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Go Beyond All-Star: How to Create an Extraordinary LinkedIn Profile

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By Wayne Breitbarth

If you received All-Star status on LinkedIn, I hate to burst your balloon. But that lofty rating has very little to do with how successful you’ll be on LinkedIn. And because of all the recent and significant profile changes, you need to rethink many of the profile strategies that have worked in the past. Today, to have a truly extraordinary LinkedIn profile you must embrace these two important strategies:

  • Capitalize on the LinkedIn search algorithm in order to come up higher in the search results.
  • Provide a very clear description of what you do, who you help, and why you are better than your competition.

Each and every entry you make on your profile should be made with those two strategies in mind.

When I work with clients to create an extraordinary LinkedIn profile that gets results, I focus on the following features and techniques:

Keywords

Include your most important keywords throughout your profile but especially in these three sections: Headline, Job Experience Titles, and Skills. This will significantly improve your placement in search results.

Headline

Make sure your Headline grabs your reader’s attention and encourages him/her to read more. Let them know right away that this an extraordinary Linkedin Profile.

First Job Experience Entry

With the new profile layout, your first Current Job Experience entry is completely visible and doesn’t require the reader to click. This is your opportunity to make sure the reader gets a full picture of what you can do, the types of clients or customers you serve, and what makes you better than your competitors. Only the job title and company name are visible for all other Job Experience entries.

There are 2,000 available characters for each Job Experience entry, and you can also add media. So don’t hesitate to “show and tell” the world why you’re the best at what you do.

Other Job Experience Entries

With the new profile layout, all the details of your other Job Experience entries are hidden, requiring the reader to click. Therefore, I highly recommend that you expand your Job Title entries. There is a 100-character limit, but that’s ample space to give the reader a preview of what specific things you did in each job.

As an added bonus, any words you add to your Job Experience titles seem to have increased weighting in the search algorithm, thereby helping you move up on the list while improving the clarity of your story.

Recommendations

Two recommendations are given a very prominent position on your new profile, so work hard on getting a couple that really highlight your strengths and differentiate you from your competitors.

Remember—this is the only part of your profile that other people contribute. Readers will appreciate hearing about you and the great work you do.

Accomplishments

This one is simple—if you don’t have anything listed in your Accomplishments sections, it looks like you didn’t accomplish anything.

Subsections of the Accomplishments section include Honors and Awards, Test Scores, Publications, Projects, Certifications, Organizations, Languages, Courses, and Patents. Include any appropriate subsections and provide details that will inform readers of your unique and important accomplishments.

Contact Info

Add business-related contact information if you feel it’s important for readers to get ahold of you without sending you a LinkedIn connection request. I recommend you include contact information in the beginning of your Summary and in your current Job Experience entry.

Once you complete these specific steps, I’m confident you’ll stand out from the other players on the field. You may just earn a spot on the real all-star team—the team that gets all the new business, secures the perfect jobs, and creates the most effective relationships through an extraordinary LinkedIn Profile.

By Wayne Breitbarth

About the Author: Wayne Breitbarth is the CEO of Power Formula LLC. An experienced businessman, speaker, and author, Wayne shares his passion for social media with 40,000+ business professionals. Through private business consulting and presentations to audiences including Inc. Magazine and the American Marketing Association, Wayne makes LinkedIn simple. Wayne is the author of the best-selling book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success. Connect with him on Twitter.

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LinkedIn Expert Reveals: How to Use Video on your LinkedIn Profile

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By Dennis Koutoudis.

Let me get straight to the point as I always do:

In today’s post I’m going to give you some LinkedIn Expert Training on how to UP the visibility and credibility of your LinkedIn Profile. In more detail, today I’m going to show you one of my favorite LinkedIn strategies for our LinkedIn profiles: how to enhance your LinkedIn profile with video!

But first, we need to appreciate why to use video in our LinkedIn Profiles?

Why do you fly thousands of miles for a sales meeting or presentation? We now have the technology to send the data/information within seconds. And you can save the airfare and hours of travel.

Ok, here’s why:

– Because the “human connection” is still vital to our business transactions.

– Because a picture (or a video) is worth a thousand words. And now that I mentioned picture, i remembered something: make sure you Rock your LinkedIn Profile Picture!

– Because you get so much priceless information about a person from seeing them walk, talk, move, present, sell.

Now what if you could transmit that “human factor” about yourself without having to fly across continents?

One important way to do this, is to present a video of yourself, as an integral part of your LinkedIn Profile. This is your living, breathing, talking expression of yourself.  It’s a powerful way to establish yourself as a brand, to stand out from the pack, to distinguish yourself as an important player in your field. This is your “human factor”, up close and personal.

First, the very fact that you’ve taken the time and invested the money to make a polished, professional video sets you apart. This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. If you do add a video to your LinkedIn profile, make sure it puts your best foot forward, and shows you at your most professional. To accomplish that, it’s best to hire a videographer, someone who knows what he/she is doing, so we don’t have strange camera angles, lower quality sounds (good) or jumpy shots. I know technology has evolved very much and we can literally create a video studio in the comfort of our homes, but I believe that a professional videographer can help elevate our videos to another level, a level that would be very difficult to reach on our own. After all I am a firm believer of the saying: “jack of all trades is master of none”. Everybody has his/her own field of expertise, and we cannot be experts at everything. This is why we need to leave some things for the experts to handle. Especially if we are looking for above average outcomes.

