You’re busy?
Me too.
Here are five ways you can benefit from LinkedIn in less than five minutes per week.
1. Review Your Title
If your LinkedIn title matches the job title on your business card you may want to consider updating it.
The problem is your job title doesn’t tell anyone what you do or who you do it for.
That makes it difficult for customers to quickly recognize you may have something they want.
It makes it hard for partners and employees to know if they want to work with you.
It adds confusion when your connections want to refer business to you.
CEO, CMO, VP Sales, Director HR, Product Marketer, Frontline Systems Engineer Level 3…you might as well put “Human” in your title, for all the good they’ll do you.
There are two exceptions; 1) if you’re the CEO of Facebook, then it makes sense to say that in your profile because everyone knows Facebook and knows what it means to be CEO there, and 2) if your title makes it obvious what you do, for example “Staff writer at Mashable.”
If you’re not Mark Zuckerberg or a journalist then instead of listing your title, tell us what you do and who you do it for.
For example:
- I help new entrepreneurs generate sales through Facebook ads.
- I build HR strategies for Western companies doing business in China.
- I teach marketing agency CEOs how to go from $3M to $10M.
Your title shows up everywhere on LinkedIn. It shows up when you like or comment on a post, when people find you in search results, and if it’s descriptive and catchy instead of generic and bland, you’ll reap the benefits.
If you were at a networking event and someone asked what you do, you’d have a chance to explain.
On Linked, many people don’t look past your title.
If your title says what you do, and it happens to match the need of the person looking at your title, then you’ve made it much more likely they’ll contact you.
You also dramatically increase the likelihood of your connections will refer relevant opportunities your way, because now they know what you do and who you do it for.
As a result, you’ll be top of mind when a match comes along.
5-Minute Homework
Modify your title to start with what you do and who you do it for. Be specific. If you must use your official job title, tack it onto the end. If you have the space, include keywords. These will help you show up in relevant search results.
Extra credit–post this to LinkedIn after updating your title:
What do you think of my new LinkedIn title?
I just updated it to explain what I do and who I do it for.
Do you think it’s effective? How could I improve it?
Tag me (type “@josh steimle” in your post) and I’ll chime in with my two cents.
2. Edit Your Bio
When you’re writing your bio or “About” section on LinkedIn, make the first three lines count, like Lacey Abbacchi does here:
This is all people see until they expand the view by clicking “…see more,” and what happens if they never click to see more? They never read the rest of the story. You might have the most amazing bio in the world, but if the first three lines don’t hook visitors, nobody will know.
This applies to both mobile and desktop.
What should you put in those first three lines? It depends, but think about these questions as you write those first lines:⠀
- What is your goal?⠀
- What is your genius zone, the thing that makes you different and special?⠀
- Who is your ideal audience?⠀
- What content (i.e. words, phrases, ideas) will trigger interest and get your ideal audience to expand your bio to read the rest of it?⠀
Nathan Hirsch, CEO of virtual assistant marketplace Freeeup, says “Think of your LinkedIn bio as your personal elevator pitch. If you connect with someone on your LinkedIn profile and they visit your page, what do you want them to know within the first 10 seconds? Who are you? Who do you help? How do you add value to the world?”
Sandra Long, author of LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide, coaches her clients to think of the About section as more of an introduction. “Try to create immediate interest with a personal story or how you help your clients.”
Here are examples of great “About” intros:
Note: Ugh…do you know how many profiles I had to go through to find three “About” intros that I loved? So many written in the 3rd person, so many spouting fluff that doesn’t mean anything and sounds like everybody else, etc. Ok, enough ranting.
“I teach business owners, educators and entrepreneurs the profitable action steps for building a highly engaged email list, creating online training courses, and using online marketing strategies to sell with ease.”–Amy Porterfield
Why it’s good: Amy lets us know exactly who she works with and what her service is. If you’re an entrepreneur trying to build an email list, is there any way you could resist reading the rest of her bio?
“I’m a leadership mentor. Together with my team at Michael Hyatt & Co., I help overwhelmed high achievers win at work, succeed at life, and lead with confidence.”–Michael Hyatt
Why it’s good: Same as Amy, Michael speaks to his audience (leaders, high achievers, overwhelmed high achievers).
I find “win at work” and “succeed at life” a bit generic sounding, but then again I’ve read Michael’s books and that is indeed what he delivers. If it were me, I’d drop the “team” part, and then perhaps, right before “I help…” I might say “Through my books, courses, and speeches…” because those are three of the main things Michael is selling.
“Experienced author, editor, ghostwriter of 10+ books and creative coach. I’ve helped hundreds of writers, from total beginners to New York Times Bestsellers to write, edit and publish their projects and discover the power writing can have to improve your sleep, increase your confidence, strengthen your relationships, keep you…”–Allison Fallon
Why it’s good: If I were looking for a ghostwriter to help me write a book, this would catch my eye.
