LinkedIn 201 Guide

LinkedIn 201 Guide

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  Supernova Media Presents: 201
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  Stay Informed Join our E-Club http://bit.ly/SNMe-club to receive our monthly newsletter, with practical tips to increase brand awareness and strategies for more engaging relationships with your clients. Visit and Like our Facebook page http://on.fb.me/KFujSu Go ahead - post your Social Media & WordPress questions and get answers in real time.
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  It Starts WithPassion There’s no shortage of creative thinkers out there. What’s a little harder to find are creative thinkers who understand business. That’s where Supernova Media Shines. We are a full service web company. We provide our customers with a uniform custom branded web presence. At Supernova Media we specialize in the speedy setup of WordPress websites & blogs. All our websites are mobile friendly, have onsite search engine optimization and social media integration.
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  Why Does ItMatter? LinkedIn LinkedIn Stats:  116 million+ members  1 million new members every week  17.8 million belong to groups  1.2 million comments on posts to groups each week  2 billion people searches annually  1 million companies have a company page
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  2012 LinkedIn Demographics 116 MILLION LINKEDIN MEMBERS WORLDWIDE 18-24 23% Female 25-34 35.2% Male 41.5% 58.5% 35-54 35% 54+ 6.8%
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  2012 LinkedIn Demographics Africa 3.2% Middle East 2.6% 3.1 MIO Oceania 2.3% 3.9 MIO 2.8 MIO Latin America 9.8% 11.6 MIO Asia 13.9% 16.5 MIO North America 45.7% 54.3 MIO Europe 22.4% 26.6 MIO Members Distribution by Area
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  Key Facts  LinkedInOfficially launched in May 2003  It Reached 1 million users in September 2004  Operates in over 200 countries  Over 44% of LinkedIn members are located outside of North America  100% of Fortune 500 companies have executives using LinkedIn.  80% of all LinkedIn members live in the Top 10 countries.  23% of Canadians with a LinkedIn profile have received a job offer.
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  5 Quick Tipsfor LinkedIn Think Like A Boss (And What They Would Search For) Before LinkedIn can help you become rich, you’ve got to get keyword rich. Put yourself in a recruiter’s shoes, imagine what they might search for, and make sure you use multiple keywords to describe your skills. For example, a blogger can include keywords like “writing” and “researching”, but should also include the skills they are developing, like “HTML, WordPress, Photoshop”, etc. Supernova Studios Tip: Cover all your bases by including long and short form titles of your position. If you’re a Customer Service Representative, also include “CSR” in your keywords.
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  5 Quick Tipsfor LinkedIn Customize the Websites Section Make people want to click on the websites you list by giving them descriptive titles. Instead of pointing to Supernovastudios.ca, I’d label it as “Web Media Consulting”. To do this, select “Other” in the drop-down menu when selecting your website, and it will prompt you to manually type in your preferred title. Drop in the URL in the appropriate field, and save your changes. You can include up to three sites total. Give and Receive Feedback One of the first things recruiters will look for once they’re on your page is positive feedback. A great recommendation can go a long way in making a good impression on a potential employer. Be sure to use the “Request Recommendation” feature on any colleagues you feel would review your work favorably. Score some good karma points by taking a few minutes to also provide recommendations to people who ask them of you.
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  5 Quick Tipsfor LinkedIn Focus On Your Strengths While optimizing your skill set (in the Skills and Certification section) will help make you easier to be found, it’s crucial that you’re being discovered for the right things. If you fake it and highlight skills you don’t necessarily possess, you’re going to waste a recruiter’s time if they contact you for a job you can’t perform. Zone in on your best qualifications and focus on listing those in a way that’ll attract the offers you want.
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  5 Quick Tipsfor LinkedIn Customize Your URL Specific URLs look a lot more professional than generic ones, but more importantly, it helps you rank higher in search results within LinkedIn and Google. Here’s how: In “Edit My Profile” mode, click on the “Edit” tab next to your URL. This will allow you to create a URL unique to you. Like this: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/supernovastudios
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  LinkedIn Groups LinkedIn Groupsprovide areas where like-minded individuals who work in the same industry, at the same company or simply share the same interests can explore ideas, discuss business opportunities and take part in conversations. Individuals can join pre-established LinkedIn groups by simply visiting the Groups section on LinkedIn. Search for groups by name or use a relevant keyword (e.g. agriculture associations). Groups are organized into categories such as Professional, Non- Profit, Alumni, Networking, etc. Some groups require a request to join and others offer open access. There is no limit to the number of groups you can join as a LinkedIn member. When you join or host a group, that group’s icon and link are posted on your profile page.
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  LinkedIn Groups As aLinkedIn account holder, you can create a group and invite your connections to join. To do so go to the groups section and click “Create a Group” (see arrows). This will take you to a page where you can complete information about your group including the name, description, website address if applicable, preferred language, etc.
