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LinkedIn B2B Marketing: How These 8 Influencers are Crushing It

October 24, 2018 No Comments

80% of all B2B leads generated via social media come from LinkedIn, according to this Oktopost infographic. Being recognizes as a thought leader or influencer through mastery of LinkedIn B2B marketing can deepen engagement with high-value audiences and provide significant visibility for your company and brand. Of the network’s 500 million members, 61 million hold senior leadership positions and 40 million are B2B decision-makers.

The LinkedIn marketing tactics that were effective in 2016 are unlikely to work today. The LinkedIn algorithm now rewards high-quality content creators with visibility, while significantly limiting the exposure of lower-quality LinkedIn users.

Although you can certainly find tips and tricks on how to “beat the algorithm” with optimized posts, you can’t really hack your way to hard-earned status as an B2B marketing influencer with genuine engagement by posting sub-par content.

If you really want to be perceived as an industry thought leader and build a LinkedIn following, there are some top B2B influencers who provide some valuable cues to help you network your way to the top.

8 Influencers Who Rock at LinkedIn B2B Marketing

1. Trish Bertuzzi | CEO at The Bridge Group, Inc.

With over 216,000 followers, Trish Bertuzzi’s LinkedIn presence is among the most prominent in B2B marketing. Her posts emphasize the value of human relationships and trust in marketing through compelling anecdotes and stories. Followers can anticipate a mixture of insights through podcast links, videos and other highly relevant content.

Trish has mastered the art of creating compelling, multimedia content which is easily consumable for LinkedIn users – including stories, anecdotes and short-form video. She’s also an engaged member of conversations around B2B sales, marketing and entrepreneurship who actively comments and shares content from within her network.

2. Sangram Vajre | Chief Evangelist and Co-Founder at Terminus

Aside from his role at Terminus, Sangram Vajre is well-known for his daily “#FlipMyFunnel” podcast on B2B marketing, sales and customer success. While his LinkedIn presence and social media strategy for sharing content reflect a broad mixture of B2B insights, his podcast’s promotion on his LinkedIn profile is particularly inspiring.

Aspiring influencers may want take a cue from Sangram’s mastery of LinkedIn. His podcast is well-optimized for search with a well-written description and visually appealing links to recent content.

3. Aaron Ross | Co-CEO at Predictable Revenue, Inc.

With over 30,000 followers, B2B marketing influencer and author Aaron Ross is an excellent LinkedIn source for webinars, videos and articles on sales conversion optimization.

Aaron takes full advantage of LinkedIn Pulse to share his thought leadership efforts, frequently publishing insightful interviews with B2B sales leaders who get to the heart of issues such as customer experience, revenue forecasting and prospecting best practices.

4. Matt Heinz | President at Heinz Marketing, Inc.

In addition to his role at Heinz Marketing, Matt Heinz is well-known throughout the demand generation and ABM verticals for his work as a keynote speaker, author and host of Sales Pipeline Radio.

With over 34,000 LinkedIn followers, Matt focuses on sharing stories and insights through long-form posts which are optimized for visibility on the network. His thoughts spark engagement and conversation among his followers, not only increasing his own visibility but encouraging more connection between marketers and sales pros.

5. Jon Miller | CEO and Co-Founder at Engagio

As one of the original co-founders of Marketo (which as we all know recently landed a massive acquisition by Adobe) Jon is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and recognized influencer in topics such as marketing automation, predictive analytics, ABM and demand generation for B2B marketing.

Jon regularly shares high-value content with his LinkedIn followers to help them up-level their strategies and rethink their current marketing tactics.

6. Peter Isaacson | Chief Marketing Officer at Demandbase

With over 25 years of experience in B2B marketing and account-based marketing (ABM), Peter Isaacson is widely recognized as a key expert in topics such as demand generation, multi-channel marketing, lead management and more. His LinkedIn updates include valuable insight into the future of ABM, best practices for account-based marketing success, industry news and emerging research. Peter regularly contributes to LinkedIn Pulse to further share his expertise in account-based strategy.

7. Scott Vaughan | Chief Marketing Officer at Integrate

Near and dear to our hearts at Integrate, Scott Vaughan is recognized B2B marketing influencer. His areas of focus include integrated marketing at the intersection of art and science, sales enablement, thought leadership marketing and strategic positioning.

Scott’s actively shares an array of industry news, trends and research, while always including his own thoughtful analysis on each piece of content.

8. Ann Handley | Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs

And last but far from least, with over 338,000 LinkedIn followers, Ann Handley is among the most influential thought leaders on LinkedIn. Ann’s posts garner hundreds to thousands of interactions on LinkedIn. She shares content that teaches, enlightens and inspires us to all be better marketers, writers, professionals and people.

If you’re looking to add someone to your feed whose posts will often make you think or smile, and who can help you step up your game, Ann is definitely a LinkedIn influencer worth following.

For more insight on how the most effective B2B organizations are leveraging LinkedIn for influencer marketing, social listening and other strategies, we recommend The 4 Critical Roles of Social Media in Demand Generation Marketing.

How to Measure B2B LinkedIn Marketing Success

Although there are several social media analytics platforms for business, they aren’t really built to measure the success of your personal LinkedIn strategy.

