By Georgie Gallagher
By Georgie Gallagher
There are a million guides on setting up your LinkedIn profile however this is a quick overview with a few of my thoughts - LinkedIn is part of your strategic content marketing programme so make it work for you.
It’s easy to be a little relaxed with your social media profiles but this is increasingly the first impression people have of you and your organisation. As any good business person knows, first impressions count. So please take the time to do this right.
Add as much content as you can to give a great impression of you as an individual and the company you work for.
For the owners of organisations, be in control. Have a standard corporate overview and bio that staff can quickly add to their profiles and include in the top section of their page.
1. Get a professional headshot (or one that is clean and clear to look at) – and use this across all professional social media – save your fun shot for your personal Facebook page.
2. Follow the prompts on LinkedIn to complete your bio – I want to know why I would like to deal with you, buy from you, trust you – so the best way to do this is give me evidence. Other info like your past history creates useful talking points so include this information. Just remember this is a business relationship so share what you would be comfortable sharing in any other business relationship.
3. Add colour – add a nice size logo, link to the about on the company website (and invite key employees to do the same) – you want everyone who is associated with your company to take pride in your company.
4. Next and I think this is really important, hover on the top right image in LinkedIn and you’ll see some options including Privacy Settings.
You’ll see activity broadcasts – turn this off otherwise all your contacts get to see every time you update your profile, who your latest business contact is etc. I saw a friend who had just made contact with a Business Broker – did he really want everyone to know he wanted to sell his business?
Privacy Controls
Turn on/off your activity broadcasts
5. Look at each of these other privacy settings. Spend a couple of minutes checking what you’re comfortable with in each area.
6. Have a strategy for sharing content on LinkedIn.
- Who’s going to write the content? Is it written well? Do you have an edit process?
- Ensure your content contains your key words
- Who will publish it?
- This is a team effort - invite all key staff share it to their networks too
- Ensure all staff respond to comments – be real and human
- If you have a problem or issue, plan for it with all employees. Be honest and transparent – if possible, ask to speak with the individual personally and get them to contact you directly to resolve.
Happy Marketing
Georgie
Georgie Gallagher is the founder of Wildmoon, a specialist consultancy focussing on brand development, marketing strategy, marketing communications and content marketing for SMB's.