Also, no one wants to see you in your sweats and a t-shirt, in your basement office, with your dogs or kids running in and out. While that might be charming for another kind of video, it doesn’t work for establishing yourself as an expert (or “the” expert) in your field!

Moreover, make sure the video is current; that means nothing older than 3-4 years (its age will show, I guarantee you – the clothes or other background items will give it away). One way you can recycle old videos is to have them made into audios, so here’s your solution to this.

What is great about a video and how it adds to your personal branding is that it gives you something to mention on other social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Google + etc. Ideally, it should be current, and can be accompanied by a post on your website, LinkedIn Publisher, or elsewhere, in order to complement your words or story. Imagine how much more credibility and authority you will project by, instead of just talking about a successful presentation you just made, you also show a 5-minute video of you doing it. This is exponentially more impactful and most certainly enhances something of crucial importance, your Social Media Image.

Video Links you can use:

As of this writing, LinkedIn doesn’t currently support “native” video uploads, meaning you have to:

First upload your video to a third party site like Vimeo or YouTube and then use it on your LinkedIn Profile in the form of a video link. The types of video links you can use are:

  1. – YouTube Video Link.
  2. – Vimeo Video Link.
  3. – Upstream Video Link.
  4. – Brightcove Video Link.
  5. – Facebook Video Link.
  6. – Embed Video by adding the SlideShare application or Google Presentation App to your profile and using a YouTube video as the first slide of the presentation.

 

When someone clicks on a video in any of your LinkedIn profile sections, it pops out and takes over the whole screen.

You’re probably wondering:

What types of videos can I use in my LinkedIn Profile?

Well, let me give you some examples:

– Video testimonials from happy customers.

– Product demos.

– How-to videos.

– Company news and updates.

– Videos of you giving a speech, industry talk or presentation.

 

– Media clips & interviews.

– Company intro videos, about us & company explainer videos.

 

– Marketing videos.

– Book trailers.

– A benefits driven elevator speech.

– Advice or information or tips videos that would be valuable to your target audience.

– Behind the scenes & team related videos.

– Other content related to your field that would be helpful to LinkedIn users in their professional careers.

In which sections of your LinkedIn Profile can you include video?

Currently, there are 3 sections in our LinkedIn Profiles that we can include video. These are:

– The Summary Section

– The Experience Section

– The Education Section

Now, you might be wondering:

How do I add video to these sections of my LinkedIn Profile?

It is very simple and straightforward:

All you have to do is click the pencil icon next to your Summary Section, A job role in your Experience Section or your Education Section and go to the Media section. Select “Link to Media”. Then in the text box that appears, paste the link to the video and click Add to add it to your profile. Make sure to include a call to action for your LinkedIn Profile visitors, enticing them to watch the video.

 

In conclusion, adding a high-quality video to your profile can be the most powerful aspect of your LinkedIn Profile. As a LinkedIn expert, it’s one of the most important

things I recommend to my clients (and i am pretty confident that other LinkedIn Experts, LinkedIn Trainers & LinkedIn Consultants will agree with me on this). The successful ones, the long-term vision ones, the ambitious ones, see this immediately!

Of course, the video has to be relevant to your clients, your industry, your prospects, not just a “brag”. It also needs to be aligned with your professional goals! So make sure it has significant content, as well as high-production value; you want people to watch it with interest through the end, once they’ve clicked on “play”. This is more important than ever, when you consider that LinkedIn has approximately 500 million members and is growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Here’s the deal:

In the crowded social media atmosphere, it is becoming more and more difficult for any one person, no matter how accomplished, to stand out. Adding video is a powerful way to establish yourself as an authority, and a person (employer, collaborator or potential client) viewing your video, if it’s done well, gets to feel like he/she knows you already. And remember, people do business with those they know, like and trust! How great is that?!! So what are you waiting for?

Are you looking for LinkedIn Expert Profile Strength? If yes, then support your LinkedIn Expert Status by including video to your LinkedIn Profile!

If the goal of using LinkedIn effectively is to get people to know, like and trust you, (and of course, ultimately hire you, collaborate with you, refer you to others) a well-produced video is one important rung on your ladder to Success! The ladder to becoming a LinkedIn All Star with a Profile that is of LinkedIn Expert Level!

What are your thoughts? Are you currently showcasing videos on your LinkedIn Profile? Can you think of any other ways to use video on your LinkedIn Profile? Would love to hear about it, in the comments section below!!