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  LinkedIn Groups When addingmembers to your group you can “Send Invitations.” There are three ways to invite someone to join your group: ① Select them from a list of your personal connections ② Enter their email addresses ③ Upload a CSV (Excel) file with contact information
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  Building Influential Connections Here’s how: Identify the Best Group Opportunities Evaluate the groups you’ve joined or intend to join and focus on the top 3 to 5 groups that most accurately represent your target demographic. Also, you’ll want to choose groups that don’t have a huge membership. I recommend that you choose groups that have at least a few hundred members, but no more than a few thousand if you really want to maximize your visibility. Plan to proactively visit each of your top groups 2-3 times a week. Don’t wait for the daily or weekly updates that come to your email inbox. Identify your best opportunities and plan to make frequent and consistent appearances!
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  Building Influential Connections Targetthe Most Popular Discussions in Each Group The most “popular” discussions within a group generally get the most visibility. These are the topics where members are most actively engaged and they feature discussions that you will want to weigh in on. The most popular discussions are at the top of the group discussion page, and typically there will be quite a few comments associated with them for you to review and learn from. As you weigh in on popular discussions, respond to existing comments, provide an insight or opinion or even ask a thought-provoking question to generate additional comments. You can also “Like” and “Share” these discussions with your connections. If your comments add value to the popular discussions, members will begin to recognize you as a thought leader within the group.
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  Building Influential Connections Start Your Own Discussion Starting your own discussion thread is also a powerful tool within a group, but you must be strategic with this. I recommend that you wait to start your own discussion until after you’ve spent some time participating in the top discussions first (#2). In addition, observe the contributions of the most active group members in order to understand their concerns, goals and objectives. What seems to be important to them? Also study prior popular discussions. What topics have resonated with members? In starting your own discussion, pose a question, ask for help or advice or post a relevant and interesting article or resource for the group’s benefit. Your goal with starting your own discussion is to encourage as much engagement as possible!
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  Building Influential Connections Follow Up and Follow Through One of the disadvantages of LinkedIn Groups is that it’s difficult to keep up with updates unless you proactively visit your top groups as recommended. Make sure to keep up with the conversations you’re participating in. Don’t let too much time lapse and don’t leave a conversation open. Keep your comments fresh and interesting to demonstrate your commitment to your groups. Also consider handing out “Likes” for interesting posts by group members and share valuable posts as LinkedIn status updates. When you share a group discussion post as a status update, you’re exposing it to all of your connections and giving the post greater visibility within LinkedIn. Promoting and connecting others on LinkedIn can build social influence.
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  Building Influential Connections Start Your Own Group If you’re willing to make the commitment, another option is tostart your own LinkedIn Group. If you manage your own group, you have control over many aspects of your group. To an extent, you can control which discussions get more visibility through the “Manager’s Choice” feature. As the founder of the group, it’s actually your job to lead discussions with the group! Ultimately it will be the members who push the most interesting discussions to the top. When you start your own group, make sure that you have a well-defined niche or theme. Otherwise you may not get much traction. Focus on bringing people together who can benefit from sharing mutual experiences and insights. Using this approach for your LinkedIn Group participation strategy can help you maximize your time and energy on the network. Making a commitment to adding value to a small number of targeted groups on a consistent basis will help you build influence and new connections. In addition, you’ll find that there’s little competition in this strategy!
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  LinkedIn Answers Tohelp those seeking resources, information and answers to burning questions, LinkedIn has created “Answers”. As a members of the LinkedIn professional network, you can ask and answer questions relevant to your profession. When you submit a question it is made public. Anyone who finds your question may submit an answer. Those who submit the question to start can select the best answer from those provided. If you provide the best answer for a particular question, this information will be shared on LinkedIn Answers with your connections.
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  Company Pages Inaddition to personal profile accounts, organizations may create company pages on LinkedIn. Company pages can be used to make announcements, share discussion and promote job opportunities with your company. To create a company page for your business, go to the main Companies page and select “Add a Company”. Every company page must have a name, description, headquarters location, and a list of specialties that your business provides.
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  Company Pages Several popularbusinesses in the Fortune 500 already have a company page on LinkedIn. You can find them with the search function or by browsing by industry. LinkedIn allows you to “follow” companies and receive alerts when activity occurs such as new hires, departures and job openings.
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  Ready, Set, Go! Your LinkedIn profile is a significant part of your public image and credibility. With the pace of our lives changing rapidly, your on- line presence is taking a more significant role than your paper presence so be creative, know that it will take a while to get the profile you are very happy with (just like a solid resume) and have fun with it. Now, you're ready to get LinkedIn to work for you!
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  Our Services Being Passionatecomes easy when you genuinely enjoy what you do. We offer an array of services at Supernova Media but here’s what we do best: • Web Design & Hosting • Consulting • Branding • Virtual Tours We know that your success is our success. Contact Us
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  About Nancy Bain Nancy is a business owner, educator, and business strategist with more than 20 years experience. When she is not advising and teaching people about social media, Nancy spends a lot of her own time using social media. Find Nancy online: Google+ : Nancy Bain Like Supernova Media on Follow Nancy on Twitter Facebook Visit her Website Find her on LinkedIn Follow her Blog And visit her YouTube Channel