Brian Honigman, Forbes Contributor and NYU Professor, recommends individuals adopt the following metrics to measure individual effectiveness on LinkedIn:

Followers
Followers Acquired
Impressions
Interactions: Likes, Shares, Comments
LinkedIn Referral Traffic
Engagement Rate
Engagement by Post Type

Creating a Winning LinkedIn Presence for B2B

For demand generation professionals who aspire to be thought leaders, LinkedIn is the ideal platform to create an optimized profile, develop a content strategy, engage with others and build an audience. Not only does LinkedIn offer strong B2B lead generation potential for businesses, but it’s also among the ideal channels for people to develop their reputations as subject matter experts. And after all, it’s our presence as leaders in the industry that truly amplifies the presence of our brands.

While LinkedIn algorithms are in a state of rapid flux and the role of social marketing is evolving quickly, influencer status is worth striving for. At the end of the day, what’s really important is to be authentic, find your voice, share helpful content with your unique point of view and engage with others who are adding value to the community.

By Triniti Burton

Sourced from B2C Business 2 Community

In News

5 Tips to Build a LinkedIn Profile That’ll Get You Noticed

October 18, 2018 No Comments

Sourced from Success

Building and maintaining a standout LinkedIn profile isn’t optional. It’s not even highly recommended. It’s mandatory—if you want to stand out. Because 95 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to actively search for and contact potential employees.

“If you don’t have a presence on LinkedIn, you stand a strong chance of being overlooked,” says Rick Sass, a career coach and LinkedIn expert at Lee Hecht Harrison in Bellevue, Washington.

Whether you just graduated or are on the hunt for a new job, you can make your life as an applicant a whole lot easier by customizing your LinkedIn profile. Use these five strategies and employers will be more likely to find and hire you:

1. Write an eye-catching, descriptive headline.

LinkedIn automatically defaults the headline beneath your name to your current job title. Set yourself apart with a more creative description.

“Define yourself using nouns that describe what it is you do and what it is you want to do,” Sass says.

Try not to default to your job title even if you’ve landed a fabulous first job. “Marketing analyst” might be the name of your position, but “Quick-thinking marketing pro with an eye for catchy, viral content” will tell a recruiter that he or she should learn more about you.

2. Choose a professional, approachable headshot and background image.

“The first thing people are going to look at is the visual,” Sass says. Your background image is an opportunity to share your interests. Choose a landscape photo of your favorite place to ski or hike if you’re outdoorsy, or a baseball diamond if you like sports. Avoid potential copyright issues by taking the photo yourself or choosing from Flickr’s Creative Commons database—ideally only a photo with a “commercial use allowed” license, to be cautious.

Your profile photo is even more important. Recruiters are 70 percent more likely to scroll down and read through your professional experience if you have a headshot on LinkedIn, Sass says. It should feature your head and shoulders against a white background. Make sure to smile; recruiters subliminally think to themselves, “‘I want happy, smiley, approachable people on my team,’” Sass says.

3. Use keywords in your “Summary” section.

The summary is what makes LinkedIn better than a résumé. It’s a place where you can turn your unique educational and professional experience into a compelling narrative for employers.

“Unlike your résumé, your summary needs to basically tell me a little bit about your personality,” Sass says.

Tell recruiters what you love to do, what you do now and where you want to go next. If you’re looking for a graphic design job, say, “I am a collaborative, outside-the-box thinker who loves using design to make digital products come alive for users.” Format your summary into a few short paragraphs to make it more readable, Sass says.

Most importantly, add a section at the bottom of your summary called “Specialties,” he recommends. Employers search for potential job candidates on LinkedIn using keywords specific to the industry they’re recruiting for. Find keywords your employers might search for in job descriptions, on recruiters’ own profiles and on the profiles of candidates similar to you. If you work in marketing, for instance, the bottom of your summary could read: “Specialties: digital marketing, social media marketing and data analysis.”

4. Demonstrate transferable skills.

Your “Experience” section is the one closest to a traditional résumé. It’s where you’ll list all the jobs (both full- and part-time) and volunteer experiences you’ve had until now. After your summary and headline, Sass says, the titles in your experience section are the most important factors in LinkedIn’s results when employers search for candidates.

You can go into more detail about each job you’ve had than on your résumé, and it’s OK to use “I” and to maintain a slightly more conversational tone. Don’t be afraid to include jobs outside your field, Sass says. Speak confidently about the skills you developed in those positions and how they’ll apply to the job you want.

5. Show measurable accomplishments.

It’s great to tell employers what you’re good at, but specific, numerical accomplishments often say more than words can. Demonstrate to employers how your work had an impact. Maybe you exceeded a sales goal or you increased the number of social media followers.

LinkedIn also allows you to embed links to samples of your work in your experience section. Include in the position description what part you played in developing each project. Work samples are yet another way to make yourself stand out in the sea of job seekers on LinkedIn.

Take advantage of the space and flexibility LinkedIn provides to show what value you’ll bring to a potential job, Sass says.

“Traditionally you have to do push marketing with hiring managers,” he explains, meaning it’s up to you to get your résumé in front of them. “This is pull marketing. They’re going to find you, and you give them samples of your work and why you’re good at it.

Sourced from Success

This article originally appeared on NerdWallet. Brianna McGurran is a staff writer covering education and life after college for NerdWallet.

In News

How to become a LinkedIn influencer

July 10, 2018 No Comments

By Gwen Moran

Here’s where to start if you want to build your following and raise your status on the business social media platform.