You may notice that Allison’s bio cuts off in the middle of a sentence, which is fine, perhaps even preferable. Amy and Michael had line breaks in their bios, so it shows what you see above, and then no more unless you click on the “… show more” link. If your bio is long enough then it will show that link, but there’s something about it getting cut off that almost makes it more tantalizing to click because you want to finish that sentence.
“My dad bought a computer for our home when I was in 5th grade. Whenever I wanted to use it (aka CONSTANTLY), he asked why.”–Amy Schmittauer Landino
Unlike the three bios above, we get no clue what Amy does or who she does it for based on what shows up in her bio before it gets cut off. However, I still love her intro because she invests 100% in storytelling. I talk more about this later in this course, but storytelling is the ultimate hook. Don’t you want to find out why Amy was on the computer so much?
5-Minute Homework
Rewrite the first 3-4 lines of your bio or “About” section. Use storytelling and a focus on what you do, who you do it for, and the results you deliver to create a hook so that when your ideal audience (ignore everyone else) visits, they can’t help but read the rest.
Extra credit–for posting immediately after you take a first stab at rewriting those first lines:
What do you think of the first few lines of my bio on my LinkedIn profile, before you click the “…see more” link?
Does it make you want to click that link to see more and read the rest? When you read the rest of my bio, do you find yourself saying “This part at the end should be at the beginning…” or anything else like that?
I would love any feedback you have to offer as I’m working on improving my profile to better focus on my ideal audience and tell them who I am, what I do, and who I do it for.
Thanks!
And as always, tag me and I’d be happy to contribute.
3. Expand Your Work Experience
Yesterday my tip was to tell stories in your LinkedIn profile, especially your bio.
Today we’ll talk about your work or employment section.
If you’re over 30 you were probably taught to create a resume.
“A resume,” you were taught, “Is your golden ticket to the career of your dreams.”
That’s why, as a college student, I spent hours, days, weeks, and months crafting my resume.
I even bought special paper to print it on.
Then I started a business, became an employer, and realized employers are just looking for someone who can solve a problem and most couldn’t care less what an applicant’s resume looks like.
When LinkedIn was created, many of us simply copied and pasted from our resumes into our profiles.
We listed bullet points of duties and tasks we were given, as well as achievements.
Nothing wrong with that, except that by itself it’s boring.
It’s also the same thing everyone else is doing.
Instead, stand out by adding stories to your work experience.
Tell us:
- What you were hired to do
- What challenges you faced doing it
- How you overcame those challenges to achieve success
- Concrete achievements
- What you learned in the process
Write this as though you were meeting with a close friend or family member for lunch, someone you know would be excited to hear about it, but who knows you well enough that you don’t need to give them a bunch of fluff or try to impress them with a big show.
For me, I think about my mother and father. They changed my diapers, struggled to get me to study as a teenager, and know pretty much all my faults, so I don’t need to put on a show. And yet they’re eager to hear any update I give them about my businesses, speaking engagements, or writing.
Not everyone is as interested in what I’m doing as my parents, but writing for them seems to work. Who is the person you can write for without stressing out and becoming inauthentic?
When you get human and allow us to see what it’s really like to be you, you’ll help us feel like we already know you.
By getting vulnerable and telling us about challenges you faced, you’ll encourage us to trust you.
By showing us how you overcame your challenges, you’ll prove your competence and show us you can figure things out and get stuff done, which is what employers, partners, investors, and other audiences want to see.
5-Minute Homework
For your current work experience tell us:
- What you were hired to do
- What challenges you faced doing it
- How you overcame those challenges to achieve success
- Concrete achievements
- What you learned in the process
That’s five minutes.
Next week, move on to your next work experience, and so on.
If you have extensive work experience, do this for at least the most recent three work experiences, plus any others that are particularly relevant to what you’re doing today or want to do in the future.
Extra credit post:
What’s the best job you’ve ever had, other than your current one?
For me, it was… [talk about your favorite prior job and include details about what you were hired to do, the challenges, how you overcame the challenges, what you achieved, and what you learned]
What has been a favorite job of yours, and why?
As always, tag me in the post if you’d like me to comment to give it a boost.
The above three activities are mostly one-time. The next two can (and should) be repeated indefinitely.
4. Write a Post
Posts can be an image, video, link, document, or plain old text.
I’m talking about the plain text kind here.
I’ve been reading a lot of LinkedIn posts lately that are getting zero engagement (i.e. comments), and analyzing why that is.
