Linked In Guide 2021
Linked In is the social platform favoured by professionals and is usually more geared up for Business to Business networking. Although Positive Sales and Marketing supports the hospitality sector, there may be individuals or businesses within this sector that will make use of Linked In. Maybe you are a caterer that serves local offices and events, or you are an event management company that uses suppliers from hospitality. Therefore, we have put together this quick Linked In guide 2021, listing the features you can utilise to raise your personal profile and to showcase your business. The company and showcase pages are a great alternative if you don’t have a website, where you can demonstrate your expertise and professionalism in your field.
Personal Profile and Company Page
Linked In has two elements, first the personal profile to build your personal brand. This is ideal for professional freelancers and employees that build relationships with customers. It is a platform for networking and keeping abreast of industry news. It also allows you to exhibit your expertise and thought leadership. Secondly you can set up a company page as a business overview and then make showcase pages for each of your services.
Linked In’s Guidance
Linked In itself makes recommendations on how to put together your personal profile. One thing it isn’t is an online version of your CV. It is a platform to tell your story, share your ethics and values and how you can be of service to your industry based on your current skills and attributes.
Here is a summary of Linked In’s recommendations for your personal profile
- Your profile picture should be professional and high quality resolution
- The background photo should be of your business
- The headline is not just a job title – explain the why and what of your role
- Summary – this should tell your story, narrate your ethics, values and vision
- Avoid common buzzwords
- Sync up with your email list – connect to clients you already know
- Keep your skills relevant
- Complete Linked In Learning courses and display certificates
- Share case studies
- Use the publications section to share your blogs, e-books or whitepapers
- Add comments when you like and share posts
- Share and comment regularly on other posts to share expertise
Other Features of Linked In
Once you have completed your personal profile if you are a business, you can set up a company page and link it to your personal profile. The company page shows information about your business, its mission, values and proposition. From your company page you can set up showcase pages that can reveal what your services are in more depth, the norm is one page per service. You are allowed up to 10 pages.
Showcase pages are also great for your clients because they can choose to simply follow the page they are interested in rather than the company profile.
To set up showcase pages first set up your company page, then click on the edit drop down menu on the right hand side and choose ‘create a showcase page’.
Linked In Guide 2021 Top Tips
Below is a checklist of tips to enhance your profile and company listing.
- Optimise your profile – say what you can do for others
- Engage – share/comment/like (not sell)
- When you connect – personalise the default message and put in a call to action – meet for coffee etc
- Use the publishing platform to educate/inform/inspire
- Create and build business relationships – build smart network rather than a large network through connections based on relevance TO YOU such as location/industries you have worked in/suppliers
- Don’t just have a profile – be active, because 350m people are on Linked In
- It is the top B2B tool for generating leads (especially if you upgrade to the paid for version)
- 40% of users check in daily
- Customise your URL – so that it is easy to transfer to other channels or print on business collateral
- Fill in profile fully, there is a graphic within your dashboard showing how complete it is
- In your summary – tell your story, include keywords and answer basic questions
- Add media – documents/photos/links/presentations/videos
- Don’t forget to encourage endorsements of your skills
- Encourage happy customers to leave recommendations
- Include any honours, awards or publications you have
- Post once per day as it immediately makes you more visible than your competitors
- Set up a company page and use ‘showcase pages’ to segment your services
- Use the publisher stats on the publishing platform for a breakdown of the demographic of readers
- Include calls to action in your posts
- Promote Linked In URL on other media
- Consider some of the features that you need to pay for such as Sales Navigator that links you to your potential leads
- Join Linked In Profinder Network for Freelancers
Linked In is a platform that requires an initial investment of time to set up and maximise but only needs a once per day check in to engage and share, so not time intensive. If you publish regular articles and blogs its publishing platform is the best of all the social channels.
Thank you
For taking the time to read our blogs. Positive Sales and Marketing is a small business in the North West of England passionate about educating the UK hospitality and freelance artist sector on understanding their marketing.
We offer training and education to enable businesses to take control of their own destiny rather than blindly relying on agencies. We can also offer transparent website design services and copywriting should this be taking up too much of your time.
We work with clients all over the UK and also operate directories for the holiday accommodation sector.
We would love to hear from you, give us a call on 01257 433331 or 01744 670055 or email Caroline@positivesalesandmarketing.co.uk
You can also find us on Twitter @Psalesmarketing or Instagram possalesmarketing please follow us to read our blogs or receive daily inspiration.
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