Jim Keenan says he’s probably on LinkedIn more than he should be—at least a few times a day. But if the measure of where professionals should spend their time is looking at what helps grow their businesses most, Keenan is exactly where he should be.

The founder of sales consultancy A Sales Guy and author of Not Taught: What It Takes to Be Successful in the 21st Century That Nobody’s Teaching You has amassed more than 20,000 followers on the business-focused social media platform, and routinely books speaking engagements and gets inquiries from new clients. His articles attract anywhere from 700 to 7,000 page views on average, he says.

Keenan is the embodiment of a LinkedIn influencer, says LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen, author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day. While the focus of influencers on other social media platforms is often comprised of follower totals, charisma, and luck, LinkedIn and its focus on business, professional networking, and sharing expertise creates some natural checks and balances for influencers, she says. “It’s harder to fool people on LinkedIn as an influencer or to get people to believe that you’re an influencer than it is on some of the other sites,” she says.

Each year, LinkedIn publishes its “Top Voices” list of influencers who have the most engagement. But you don’t have to be a prime minister or world-famous CEO to create your own sphere of influence on the business-focused social media site. Here, influencers and experts weigh in on what it takes to have an impact on LinkedIn.

Build trust

On LinkedIn, like many places, the basics are the basics for a reason. Your first step to influencer status is to ensure the foundational elements of your profile are there. That includes a well-written bio that spells out who you are and what you do, a photograph, and some background on your experience and professional affiliations, von Rosen says. These all tell people who you are and why they should put trust in what you say.

“It’s all about building that trusted adviser-type persona on LinkedIn,” she says.

Building trust also requires taking a thoughtful approach to what you post. Because the environment is more business-focused, users are typically more strategic about what they post on LinkedIn than other platforms, focusing on value to their audiences, von Rosen says. That also creates somewhat of a safety net, von Rosen says. While some content may be controversial or provocative, “you’re not likely to post one thing that destroys 10 years of work, because I think people are just more intentional and strategic on LinkedIn,” she says.

Set yourself apart

The quickest way to build influence on LinkedIn is to become a reliable and steady source of good and useful information, says Wayne Breitbarth, author of Power Formula for LinkedIn Success. Figure out their “pain point” or what they want to learn about from you, and provide a mix of created and curated information to meet those needs, he says.

But that doesn’t mean just posting a steady stream of the same-old, same-old. You’ve got to find a way to differentiate yourself, he adds. One of his viral posts, entitled “Protect Yourself Now Because LinkedIn Is Making Big Changes,” reached 2,100 shares and 113,000 views because he used the “fear factor,” he says. He advocates using the multimedia options on LinkedIn to deliver content in a variety of formats, including articles and posts, video, and slide decks via SlideShare.

Keenan says counterintuitive content works, too. A video he posted called “Relationships Don’t Matter in Sales” was viewed roughly 500,000 times, with 1,100 comments and 5,000 likes. “People came out of the woodwork to either say, ‘He’s right, we’ve got to stop thinking we have to be liked by other people,’ or just losing it. ‘How dare you, people buy from people they like and trust,’” he recalls. And that type of rigorous debate isn’t something to be avoided, he says. Challenging conventional wisdom can yield important insights, he adds.

Connect passion to profit

Fintech writer Amy Buttell dealt with many millennials and thought this generation was unfairly maligned. On Christmas Eve 2017, she wrote a post about her “crush” on millennials and her respect for the attributes that others often criticize.

She has been active on LinkedIn for about six months and had connected with about 2,000 people. But her millennial post struck a nerve. It was shared roughly 400 times, garnered nearly 6,000 likes, and had more than 600,000 views. She spun off a new business venture as an expert in engaging millennials, and the experience elevated her profile among her fintech clients, many of whom are millennials, she says. She’s built relationships through the engagement with that post and others.

“If you come into LinkedIn thinking, ‘I just want to build my business and make more money,’ you’re not going to, because everything is about building relationships,” she says.

Keenan uses simple videos and an edgy style to help his audience learn about selling effectively. It doesn’t matter that his videos don’t have high production value, he says. It’s about the message and style. “My personality is very energetic, very confrontational on purpose, very engaging. I don’t produce the videos, I look like I’m talking right to you. I educate and teach. Even my rants are teaching,” he says. “People learn that they come to be entertained, inspired, educated, and that combination of three is valuable,” he says.

Engage regularly

A critical component of being an influencer is maintaining engagement with your audience, Keenan says. With the response volume he gets, it’s impossible to respond to everyone, but he tries to respond to at least one-quarter to one-third of those who contact him, he says. He comments on others’ content and shares content he finds valuable, usually tagging the creator to create further engagement. Breitbarth recommends keeping tabs on your notifications and posting new content at least once a week. (He’s careful to tag creators when he reposts their material to generate additional engagement.) Other influencers, like Keenan, interact on the platform daily.

Keenan also creates a “New Friend Friday” post where he encourages his contacts to interact with and help each other. “I’ve already seen these mini-ecosystems where all these people met through my network and the videos I’ve put together,” he says. Being able to create that kind of opportunity for people to connect is exciting, he says.

Have fun

All work and no play can make your LinkedIn content dull. Von Rosen advocates having fun. She points to a playful “fight” that Mario Martinez Jr., founder and CEO of sales and marketing consulting firm Vengreso, and Gabe Larsen, vice president of Inside Sales Labs, had about inbound versus outbound marketing. The two posted video and text about their “duel” that attracted hundreds of comments about the benefits and disadvantages of each.

