30 Tips to Super-Charge your Presence on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social selling platform of choice

The best business relationships start with a connection. From there, follow-up, build and develop. But first, you have to start somewhere. LinkedIn is a great place to begin.

LinkedIn is the world's go-to place for professional networking and these statistics from LinkedIn's Marketing Solutions Blog show it is the social selling platform of choice for businesses worldwide.

• 80% of B2B social media leads come from LinkedIn.
• 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute their content.
• 50% users are more likely to buy from a company they engage with on LinkedIn.
• 77% of B2B marketers plan to increase their use of LinkedIn in the future.
• 63% of marketers rate LinkedIn the most effective for B2B social media.

Creating your All-Star Profile

1. Upload a clear, professional-looking profile picture. (Of yourself. Not your pet.)
   "People trust those they can see more easily. A clean photo adds credibility to your LinkedIn profile" - Cliff Rosenberg, Managing Director, LinkedIn, SE Asia and Australia
    
2. When you set out to create your profile, follow LinkedIn's step-by-step guide to complete your profile. LinkedIn has clear prompts and pop-ups to guide you through the set-up.
3. A good way to learn the basics and pick up a few time-saving tips is to look at "All-Star" profiles - highest rating given by LinkedIn to complete and compliant profiles.With humility, my LinkedIn profile is All-Star. Click here to take a look. Got questions? Feel free to connect.
4. SEO Tip - Google loves LinkedIn. Use industry-relevant keywords in your profile. A 100% complete profile is a great way to raise your search engine ranking.
5. Social Recruitment: As the world's #1 network of professionals, LinkedIn is ideal for employment seekers & talent scouts. The first place a recruiter will look up a prospect.
6. More than a static resume, your LinkedIn profile is a dynamic document. Update it regularly. As an active forum of global business connections, it is a vital part of your personal branding and online marketing toolkit. "Brand" yourself in the summary.
   "On LinkedIn, you are your own CMO." - Reid Hoffman, Chairman & Co-founder, LinkedIn
7. Write a neat summary of who you are as a professional, in first-person, Channel your inner voice. Mention what you're passionate about, key drivers, strengths, specialties...
8. Enhance your summary by adding media: videos, images, documents, presentations
9. Add publications, projects - don't forget to credit your collaborators / contributors
10. Ask people you know well and have worked with, for LinkedIn Recommendations.

Build your 'Power Influencer Network' with LinkedIn

Formatting and optimizing your LinkedIn profile

1. Improvement is a continuous process. Go over section-by-section and refine each. (Pssst... you can drag and drop to re-arrange entire sections of your LinkedIn profile.)
2. Download LinkedIn's suite of mobile apps. They provide tremendous value on the go.
3. On LinkedIn Pulse, select the topics to tailor your own daily feed of quality content. Follow the world's top Thought Leaders. Read / share their posts.
4. Use all the free resources available to you. There's LinkedIn Blog to research LinkedIn topics, the Help Center for any help you need, Answers, Polls...
5. Update your 'Skills and Expertise' so connections can endorse you. Return the favour.
6. Under LinkedIn Profile settings (i) Tick the box to display your Twitter ID on your profile. You can add more than one. (ii) You can also turn on/ off your activity broadcasts.
7. Edit and customize your Public Profile URL (eg. www.linkedin.com/in/trivediamar)
8. Explore the top navigation bar in detail. Each tab opens a meticulously designed drop-down menu offering a host of useful applications.
9. LinkedIn owns Slideshare. Sync it with your profile. A vast information resource, it is one of the most underrated business apps / presentation tools out there.
10. Once your personal profile is in order, apply the same best practices to build your company profile via LinkedIn Company Pages: Link your website and twitter feed to the company page. Update the page regularly. Inform all employees to get on-board, connect with and contribute to the company page. Also, promote the page on your other business networks.

Engaging and connecting on LinkedIn

1. IMPORTANT - When sending out a request to connect, edit and personalize your invitation every time, to suit the recipient and match the occasion. (Note: To personalize invites on LinkedIn's mobile app, tap on the 3 vertical dots on the top right of the profile page.)
2. Regarding 'who to connect with' on LinkedIn, you don't have to meet everyone in real life before you accept their invitation. Then again, you don't have to accept all invitations. (You can reply to invites before accepting.) Who you should connect with on LinkedIn is your call, but it comes down to business/industry relevance, interest and familiarity. Some people are LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networkers) and are open to connect.
3. Do not hawk or hard-sell your wares on LinkedIn, or spam your connections en masse. While it won't fetch you the desired response, it may tarnish your online reputation.
4. Be courteous to connections. Respect their privacy. Don't be "salesy". Say Thank You. Be helpful. Add value. (This tip applies to every Social Media Engagement Policy.)
5. Pro Tip: Use your Privacy Settings. Tick/ Untick those little boxes for better control.
6. Keep your content fresh - post updates regularly, at a frequency that suits you best. Never ever plagiarize or pass off other people's content as your own. The Internet does not forget!
7. Integrating LinkedIn with Twitter: While posting updates on LinkedIn, tick the box to post to Twitter at the same time. (i) Remember to allow Linkedin access to your Twitter account under your Twitter Settings/ Apps. (ii) Do bear in mind, only 140 characters of your LinkedIn update will display on Twitter. If posting a link, only 118.
8. Join LinkedIn Groups specific to your industry / field of interest. Ask questions in group threads. Give answers. Engage in (comment, like) discussions you find relevant.
9. Groups: (i) While posting a comment to Groups, untick the box if you do not wish to be notified by email for every comment following yours. (ii) Via LinkedIn Group Settings, choose the delivery frequency of the digest emails for group activity (weekly/ daily).
10. Check "Who's viewed your profile" regularly for leads and people interested in your profile. (LinkedIn Premium or LinkedIn Business (paid accounts) afford greater functionality.)

• Hope this helps 'super-charge' your profile and you too.
• Since we're always learning, please share tips/ feedback.
• If you have any questions, just ask. I'm happy to reply. 

As with most social tech platforms, LinkedIn too is constantly upgrading and adding new features. To get a good grip (and I can't stress this enough), you must invest the time to experiment and explore the many tabs and functions. Watch video tutorials, if starting out.

When it comes to learning new technology or social media, I often use a 'swimming' analogy: No one's ever learnt it by reading or talking about it. You have to get in the water and get wet.

Dive in. Keep doggy-paddling. To be good at anything, you have to give it a shot. To be great at anything, as business coach Des Walsh would say, you gotta have... "stick-at-itness".

• LinkedIn's first ever TV commercial - voice over by Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn

• Tweet-chat with Koka Sexton, LinkedIn's Social Marketing / Social Selling Guru

My Social Selling Index on LinkedIn is 81. Get your score today #GetYourSSI
Thanks for sharing @KokaSexton #LinkedIn…https://t.co/XhfXMTN4pn

— Amar Trivedi (@Mr_Madness) November 5, 2015

@Mr_Madness 81 is really good.

— Koka Sexton (@kokasexton) November 5, 2015

@Mr_Madness keep up the great work.

— Koka Sexton (@kokasexton) November 5, 2015

Thanks Koka. Much appreciated.@kokasexton You keep up the awesome @LinkedIn Congrats on smashing Q3 results👌 https://t.co/2MkBncSCAw

— Amar Trivedi (@Mr_Madness) November 5, 2015