MEMORANDUM
To: Write as Rain ENGL 301 Writing group
From: Dakota Tryhuba, ENGL 301 Student
Date: February 9, 2019
Subject: Best Practices for Professional Networking on LinkedIn
As per our class instructions, I have compiled a list of 10 tips, based on my research findings from other internet blogs, that can help you become more successful with LinkedIn. These are the tips that I believe are the most useful for optimizing your LinkedIn experience and reaching the next level in your personal and professional lives.
Enjoy!
1. Build a strong foundation. Carefully think about the kind of presence you want to have in your network. What impression do you want to make? To build a strong foundation on LinkedIn, you need to do a bang up job on your profile. To do this, complete your profile, have a professional image, make sure it’s well written, embed rich media files that showcase your insights, and include links for where you can be found online.
2. Make a findable and visually appealing profile. This one goes without saying, a professional headline with your picture and your name is what people see most often on LinkedIn, so take the extra time to craft something worthwhile and appealing.
3. Write in first person, not third. Unless you introduce yourself in the third person at job interviews, cocktail hours, and networking mixers, write your summary and experience sections with first-person pronouns. I have seen some good examples of profiles in the third person but I prefer reading about someone in her own words as if they are describing themselves to me in person.
4. Use your LinkedIn profile to showcase everything that doesn’t fit on your resume. Use LinkedIn to your best advantage by showcasing all of your accomplishments on your profile. Like any other resource, the more you invest into it, the more that you get out of it. Upload or link to examples of your work, such as YouTube videos, images, PDFs, Word documents; fill out the Projects and Publications sections of your profile (on the upper right in Edit Profile mode), or any other additional sections, such as Courses, Certifications, Patents or Volunteering, that allow you to feature other relevant skills.
5. Use Your Target Job Descriptions to Your Advantage. Take a look at the job descriptions of the positions you’re after. I do this by doing a quick Google search of job descriptions of the particular position I am seeking. I then make a list of the keywords that I took from each job description and dump them into a word cloud tool like Wordle and look at the words that stand out. They are likely what recruiters are searching for when they’re looking for people like you. Make sure those words and phrases are sprinkled throughout your summary and experience.
6. Strategically connect with others. Building a large network on LinkedIn is perfectly acceptable, as long as it is a strategic network. For example, I recently became friends with a man from Norway who was in my city doing business for a few months. I told him all about my passion to become involved in building sustainable communities and right away he made a referral to one of his old colleagues who is a project leader for Smart Cities at Evolve Area in Oslo and she sent me a connection request. We connected, chatted about my goals and interests, and she was delighted to point me in the right direction for getting involved and achieving these goals. Thus, you shouldn’t limit your connections. The best way to optimize your LinkedIn experience is to be willing to connect with anyone on LinkedIn if it makes sense to connect.
7. Add Consistent Value. Adding value means that you are sharing only the very best and most relevant content with your network. Share content that can help your network members get smarter, solve a problem, feel better, or achieve more in their lives. Ultimately, you want to be an influencer, not a marketer. You want to focus on helping your network members get to the next level in their personal or professional lives by being consistently visible and valuable.
8. Use Hashtags. Hashtags have become an essential ingredient to the social posting recipe. Using hashtags helps you increase your LinkedIn reach and get your updates in front of people outside your immediate LinkedIn network without needing to be connected, get comments or get likes on your status updates. This raises brand awareness on LinkedIn for your company and/or your personal brand. If you want your name associated with any topic in your industry or profession, you should be using hashtags. Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to build your personal brand and get your audience to think of you as being an expert in certain topics.
9. Promote and Connect Others. Analyze your network for opportunities to promote your contacts and connect relevant contacts together through introductions and referrals. Bringing people together is a very valuable skill and one that positions you as an influencer. By promoting, acknowledging, and congratulating your network publicly, it creates tremendous value for others, and as a result, you will achieve some business wins for yourself in the process.
10. Stay active on the site. The last (but certainly not least) important tip for LinkedIn success is to stay active on your profile. If you strive for engagement on your profile it will help you increase your viability and influence which in turn, expands your network and opens doors to potential employment opportunities.
Thank you for reading my tips on how to be successful on LinkedIn. I hope you find them helpful. Please leave a comment on what you think of these tips or if you have any other LinkedIn success tips that have worked for you!
Works Cited:
“Build your online presence with LinkedIn.” The University of British Columbia. n.d. Web. 09 Feb 2019. https://students.ubc.ca/career/career-resources/build-online-presence-linkedin
Herzong, Ari. “10 Tips to Be Successful on LinkedIn.” Ari Herzog. 04 June 2018. Web. 09 Feb 2019. http://ariherzog.com/blog/linkedin-success/
“The 31 Best LinkedIn Profile Tips for Job Seekers.” The Muse. n.d. Web. 09 Feb 2019. https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-31-best-linkedin-profile-tips-for-job-seekers
Sammons, Stephanie. “5 Tips on How to Be Successful with LinkedIn (#5 is the most important).” 03 Mar 2014. Web. 09 Feb 2019. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140303213639-18431154-5-tips-on-how-to-be-successful-with-linkedin-5-is-the-most-important/
Shin, Laura. “How To Use LinkedIn: 5 Smart Steps To Career Success.” 26 Jun 2014. Web. 09 Feb 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/06/26/how-to-use-linkedin-5-smart-steps-to-career-success/#623a91516fe5
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