Being an influencer on LinkedIn is a balance of strategy and authenticity, Breitbarth says. “If you read LinkedIn’s research, and LinkedIn’s research is all based on data, they say that the formula is consistency, depth, and the authentic desire to create conversations,” he says.

Feature Image Credit: [Images: davide ragusa/Unsplash (crowd); simo988/iStock (avatar)]

By Gwen Moran

Gwen Moran writes about business, money and assorted other topics for leading publications and websites. She was named a Small Business Influencer Awards Top 100 Champion in 2015, 2014, and 2012 and is the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans (Alpha, 2010), and several other books. More

Sourced from Fast Company

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Five social media platforms that your competitors are using in 2018

February 21, 2018 No Comments

By Holly Thatcher

In 2018, every business knows that having a strong social media presence is no longer optional. It’s the most powerful tool available to develop relationships with consumers and to build brands.

But the world of social media never stands still. It’s not just a competition for likes and followers anymore – today, the most forward thinking businesses are concerned with getting consumers to engage with their message in a meaningful way.

While Facebook might be what springs to mind when you think of social media, newly emerging platforms should not be overlooked, particularly if you are trying to tap into the international market.

These are some of the social media platforms that growing businesses are embracing in 2018.

Facebook ads

Facebook is changing. At the start of 2018, its relationship with businesses changed to “it’s complicated” after CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced that posts from friends and family would be prioritised in users’ newsfeeds over posts from publishers and brands.

The idea behind this is to make Facebook a more positive experience, by encouraging users to have more conversations and connections with peers. But it’s bad news for brands, who already faced an uphill struggle achieving organic reach.

Facebook ads work on a self-service format (Image: Facebook)

With this in mind, B2C businesses should investigate Facebook paid ads. They’ve widened massively in scope – Facebook Messenger and Carousel ads have recently been launched, for example – and offer the advantages of being self-service, highly targeted, budget flexible, and measurable.

In 2018 businesses can't afford to get left behind when it comes to social media — In 2018 businesses can’t afford to get left behind when it comes to social media (Image: Ju Stocker/Getty)

For the B2B market, LinkedIn is where you are likely to reach your most engaged audience. It offers various marketing opportunities, including:

Sponsored Content – this can be targeted to reach an audience of professionals beyond just your LinkedIn Company Page followers.

Direct Sponsored Content – this feature allows you to share content directly in the feed, giving you the ability to personalise and test content without having to originate posts on your LinkedIn Company Page. Make your content more relevant by sending personalised messages to specific audiences. Then test and retest a variety of content in real-time to optimise performance.

InMail – send personalised messages to the people who matter most to your business, with the ability to collect more leads with the lead-gen form.

Dynamic ads – these are customised messages to drive content downloads/page visits and collect quality leads.

Video and Carousel ads are also set to launch shortly, offering yet more opportunity to connect with the clients that matter.

WeChat

There’s a good chance you’ve not heard of WeChat, but it’s a game-changer in China.

With around 938m monthly average users who use it to socialise, buy, game and more, WeChat is a super-app.

On average, users spend more than an hour a day using it, and 40 per cent of Chinese consumers no longer carry cash because they can buy things using WeChat Pay.

The app allows you to localise your offering to Chinese consumers – but you will need partners to help you, and a decent budget.

Setting up a WeChat store and starting marketing will cost in the region of £50,000 – but there is potentially a serious return to be had on that investment.

Instagram Stories

via GIPHY

Of the 300 million accounts using Instagram Stories, one-third of the most viewed stories come from businesses, and one in five stories gets a direct message from its viewers.

The possibilities are endless with Instagram stories: Boomerang, live videos, event promotion, user-generated content to increase engagement…..dive in and get creative!

With the ability to target your ads by reach, video views, traffic, conversions, app installs and brand awareness, you can drive business results at the same time.

Vkontakte

When it comes to social media, don’t assume the ‘most popular’ platforms are the most popular.

Whilst Facebook has a presence in Russia (between 13 and 20 million monthly active users, depending on which report you trust), Vkontakte demonstrates that a well-structured social platform that serves the local population can take the lead as the most popular social media site.

On the surface, Vkontakte looks a lot like Facebook and Instagram rolled into one – but there are a few differences that really set it apart

Its embedded MP3 player and playlist tool, for example, is certainly worth investigating for anyone involved in the music industry. With access to 90 million active monthly users on the platform, it’s a potential seam waiting to be mined.

Bristol Social Media Week 2018

Most small businesses acknowledge that social media can be a wonderful way to promote their product or brand, but many are confused by whether they can still rely on organic reach (free posts) or if they should be investing their resources in paid for advertising (pay-to-play). When used properly, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram can become effective and profitable sales tools.

Social Media Week, the leading global conference hosted in over 25 cities worldwide, is coming back to Bristol in February 2018 to upskill and inform the local business community on key issues in media, marketing and technology. Business West is proud to be the official partners of this year’s event and will be taking over Wednesday 28th February with talks from the likes of 2014 Apprentice winner and CEO of Climb Online Mark Wright, Instagram, Aardman, JustEat and many more

By Holly Thatcher

Sourced from Bristol Post

In News

How To Make LinkedIn The Hub Of Your Social Media Strategy

February 19, 2018 No Comments

By William Arruda ,

If you’re ready to rocket your career success, LinkedIn is the ultimate fuel. And you can accelerate the results even more by making it the engine behind all of your professional social media activity. Here’s how you can maximize your visibility and your value by placing LinkedIn at the center of your digital branding strategy.