Here are a few of my findings:⠀
- They don’t ask a question. If you want comments, ask a question at the beginning of your post, and ask the same question at the end. ⠀
- They don’t invite discussion. Reading a lot of these posts, my response is “Ok, so what?” Even if I want to comment on the post, I can’t figure out what to say beyond “Great post!” and nobody likes to say that. I want to have meaningful discussions but many posts make that difficult.⠀
- The author doesn’t know his/her audience, so they miss using triggers that would get the audience to respond.⠀
- The author doesn’t appear willing to listen. Asking a question helps with that, but also show you’re open-minded with your tone. Sometimes uncertainty can be a great tactic, such as when you say “I’m on top of the fence about this…” and then state two opposing viewpoints on a topic. Those with opinions on either side see this as a ripe opportunity to convert you to their perspective.⠀
- The author doesn’t engage. If you want more comments, respond to comments on your posts.⠀
A post needn’t be long.
Here’s a post you can try:
Who are the experts on [topic] I should be following?
Here’s another:
I just faced [challenge] at work.
Before I tell you what I did, how would you handle this situation?
The point is posts don’t need to be long, they don’t need to be well-researched, they don’t need to be complicated.
They need to stimulate interesting discussions.
5-Minute Homework
Write a post.
You can copy one of mine from above, the one below, or make up your own. Start and end it with a question.
Extra credit post:
If you’ve got questions about [topic] ask away in the comments, I’d love to help.
Free advice, no sales pitch.
Tag me, I probably have a question or two I’d love to ask.
5. Connect With 5 People
Today we move on from LinkedIn profile optimization to the second section where we learn how to grow your network and make meaningful connections.
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” – Charlie Tremendous Jones
When I conduct surveys to ask people what their #1 LinkedIn goal is, the winning answer is invariably “To make meaningful connections.”
We want to surround ourselves with people we can serve, and who can serve us.
In Adam Grant’s book Give and Take this is the type of relationship he refers to as a “match.”
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey would refer to this as “win-win.”
What does a meaningful connection look like to you?
I bet it doesn’t look like this:
- You wake up one morning to find a new request to connect on LinkedIn.
- You’ve never met this person and haven’t interacted with them online, but it looks like a real person, so you decide to accept.
- No sooner have you accepted the connection request then you receive an automated message with a sales pitch that is completely irrelevant to anything you’re interested in.
- This would be obvious in two seconds to anyone who looked at your profile, so you suspect this person didn’t look at yours at all.
Is that a meaningful connection?
Is it likely to turn into one?
Hardly.
If these people were honest in their connection requests they might look like this one Louis Fernandez sent as a joke to Andy Foote:
Here’s an actual attempt someone made to connect with Tiffany Remjin:
Hey, at least they were honest, right?
Free tip: Don’t do this.
It doesn’t work, trust me.
Once upon a time I got talked into sending automated sales messages by my marketing team and we gave it a good try–we even took great care to make sure we targeted the right people with a compelling message, and it still didn’t work.
Instead, treat people the way you want to be treated, or even better, the way they want to be treated.
Be human.
Roberto Severino, a SEO consultant, shares how he builds meaningful relationships on LinkedIn:
First I go through the My Network button on the top of the page and find people who are already in my industry I share connections with. Usually, they will accept, and then if they post a lot of good content I like, I will start commenting on it with my own thoughts. This is enough for me to start building that relationship with that person. Now, if a recruiter or someone contacted me and says that I might be a good fit for their role or whatever, I like to reach out to people who are already at the company and see what I have in common with them and start up a conversation with them. I’ve gotten so many good results by mentioning why I want to connect with them and asking for honest advice. Usually, I’ll give that person something in return like endorsements, recommendations, etc. if I see that we’re getting along super well and are a good fit. The last thing I ever do though is try to leave carbon copy cold messages to people I connect with, much like how you see with spam on LinkedIn these days. If I don’t share that many connections with that person (some exceptions here) or they’re not in my industry at all, I usually avoid those.
Be like Roberto.
5-Minute Homework
Take a step back and look at the way you connect with people on LinkedIn.
Is it too focused on yourself?
Is it too focused on others?
The first extreme will lead to failure, the second will lead to burnout.
Think about how you can connect with the right people so that each one is a match, where you both give, you both take, and you both are richer for the relationship.
Now, connect with five, high-quality people each week.
Send a customized request.
Don’t expect anything, and don’t ask for anything other than the connection.
Extra credit post:
Who is your perfect “match” on LinkedIn?
In Adam Grant’s book Give and Take, he says relationships where all you do is give, or all you do is take, are both unhealthy.
The ideal is where both people in the relationship give and take, and both come out richer for it.
For me, the perfect match is…[talk about your perfect match here].
What about you? What type of person are you trying to connect with?
Tag Adam in your post (he’ll appreciate the “give,” and he might give you a like or a comment which would seriously boost attention on your post), and tag me because I’d love to know who your match is because maybe I can tag some people you would like to connect with.
If you only have five minutes each week to spend on LinkedIn, you can still give a lot, and get a lot. Here are some other quick ideas:
- Find an interesting post and leave a thoughtful comment.
- Add five skills to your profile.
- Introduce two of your connections to each other.
- Write a recommendation for someone.
- Ask for a recommendation from someone.
What else would you add?
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