 

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT US AND HOW WE CAN BECOME YOUR “SECRET SUPERPOWER” ON LINKEDIN, CLICK HERE

YOU ARE ALWAYS FREE TO CONTACT US VIA:

EMAIL – [email protected]

By Dennis Koutoudis

Sourced from LINKEDSUPERPOWERS

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3 Simple Updates to Your LinkedIn Profile That Boost Your Marketing Career Prospects

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By Mark Miller 

Your LinkedIn profile is one of your most powerful assets for career growth and professional development. When used properly, you can keep a flow of intriguing marketing job opportunities coming past your radar–even if you’re not actively in need of work. Given that, it’s amazing how many professionals don’t take advantage of some LinkedIn features that dramatically increase their visibility to top marketing recruiters:

Let Recruiters Know You’re Interested (Discreetly)

LinkedIn recently released a new feature that flew under the radar of many of its users, marketers included. Using your LinkedIn jobs setting, you can now alert recruiters and potential employers that you’re open to learning about new opportunities and seeing job offers.

The best part? Your signal “should” be invisible to recruiters for your employer.

In order to activate your signal, you actually need to head to the Preferences section of LinkedIn Jobs. Of course, you need a LinkedIn account for this and you’ll have to be logged in. From there, you can turn it on with just a single click. However, you’ll want to give some extra information to improve the quality and relevance of job opportunities that come your way.

One particularly useful aspect of this function is that is doesn’t just feature the job you currently have; it displays the kind of position you’re looking for.

That’s especially valuable for marketers who are looking for vertical career growth; for instance, a brand strategy consultant who’s looking to be considered in their first marketing executive recruitment.

It also lets you indicate where you want to work, so recruiters in other cities can encounter your profile if you’re interested in relocation. That’s powerful; otherwise recruiters might only consider you for positions near your current geographical location.

Make Sure Your SEO is On Point

SEO isn’t just for ranking on Google. Career and professional networking sites like LinkedIn also have robust search engines that you can use to your advantage. And no, you don’t have to be an SEO consultant or guru to get a lot of value from some basic profile optimization.

Marketing recruiters often look for potential candidates on LinkedIn via the social network’s own search engine. LinkedIn allows you to search by keyword and include a variety of filters like location and company; check it out yourself to get a feel for how it might be used to find someone with your skills.

Much like you’d include certain keywords and content on your web site to attract more visitors, you can optimize your LinkedIn profile to maximize its visibility to recruiters seeking your skills and experience.

Start by making sure your profile is complete and up-to-date. Add images, articles, media, and Featured Skills when available.

Recommended for YouWebcast, May 25th: How to Consistently Create High Quality Marketing Content

LinkedIn offers a handy Profile Strength meter that will change as you improve your profile and let you know when it’s in tip-top shape. Do as much as you can to keep the meter happy, and periodically update your profile with relevant information. LinkedIn favors displaying complete, active profiles!

SEO consultant LinkedInConsider what marketing skills and experience you have are most marketable, and feature them prominently in job titles and personal descriptions. Try to be specific: general terms like “Marketing” aren’t very helpful. Look at your current job description (or a description for a job you really want) for words that jump out.

For instance, if you’re a brand strategy consultant you’ll certainly want to focus on that as much as possible. But you’ll also want to add related skills and keywords like Branding, Brand Management, or Reputation Management depending on your experience and specialty.

Keep in mind that, at the end of the day, LinkedIn is still a social network first and foremost. Furthermore, LinkedIn’s search engine prioritizes showing profiles that have a connection to the searcher. So you’ll find the most SEO success if you’re also active in cultivating valuable connections, posting updates, and participating in groups to extend your network.

Write an Authoritative Post (Or Two) on Your Area of Expertise

One of LinkedIn’s greatest features, LinkedIn Publishing, goes tragically underused.

Anyone with an account has the ability to write an article or blog post and host it on LinkedIn at any time. You can write about anything you want (as long as it’s appropriate) and publish it at your discretion, with no external approvals needed.

This is an excellent way to enhance your LinkedIn presence and give visitors to your profile an additional avenue to learn about your expertise. Writing a post that comments on a big trend in your field, or serves as a comprehensive guide for your peers, or explains something confusing about your work provides multiple benefits:

  • You get to show off the true extent of your expertise. By writing an authoritative piece on your specialization, whatever it might be (project management, marketing technology, social media strategy, analytics, etc.) you show that you have a big-picture understanding of what you do every day and consider your work from a strategic standpoint.
  • It puts your creativity and communications skills on display. At any level, in any field, marketers must be effective communicators. Strong writing skills and the ability to put together a coherent, compelling message are highly valued and sought after.
  • It can generate discussion; readers have the opportunity to weigh in on your thoughts in a comments section, and you can respond to their inquiries and ideas.

You don’t have to have Shakespearean cleverness or sharply-honed copywriting experience to make a powerful post, either. Even a relatively straightforward post with no frills but plenty of meaty insights and commentary will help you stand far above the crowd.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/3-simple-updates-linkedin-profile-boost-marketing-career-prospects-01843593#M5iQiUdCrQs4cRVZ.99

By Mark Miller 

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Read more at http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/3-simple-updates-linkedin-profile-boost-marketing-career-prospects-01843593#kWUKhfMOmBIKzHRx.99

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