Step 1: Build Brand Communications

First, you need to create the right brand communications materials to use in all forms of social media. Then you can determine how to post without having to create new content for each platform.

Brand identity. Your brand identity system is the packaging that surrounds your brand. It includes color, fonts, images, a tag line, etc. Start by developing your brand identity for LinkedIn – including creating a custom background image. Then have similar versions created for YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Bio. Take the time to craft a compelling bio to use as your LinkedIn summary. You have 2,000 characters to tell the world who you are and why they should care. Because it shows up near the top of the results for a Google search on your name, your LinkedIn summary will likely be the most read version of your bio. And for people who are checking you out online before they meet you, your LinkedIn summary creates your first impression. Here’s the process that will help you create a stellar summary. Once you’re happy with it, create shorter versions for your other social media – including the shortest version of all – your 160-character Twitter bio.

Images. Perform an inventory of images that you can add to your Summary and Experience sections of your LinkedIn profile. Include items like slide presentations, photos, videos, whitepapers, etc.

The one thing you will want to vary for your profiles is your headshot. There are two reasons for this:

You want multiple versions of your headshot to show up on page one of a Google search on you. Thanks to blended search, Google shows relevant images on page one. In order for you to appear on page one, make sure you name your photo yourname.jpg.
Different media are better for showcasing different facets of your brand. You might want to be more professional on LinkedIn than on Facebook, for example.

Step 2: Identify Your Social Media

Choose social media platforms that are powerful career advancers – the ones where your target audience hangs out. Then identify the ways in which they overlap with LinkedIn.

Twitter. You can tweet without ever having to go to your Twitter account. When you link your Twitter account to LinkedIn, you can share updates on LinkedIn and Twitter at the same time – as long as your update is no more than 140 characters.

SlideShare. LinkedIn purchased SlideShare and has created a strong integration between them. SlideShare is a powerful tool for expressing your thought-leadership. When you publish the PDF of a slide presentation at SlideShare, you can instantly make it available to your connections and groups at LinkedIn, and you can publish it to your LinkedIn profile.

YouTube. Now that LinkedIn allows you to integrate videos into the Summary and Experience sections of your profile, you can easily enhance your profile with relevant videos that you publish to YouTube. In addition, via the share function in YouTube, you can make your video visible to valuable LinkedIn connections and groups.

What does all this add up to? Mastering LinkedIn is the first step to mastering social media. The final step is to build a well-connected network and then create a schedule for sharing your content with them on a regular basis. This will put you on the fast track for becoming visible and valuable to an audience of decision makers.

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

By William Arruda

William Arruda is the cofounder of CareerBlast and creator of the complete LinkedIn quiz that helps you evaluate your LinkedIn profile and networking strategy.

Sourced from Forbes

In News

9 Reasons To Log Back Into LinkedIn And Get Your Networking On

December 5, 2017 No Comments

By Sarah Landrum

LinkedIn is probably the single best website for professionals who want to promote their personal brands, network with others and practice some online karma by saying good things about their peers.

It’s the “adult table” among social media channels.

However, as with anything else online, there are tried-and-true practices you should follow on LinkedIn.

That way, you can be certain you convey the proper tone, leave the right impression and ultimately land a great opportunity, in line with your career goals.

Here are nine ways to get the most from LinkedIn:

1. Connect with personality.

If you’ve used LinkedIn for any length of time, you’ve probably received numerous requests for a connection. Most of them were likely a connection request with no message at all.

That’s typical LinkedIn usage.

Of course, part of your purpose on the social media website is to stand out. To do that, you can’t be typical.

Instead of just sending people a generic connection request, add a message to it, explaining why you’d like to connect.

By adding a simple, “I really enjoyed our telephone conversation on Tuesday,” or, “It was great meeting with you earlier today,” you’ll leave a much more positive impression.

2. Be consistent.

If you’re making any kind of online effort to promote yourself, there is one word that should characterize your journey: consistency.

Simply put, you’ll be ineffective on LinkedIn if you’re an on-again, off-again user.

That’s why you should be constantly logging on, engaging with others, recommending peers, sharing articles and keeping your résumé up-to-date.

Think of your LinkedIn presence as bread. It has a short shelf-life, and it goes stale quickly if it’s not used.

3. Social media is a great place for social proof.

If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, “social proof,” it’s basically a reference to online testimonials by other people about how great you are.

Fortunately, LinkedIn allows people in your network to endorse you as an expert in your skills.

For example, if you’re an accountant, you can ask people in your LinkedIn network who are familiar with your accounting skills to endorse you for it on your profile.

Then, others who view your profile will see your accounting skills are recognized by several others.

Users will want to know for sure you have the skills you claim to have.

One of the best ways to reassure them is with social proof. If you haven’t already done so, reach out to people in your network and ask them to endorse you for your listed skills.

Also, recommend other people, and ask them to recommend you as well.

Recommendations on LinkedIn are like digital references.

Through them, you can show potential employers others who have worked with you think highly of you.

4. Understand the principle of brand name recognition.

Remember, LinkedIn is about building your personal brand. One of the best ways to do that is by creating brand name recognition.

