A very good presentation at the recent PIC/IABC Toronto meet-up. 

From Leslie Hughes of PUNCH!Media; here’s some ideas to get your Linkedin usage up to productive speed. A few important ideas even if you think you think you got that profile mastered. Further resources posted at the end.

Leveraging LinkedIn: Win More Assignments

Social Media For Business 

• Social Media sells. It is indeed the new word-of-mouth marketing. It is an essential for building brand awareness and connecting with customers.
•  Social media means that you can no longer control the message, and there’s lot more messages out there. To to stand out, you really need to establish yourself as an expert by providing reliable and useful information, and by giving superior customer service.

Why LinkedIn?

• LinkedIn is the new resume. LinkedIn is the new business card.
• LinkedIn is an essential tool for staying in touch and opening doors.
• LinkedIn is by far the easiest of the social media platforms to use, and the least time consuming.
• It is the digital tool of choice for business connectivity and B2B activity.

 LinkedIn Stats

• 238,000,000+ users worldwide across more than 200 countries
• 2 new members sign up every second
• 8,000,000+ users Canada
• 84,000,000+ users USA
• 3,000,000+ LinkedIn Company Pages
• 5.7 billion professionally-orientated searches on the platform in 2012

 3 Steps to Effectively LinkedIn Usage

1. Build your profile:
   • Make sure you hit that 100% completion.
   • Use a professional photo, always!
   • Killer headline:  Not just your job title, but get in that value proposition. Who you help, and how.
2. Connect with quality people — connecting with everyone is not a strategy.
3. Stay top-of mind and stay in-touch: Log-in for 5-10 min/day, or at the very least update your status once a week.

Positive Suggestions

• Trust factor: Recommendations are a good indication of credibility (endorsements not so much).
• Linked In Today: A lot of good quality content being shared by big names and big thinkers.
• Groups: You can join up to 50 — a good way to connect and contribute.
• Customized URL: Update the little link box below your photo. Use your name or business. This goes great on business cards and email signatures.

Common Mistakes

• Passivity: You should keep connecting, updating your status, and always building your profile. This is more than a resume and needs a little more attention.
• Wrong photo: Should be obvious. Babies and holiday pics don’t really fly.
• Connecting with everyone:  Control the quality of your connections, versus boosting quantity.
• Using the default invite request: Take time to draft an original invite message. This is a fantastic opportunity for dialogue and introduce yourself.
• Not making use of the summary: You have 2,000 words, make every one count. See the links below for more detail on this.
• Making your profile private: Somewhat defeats the purpose if nobody can find you.
• Spelling errors.
• Protect your privacy: Be  be careful with the personal details you’re sharing.

Learn more:

Check out the Storify event summary from @SueHorner: Create a Killer LinkedIn Profile

Check out the podcast from @DonnaPoppacosta featuring Leslie Hughes: IndyCast 42

Here’s Leslie’s video intro to updating your LinkedIn Summary: Video

Also the Punch!Media site is full of good resources for LinkedIn and social media.

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The Professional Independent Communicators (PIC) is a sub-group of  IABC/Toronto, dedicated to the support of independent communications practitioners. For more information, check out PIC Toronto.