
See you in the "Saved Searches" to select and start a search again already registered.
8 - Quickly change your LinkedIn profile in a CV
Search job is one of LinkedIn's most common uses. The platform offers even a tool, "Resume Builder" which transforms your profile in a CV. The operation takes only a few seconds. Several templates are available. You may edit the proposed CV and then export it to PDF and print it, send it by email or share it.
9 - Find a job via LinkedIn job offers
Now that you have created a brand new CV since the tool "Resume Builder", you are able to find the post so sought by LinkedIn and its vacancies. The interface offers to find your new job according to criteria such as the location or industry.
The same offers are suggested based on the information you entered in your profile.
10 - Do you recommend
LinkedIn recommendations
Since September 2012, LinkedIn provides the ability for each user to recommend a profile for her skills or expertise. Simply click on the "+" sign appears in front of each entry in a jurisdiction of a relationship profile.
Make sure the "Skills and Expertise" section of your profile is busy. Do not hesitate to ask your relationships so that they come to give credit to your profile by recommending one or more of your skills.
EXTEND YOUR NETWORK PROFESSIONAL WITH LINKEDIN
11 - Use OpenLink to send messages
LinkedIn allows you to send messages only to the level of relations 1. One tip though circumvents this rule. This trick relies on the use of OpenLink network that a key benefit is the ability to send and receive messages relations Level 1 and above.
OpenLink is only available for those with a premium account. It is nevertheless possible for such licensees to be contacted by any member of LinkedIn. So do not hesitate and contact the interesting members of OpenLink network with whom you are not directly connected!
You will recognize the OpenLink members logo below.
use OpenLink
12 - Read the news on your network
From your LinkedIn home page, you will be able to read the new information related to your network. Take a look regularly to keep in touch with your relationships.
13 - identifiable Stay
Check who views your profile while making sure that other users are ability to see who you are. In your account preferences, and then in the Profile section, click on the "Select what others see when you view their profiles." Then select the first option: "Your profile name and title."
For information on the home page of your session, click on the information in "Who's Viewed Your Profile", you will be able to know which users have viewed your profile, how many times your profile has been viewed and how often it appeared in search results.
14 - Export your relationships
In case you need to transfer your LinkedIn connections to another contact manager, be aware that export feature is available. Just fly over the "Contacts" tab, then click on "Relations". At the bottom of the page that appears, find the link "Export your relations." An option allows you to make export to CSV or VCF format.
Export LinkedIn connections
15 - Optimize your use of LinkedIn groups
Did you know that you can send a message to a member of a group you belong linkedIn without necessarily being in direct contact with this user? Similarly, members of a group are allowed to view the profiles of each member without being in direct relationship. So do not be shy to join new groups and thus be interesting ability to view profiles for which you will also be able to send them private messages.
16 - Take advantage of advanced search options
Lean absolutely on advanced search capabilities LinkedIn. It is, for example you can check if you are connected to any user working in a specific company. Enter the company name in the field provided for this purpose in the advanced search, then sort the results by "Relations" to view the possible relationship of level 1 or 2 from the displayed employees.
17 - Share your publications on Twitter
In June, Twitter and LinkedIn have announced the end of a partnership that allowed Twitter users to automatically publish their tweets on LinkedIn. The reverse is also available. In the field that allows you to share an article on LinkedIn, a drop-down menu gives you the opportunity to share this content on Twitter also.
Connect Twitter and LinkedIn
LINKEDIN USE AS LEVERAGE MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS
18 - Publish content targeted
Give LinkedIn users a reason to follow you. Regularly post content that interests your target. Once your community begins to grow, continue to the next level by segmenting your messages using the "Target Audience".
As administrator of the page, you will be able to segment your audience with the following criteria:
company size
sector
profession
seniority
geographical area
employees / non-employees
A study by LinkedIn reveals a significantly greater commitment on the part of an audience exposed to targeted publications.
LinkedIn hard target audiences
19 - Add a video to your Company Page
To make the page dedicated to your company a little more interactive, feel free to incorporate video. Appointment for this on your company page as an administrator and click on "Products" tab and select "Add a product or service" in the menu "Tools". Steps 10 and 11 of the creation of a new product allow you to associate a video to your product or service. It is currently possible to load only videos hosted at YouTube.
20 - Use LinkedIn Today to complete your sleep
LinkedIn Today is a nice feature to stick to the news of your industry. You can subscribe to email notifications to receive a selection of the best news of your domain.
21 - Generate Leads on LinkedIn
In a study by HubSpot to his contact database, it appears that traffic from LinkedIn generates the highest rate of transformation facing trafficking from Twitter and Facebook (2.74% against 0.77 for LinkedIn % to 0.69% for Facebook and Twitter).
Promote your marketing offers in the news posted on the home page of your company page in the "Products" section of the same page and in the appropriate groups. Redirect links in your messages to your Landing Page relevant.
Generate leads on LinkedIn
A Mercatik post is dedicated to generating leads from LinkedIn. Do not hesitate to consult it.
22 - Adapt your pages "Products" your different target segments
Just as we saw how to publish content in a targeted manner from the home page of your "company page" Linkedin gives you the ability to deploy pages "Products" according to typologies of your target. In this way, you can target content related to your products and services according to your target segments, offering visitors to your page a personalized presentation of your expertise.
From the "Products" your "company page", click the "Edit" button and then the button "Create new targeted audience" at the top of the page. A popup will then guide you through the creation of this new audience. You will find the same segmentation criteria in paragraph 18.
23 - Test the LinkedIn Ads
To be clear, this is a paid advertising program. I Will Not! Do not run away to realize that the first major program of the benefit is its ability to target very finely. Second benefit: The program is available for a relatively short time. Advertisers are still few, the competitive pressure is still bearable. The cost of your campaigns should finally be relatively low and return on investment rather satisfactory.
Hover over the "Home" tab and select "Advertise LinkedIn" to register the program.
24 - See Groups statistics
It is possible to view statistics from any LinkedIn Group including those for which you are not a member. This is an opportunity to not only know the number of registered members but also some indicators such as localization, experience levels, functions or industry.
Whether choose to join the right groups and sharing or target a specific group within your campaigns created from the LinkedIn Ads program or whether it is still deploy different versions of your pages "Products" according to your target segments, these data are valuable to direct you to the best in each of these cases.
To access the statistics of a LinkedIn group, find the group, click on "More" then select "Group Statistics".
LinkedIn Groups statistics
25 - Create your own LinkedIn Group
Feel free to create your own group! Choose a carrier theme of your business and animate this group better. It is in this way that you can position yourself as a thought leader in your niche and even hope to generate new leads.
26 - Send emails to members of your group
The big advantage of being the creator of a group is the ability to send emails to your members. Yes, an email. Yes, a real email directly in real inbox members of your group. This email address in the form of a LinkedIn announcement is a real opportunity to generate leads from the LinkedIn network. Especially if you have done things seriously and have built a targeted community, active and loyal.
You are also able to query your members through a survey. Display the group you want to query and click "Survey" to enter your question, propose different answers, stop, end date of poll and share it on Twitter poll.
27 - Collect recommendations
LinkedIn users can at any time propose a recommendation from one of your products and services within your Company Page. So encourage your prospects and customers to use LinkedIn and recommend your products and services. Once you have gathered a significant number of recommendations, feel free to use them as a source of evidence for the landing pages of your website.
28 - Add buttons "Follow Company" and "LinkedIn Share"
Optimize your company's presence on LinkedIn and scope of your Company Page by adding a "Follow Company" button on your website. Also add the LinkedIn share button for all tickets of your blogs, in your emails and your landing pages to ensure maximum visibility for your content.