What is the LinkedIn version of brand name recognition? As the name implies, it means people will recognize your name when they see you online. Be sure to keep your name in front of your fellow LinkedIn users.

Create blog posts, comment on the blogs of others and participate in active groups of people who share your interests. That way, you’ll be developing personal brand name recognition.

5. Remember: What goes around comes around.

LinkedIn is a great place to practice the principle of sowing and reaping, often referred to as “karma.” The site gives you a wealth of opportunity to go out of your way to help other people by recommending them, endorsing their skills and connecting them with the right people.

When you do that, you’ll eventually see others doing the same for you. Although you’re trying to promote yourself on LinkedIn, it’s always a good idea to also promote others.

6. Use LinkedIn when you don’t need it.

The sad reality is people often find themselves out of work due to company layoffs or budget cuts. They then try to network on LinkedIn so they can find a job quickly, but by that point, they face a tough effort.

It’s best to use LinkedIn to build relationships and practice karma when you don’t need a job yourself.

Then, if you find you’re suddenly unemployed, you have a portfolio of connections that might lead to your next income.

On top of finding a job, LinkedIn can help you find business. Even business owners with years of experience can use the platform to form connections and network.

Having a stellar profile also helps potential clients who are searching for you to get to know you and your business better.

One thing you can do to aid in this is to share your accomplishments and successes in your profile, so potential clients can see what benefits you can bring them.

7. Use a call to action on your profile.

A call to action is when you ask somebody to do something.

On LinkedIn, it’s a great way to give people a little nudge to click on a button or link that will take them to your webpage.

People often fill out their LinkedIn profiles and offer up a generic “my website,” hoping viewers will click the link.

You should create a call to action with something more in depth like, “Click Here to See How I Can Save Your Business 10 Percent in Energy Costs.”

That’s far more marketable than a generic description.

8. Optimize your profile.

Did you know employers and potential clients actually use the “search” function on LinkedIn to find people who have a certain skill set?

They do that by searching for keywords such as “Java,” “accountant,” “project manager” and “electrical engineer.”

If you want to be found by people who are searching for some of the skills you possess, practice a little LinkedIn search engine optimization.

Be certain your profile is rich in the keywords that reflect your competencies.

9. Avoid the predictable buzzwords.

Are you “efficient” and “effective?”

No, you’re boring.

Remember you want to stand out.

You’ll do that by describing yourself in a way that doesn’t make you sound like you’re writing a generic résumé.

Think about power words you can use in your profile to impact those who are viewing it.

Look for creative ways to highlight your career history, and what you offer potential employers.

LinkedIn is an ideal way to build a network of professionals online.

Just be certain you’re maximizing your impact on the social media site.

Feature Image Credit: Victor Torres

By Sarah Landrum

Sourced from ELITE DAILY

In News

5 Simple Steps to Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

October 26, 2017 No Comments

By Drew Cohen

Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has certainly positioned itself as the number-one professional networking site. In fact, with LinkedIn now owned by Microsoft, LinkedIn released data in April claiming 500 million users. With these giant numbers, it’s no surprise that most businesspeople find themselves on LinkedIn. But how can you stand out from the crowd and make your LinkedIn profile produce desired results? Here are five simple tips to enhance your LinkedIn profile.

1. Custom URL

It is extremely simple to do, but it’s a step that people tend to skip right over. By default, LinkedIn provides members with a randomly generated URL. This can be changed, and the URL can be made much more search-engine-friendly. In addition to the SEO benefits, there is a significant personal branding bonus. Once you edit your LinkedIn URL, it will look something like this: linkedin.com/in/[yournamehere]. This custom, personalized URL can now be used in things like business cards, email signatures, presentations, and conversations. Keep in mind that these URLs are available on a first-come, first-served basis. So, you may have to tweak the URL with different variations of your name.

2. Summary

This is your opportunity to explain who you are and go beyond the basic resume fluff. Put some thought into how you and your organization add value, and use the summary as your elevator pitch. Think of the words that prospective buyers or industry partners will use to search for someone with your expertise, and work this into your content for added SEO value. If you’re a salesperson at a car dealership, you should consider including “car sales,” “vehicle sales,” and “car dealership.” Many times, people utilize LinkedIn’s advanced search capabilities to fill a need for their company or organization. Optimizing the keyword usage will maximize your exposure. With that in mind, it’s equally important to let your personality shine through.

3. Fill Out Your Profile Completely

Your LinkedIn profile is so much more than an online version of your resume. It’s an active, ever-changing opportunity to showcase your work and skill set. If you do a quick search of your current LinkedIn connections, chances are, you will find a significant percentage of users have profiles that are incomplete. You will find users who have many of their recent job titles and positions included, with brief descriptions—or no descriptions—of what this position entailed or how these users added value to the marketplace. Adding more detail to your profile will increase your chances of showing up in searches. Keep your keywords in mind, but do not force them into your text. As a basic guideline, consider adding four to six bullet points to each job that you’ve held.

