Debra Eckerling
I am always surprised when a professional contact tells me they are not on LinkedIn. I believe it’s an essential business tool.
LinkedIn is great for:
- Showcasing your expertise
- Staying in touch with colleagues, peers, and new contacts
- Finding information—education, events, connections—to propel your business
Like any resource, however, LinkedIn only works for you when you know to use it!
The best way to make sure LinkedIn is a value-add—rather than an energy-zap as one more platform you need to manage—you need to set LinkedIn goals.
Before setting LinkedIn goals…
Remember to consider your purpose. Why are you on LinkedIn? To attract new clients? To showcase yourself as an expert?
Every piece of content you share—including your profile and headline—needs to articulate who you are, what makes you unique, and how you help. If you don’t know what that is, take the time to figure it out.
LinkedIn is a resource, not a resume. If you cut and paste your resume into the LinkedIn profile sections, all you will have is a “flyer” for you, rather than information that will attract prospects and clients.
Your LinkedIn profile needs to be a reflection of you and what you—and your business—have to offer others. Make sure your photo looks like you, your header is branded to your business, and your headline articulates your purpose (see above). You will also want to create a customized URL.
Also, write your About and Experience sections in the first person. Use characters so your content stands out and keywords to make you more searchable. Bonus points for creating a cover video and using your name pronunciation as a way to do a mini introduction.
15 LinkedIn goals to get the most out of the platform:
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Start or refresh your LinkedIn profile
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Once you are on LinkedIn, schedule an appointment with yourself quarterly to review and refresh your profile
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Add links and media to your Featured section. This can be a interviews, articles, or videos that you can switch up regularly (also change up the media on your Experience sections)
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Switch to a creator profile.
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Post updates and links…with 3 to 5 hashtags
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Share updates and links from others. Remember to tag the original posted
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Reply to posts
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Request recommendations
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Leave recommendations
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Introduce friends who need to know each other
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Message contacts to check in and say hi
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Congratulate connections on milestones
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Join and engage in groups
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Upload or record live videos
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Write LinkedIn articles
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Create a LinkedIn newsletter
Work towards your goals
Big things can get done in small increments of time. While some of these tasks—like a profile refresh—may require an hour or two of dedicated time, many of these action items can be done in 15- to 30-minute increments.
Set regular appointments with yourself to work toward your LinkedIn goals. I recommend:
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An hour or two to review and refresh your profile—this can be broken up into smaller time blocks if necessary
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Daily or twice-daily appointments (Monday - Friday) appointments to post content and engage with others; these can be done in 15- to 30-minute increments
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Weekly 30-minute appointments for longer-form content like videos, articles, and newsletters
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Weekly outreach sessions (15 to 30 minutes) for relationship development
LinkedIn is a wonderful playground, where you can develop relationships with new contacts, reconnect with old ones, and highlight your knowledge so prospects can find you.
Knowing who you are and what you have to offer the world—and finding ways to showcase that regularly—will set you apart on LinkedIn.
Debra Eckerling @deckerling
Goal-Setting Expert, Virtual Speaker