Many within the business field have heard of LinkedIn as the professional business social media platform that business users use to connect with one another. After all, Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition in June of 2016 made for quite the headline and further solidified LinkedIn as the premier business social media platform. But how many users are active on the site? How many professionals use the site to its fullest potential? Even if we are not job searching, a thorough update of one’s profile can be beneficial for everyone’s professional careers.On November 20th, CFA Society Chicago’s Professional Development Advisory Group brought in Kim Stapleton, founder of “The Network Effect”, to provide a crash course in how to get your LinkedIn up to par. Stapleton provided the following tips and tricks for maximizing your LinkedIn efficiency.
Keep your information up to date and remain active.
- Keep your profile information up-to-date to foster dialog with future potential employers, industry contacts, and prospective clients.
- Check LinkedIn at least weekly to see who you may have connected with that week and what people in your industry are saying through the LinkedIn NewsFeed.
- Be active: Add links to relevant videos and presentations users in your industry would find interesting and relevant.
- Build your network: Connect with current colleagues, prospects, clients, referral sources, friends and alumni. Personalizing your connection request helps the user remember how you’ve met.
- Utilize “shared connections” to find ways to get introductions. Users will be connected to each other in more ways than you think whether it be alumni connections or employment histories.
Optimize your profile.
- Add your Full Contact Information. It’s useful for users trying to make contact with you. Phone number and email (work or personal) are helpful for connections trying to reach out. Customize your URL: “linkedin.com/in/[firstnamelastname]”. Your contact information is only shared with users you have accepted a connection with—cold calls from non-connections should be limited.
- Adding your Professional Photo makes you 14x more likely to be found and 36x more likely to receive a message.
- Add your Volunteer Experience—its helps to show employers and clients you are a well-rounded individual and which topics you are passionate about.
- Listing “Skills” in your profile makes you 13x more likely to be viewed and 17x more likely if you have 5 or more skills. Skills increases your google and LinkedIn search engine optimization.
- Adding Videos and Presentations help turn your profile in a sales opportunity by enhancing your profile visually and adding relevant content for your clients.
- Join “Groups” that are relevant to either the industry that you are in or the industry you want to be in. Groups helps you connect with people directly in the industry.
- Follow “Clients and Prospects”. Follow industry leaders–both individuals and reputable companies. Often industry leaders with millions of followers post relevant industry topics.
- If you’re job hunting, enable “Job Alerts”. You can set job alerts specific to your target career path such as “equity research” or “accountant”.
Q&A session.
- Users are not notified when you “un-connect” with someone. Try to keep your connections to people you know to keep your rolodex of connections clean.
- Export connection information into Excel. It is helpful to have a rolodex of you contacts all in E It can be easier to search through your contacts in Excel versus on the web interface or phone.
- Try Premium for 30 days for free. However, it is likely only recruiters or very active business development users will find the Premium version worth the monthly fee.
The largest takeaway from the event was that even if you are not job searching, it is important to remain active and keep your profile up to date on LinkedIn for networking purposes. You never know when a connection may be relevant for a potential introduction, business lead, or new job opportunity and LinkedIn is a great way to stay relevant in the professional business world.