4. Adding Multimedia to Your Profile

Profiles with work samples, photos, videos, and SlideShare presentations certainly stand out. A common question I am asked is “I do [insert job function here] for a living; how do I show a work sample in this industry?” Certainly, this is a valid concern and may not seem obvious at first. The key is to think outside of the box. Maybe you were featured in a case study because of your excellent work on a recent project. You could take a screenshot of this and display this in a section of your profile. Maybe you saved one of your clients more than a million dollars last year by implementing a new project management solution. You could display a graph or chart showing the amount of money saved by one of your customers. If you are in a sales function, you could develop a short slide deck that shows the products/services that you provide. You could show what you can offer if a customer chooses to do business with you. These are just a few examples, but the key is having something. We live in a very visual society, and providing viewers of your profile with a little more than plain text will go a long way. For information on how to add work samples to your profile, click here.

5. Relevant Certifications, Skills, and Education

As a member of the LinkedIn community, you are surrounded by individuals who are there for many of the same reasons as you. Be sure to add your certifications to your profile that have contributed to your professional journey. Listing your educational institutions will provide you with opportunities to network with fellow alumni. People have school pride, and it can open many doors or help secure a new relationship.

Go Get It

Whether your primary goal on LinkedIn is to explore new job opportunities or find a vendor partner to assist with an upcoming project, it’s critical that you put your best foot forward. Following these simple steps to enhance your LinkedIn profile can put you in a great position to achieve these goals.

Read more at http://www.business2community.com/linkedin/5-simple-steps-enhance-linkedin-profile-01925797#lvyRdCB2rfjgAOpL.99

By Drew Cohen

Sourced from Business 2 Community

In News

All of the anti-Semitic, racist, and xenophobic ad-targeting options offered by Big Tech

October 4, 2017 No Comments

By Mike Murphy.

Over the last few days, a slew of reporting, inspired by ProPublica, has revealed that it’s actually quite easy, through the programmatic structure of most online advertising, to create ads meant to target those who have espoused racist, antisemitic, or other hateful ideas.

Here’s a quick rundown of the major internet companies, and what has been discovered about their advertising platforms:

Facebook

On Sept. 14, ProPublica reported that Facebook allowed advertisers to target categories and ideas such as “Jew hater,” “How to burn jews,” and “History of ‘why jews ruin the world,’” based on interest Facebook users had expressed on the social network and terms with which they had used to describe themselves.

While Facebook removed those categories after ProPublica’s investigation, Slate then discovered that there are dozens of other racist, sexist, and xenophobic categories which advertisers could potentially target. It took Facebook less than a minute to approve ads against phrases like “Kill Muslimic Radicals”and “Ku-Klux-Klan,” and Slate found myriad other options, like “Killing Bitches,” “Killing Hajis,” and “Nazi Party (Canada).”

Facebook released a statement yesterday after ProPublica’s report, saying in part:

Keeping our community safe is critical to our mission. And to help ensure that targeting is not used for discriminatory purposes, we are removing these self-reported targeting fields until we have the right processes in place to help prevent this issue. We want Facebook to be a safe place for people and businesses, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to keep hate off Facebook.

Google

BuzzFeed discovered similar targeting issues on Google’s AdWords platform, which runs the advertisements you see on Google search results pages. Typing in keyword suggestions (which advertisers use to build their ads and figure out who to target) like “why do jews ruin everything” led to the system generating more keyword suggestions like “jews ruin the world” and “jewish parasites.” Buzzfeed was also able to build and launch a campaign around the phrase “black people ruin neighborhoods.”

When Quartz attempted to recreate BuzzFeed’s efforts using similar terms, or terms like those used by ProPublica and Slate, no keyword suggestions were returned. Google has since disabled many of the keywords that BuzzFeed tested.

Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s senior vice president in charge of ads, told Quartz in a statement:

Our goal is to prevent our keyword suggestions tool from making offensive suggestions, and to stop any offensive ads appearing. We have language that informs advertisers when their ads are offensive and therefore rejected. In this instance, ads didn’t run against the vast majority of these keywords, but we didn’t catch all these offensive suggestions. That’s not good enough and we’re not making excuses. We’ve already turned off these suggestions, and any ads that made it through, and will work harder to stop this from happening again.

Twitter

The Daily Beast was able to target similarly derogatory demographics on Twitter. It reported:

Twitter’s advertising platform tells prospective marketers it has 26.3 million users interested in the derogatory term “wetback,” 18.6 million accounts that are likely to engage with the word “Nazi,” and 14.5 million users who might be drawn to “n**ger.”

A Twitter representative told Quartz about the Daily Beast’s report:

The terms cited in this story have been blacklisted for several years and we are looking into why the campaign cited in this story were able to run for a very short period of time. Twitter actively prohibits and prevents any offensive ads from appearing on our platform, and we are committed to understanding 1) why this happened, and 2) how to keep it from happening again.

Snapchat

Quartz checked on Snapchat’s advertising platform to see if we were able to target using similar terms used on the other platforms. We were not able to: It seems that Snapchat’s demography isn’t quite as granular as the other platforms, which are far more text-based than Snapchat, and so it’s likely easier for them to glean what sorts of things its users are sharing than through all the videos and images posted to Snapchat.

Bing

Microsoft’s second-placed search network seems to have a similar problem to its other platforms. When Quartz created a test advertising campaign on Bing Ads, we weren’t able to directly target specifically loaded terms, but searching for just about any phrase in Bing’s “keyword suggestions” generator will generate specific keywords that you might want to try to target instead. Here’s one example, using “Hitler” as the search term:

Screen Shot 2017-09-15 at 5.51.52 PM — (Screenshot/Bing Ads)

A representative for Bing told Quartz:

We take steps to ensure our Bing Ads always meet reasonable standards. We are committed to working with partners who share our vision for relevant, impactful brand interaction and respect the integrity of consumer choice.

Yahoo

Quartz attempted to create an ad campaign on Yahoo, but it seems there’s no simple way to create one online without speaking to a representative from Oath (Yahoo’s parent company) first. And presumably fewer people would feel comfortable telling a sales rep the sorts of things they’re targeting than they would inputting them into a computer system. Hopefully.

Microsoft’s professional social network doesn’t seem to let users target based on arbitrary phrases or demographics. Other than geography, these are the only things you can target against on LinkedIn:

Screen Shot 2017-09-15 at 6.01.21 PM — (Screenshot/LinkedIn)

The only section that might have the potential for hateful terms would be in “Member groups”—but a cursory search of terms like those used above didn’t reveal many professional hate groups to target on the platform. We did, however, come across this group:

Screen Shot 2017-09-15 at 6.03.39 PM — (Screenshot/LinkedIn)

Upon further inspection, however, it seems that this group was set up by a LinkedIn employee trying to see whether they could set up a group with a title like this. Obviously, it worked:

LinkedIn sent Quartz the following statement:

Hate has no place on LinkedIn and will not be tolerated. When we are made aware of such content, we act swiftly to enforce our policy and remove said content. On Friday, a member of our team created a group solely for internal testing purposes and after a brief testing period, we took the group down.

By Mike Murphy.

Sourced from QUARTZ

In News

LinkedIn told it cannot stop the bots

September 15, 2017 No Comments

By Dave Lee.

So you’re considering changing jobs and quietly make a couple of changes to your LinkedIn profile to ensure it is looking its best for any potential new employer.

But then a third-party service spots that change and alerts your bosses. Uh oh.

That’s the scenario LinkedIn has said it is trying to stop being possible. But a judge in San Francisco has just ruled it can do little to stop third-party companies monitoring LinkedIn’s huge trove of data.

LinkedIn must remove any technical limitations it has put in place to prevent the “scraping” of members’ data, the court ruled. The BBC understands LinkedIn is considering an appeal.

“We’re disappointed in the court’s ruling,” a spokeswoman said.

“This case is not over. We will continue to fight to protect our members’ ability to control the information they make available on LinkedIn.”

Public data

The case sets an interesting precedent over how the data you publish online can be monitored and used.

The row began in May when LinkedIn sent HiQ Labs a cease and desist letter demanding it stop trawling LinkedIn’s public profiles for data – something that takes place, according to HiQ’s website, roughly every two weeks.

Image copyright HiQ Labs

Image caption HiQ Labs uses LinkedIn data to provide insight to companies about their employees

HiQ Labs offers what it describes as “a crystal ball that helps you determine skills gaps or turnover risks months ahead of time, and a platform that shows you how and where to focus your efforts”.

The firm does not monitor every LinkedIn user – just those working for companies that have engaged HiQ Lab’s services. The company told me it also does not offer a service that alerts bosses about an individual’s profile changes.

LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, said using its data in this way – to predict when staff might leave – was a breach of the site’s terms of service and also potentially of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

“This is not acceptable,” Linkedin’s letter read.

But HiQ Labs, via a special section of its site set up to discuss the case, has dismissed LinkedIn’s claims of abuse. It said that as the profile information is public, and viewable without being logged in, it should not be “walled off”.

“It is important to understand that HiQ doesn’t analyse private sections of LinkedIn,” a spokeswoman for HiQ Labs said via email on Monday.

“We only review public profile information. We don’t republish or sell the data we collect. We only use it as the basis for the valuable analysis we provide to employers.

“Moreover, LinkedIn doesn’t own the data contained in member profiles. It is information the members themselves have decided to display publicly, and it is available to anyone with access to a web browser.”

Decades-old law

Judge Edward Chen knocked back LinkedIn’s complaints, citing concerns about restrictions on a free and open internet.

He ruled that the CFAA did not apply as the decades-old law dealt with unauthorised access to closed systems, not publicly available data – and the law’s authors could not possibly have envisioned such a scenario when drawing up the bill. (You’ll hear that often – this isn’t the first time an ancient law has been crowbarred into a modern dispute.)

Judge Chen also agreed with HiQ that LinkedIn could hinder competition by blocking the data.

The ruling leaves LinkedIn, and its users, in a tricky spot. The usefulness of LinkedIn is in part due to its data being easy to access. If you’re hunting for a job you naturally want people to be able to find you. But in doing so, you don’t want your information being used in ways you did not anticipate.

That’s what LinkedIn is arguing it is trying to protect, and this ruling makes it hard for users to have one without the other.

LinkedIn does work with third parties to share data and insights, the company told me, but the difference is that it’s all within the terms of service members agreed to when they signed up to the site.

In contrast, HiQ Labs, and other third parties like it, use data in ways LinkedIn members have little control over – unless they make their LinkedIn profiles private.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

Image caption LinkedIn has been told it must remove technical measures that prevent bots scraping the site

BY Dave Lee

Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC

You can reach Dave securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +1 (628) 400-7370

Sourced from BBC

In News

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

August 17, 2017 No Comments

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:

– YouTube Video Link.
– Vimeo Video Link.
– Upstream Video Link.
– Brightcove Video Link.
– Facebook Video Link.
– 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!!

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