5 Things You’re Not Doing on LinkedIn (And Should Be)

May 2012

As we enter the final weeks of 2011, it’s time to think about how to position yourself to leverage new business opportunities in the New Year.

Whether you’re B2C or B2B, the first few weeks of the year hold tremendous potential for your organization: with the holidays over and the kids back in school, people are ready to get down to business. And a lot of them will be turning to LinkedIn for the vendors and partners they need to get things moving.

So to make sure you’re well-positioned to be the first name that comes up when those opportunities arise, I suggest you spend some quality time with a few of the less-obvious capabilities of the social network that’s all business, all the time.

1. Completing your Skills profile

The Skills section of your Profile is a treasure trove of search keyword placement opportunities. Many, many people use LinkedIn as a virtual Rolodex, and when they go searching for what they need, the contents of your Skills field can help direct those searches straight to you.

2. Searching for your keywords in Answers

LinkedIn Answers continues to be one of the network’s best-kept secrets, and that’s good news for you. Once a week, do a search to find out who’s asking about topics related to your business, and when you find one, offer your expertise freely.

You’ll not only establish yourself as a subject matter expert to the asker and other responders; you’ll also build some trust and goodwill. (Just remember that this is a place to help others, not to market your business, so go easy on the promotional lingo.)

3. Posting updates on your Company page

While many people think of LinkedIn as static (post your profile and wait for something to happen), it’s actually a vibrant hub of conversation, and just recently, LinkedIn enabled status updates on Company Pages. So, just like you post updates on your company’s Facebook Page, you can also post on LinkedIn under your company name:

It requires a bit of a setup (less than 2 minutes), and the updates work just like regular LinkedIn updates. Great way to engage your LinkedIn audience!

4. Adding volunteer work to your Profile

When it comes to networking, sometimes the work you don’t get paid for is just as valuable as what you do for paying customers. LinkedIn acknowledged this fact a couple of months ago by adding a Volunteer field to personal profiles. Not only will you demonstrate your community-mindedness to anyone who sees your Profile, but you just might discover that you share common interests with a few of the VIPs on your prospecting list.

5. Paying attention to your Update emails

You know the emails I’m talking about, right? The ones announcing that Bob Smith updated his Experience, Susie Jones added new Skills, etc. Pay attention to these emails and you just might stumble upon a new opportunity.

True story: Once I received a LinkedIn Update that showed a freelancing friend of mine had moved into a full-time position. I dashed off a message (through LinkedIn) congratulating her on the new gig, and she quickly responded asking me if I’d be interested in adopting some of her freelance clients. Right place, right time—boom.

So, how are you using LinkedIn to position yourself for new opportunities in the New Year? Tell us about it in the comments—we’d love to hear from you!

Our Clients Are Saying

Added 5 figures to my business in less than 4 weeks

Rachel took the overwhelm and stress out of writing content for my marketing campaign! When I approached Rachel, I was really concerned that I wouldn’t have the time to focus on writing copy for a lengthy marketing campaign that included sales pages, solo emails, newsletters and social media updates. Well, let’s just say I’m glad I hired Rachel because I couldn’t have done it without her support and expertise. I loved how she used my voice and words to craft content that helped me reach and attract my ideal client. As a result of working with Rachel, I added 5 figures to my business in less than 4 weeks, hundreds of new social media followers and exceeded my sales and list building goals! You know your marketing copy is working when you hear someone say, “I see you everywhere”. Thank you Rachel for helping me not only get seen by my ideal clients but get paid!
One of the best “vendor” relationships I’ve ever had.

My company had little or no time to spend on social media. Our needs were to ensure a steady stream of posts across three platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) by harvesting and re-purposing content from our own site and news streams. So I contacted Rachel Parker of Resonance Content Marketing.

The result was two-fold. Not only did our ranks of followers grew steadily, the steady drip, drip, drip of content helped us train our personnel and direct their own individual social media efforts.

Rachel and her team are extremely organized and open to discussion and new ideas. They deliver a rapid response to new opportunities — and an overall feeling of being on the same team. One of the best “vendor” relationships I’ve ever had.
Increased our likes and interaction rates

Working with Rachel was a delight. Not only does she communicate very well, but she provided valuable insight about our social media platforms and followers. We have much better engagement with our fans and followers, which increased our likes and interaction rates.
Produced ROI Result

Form.io needed someone who could grasp the complexities of our product, capture the subtlety of our differentiating value propositions, and convey them in the right voice for an exacting customer audience…. Resonance delivered, by crafting a multi-faceted online content marketing strategy that drove traffic and conversion, producing the ROI result we were looking for….
Professionalism and Sincere Desire to Help

I just didn’t seem to be able to find the time or the right words to explain what I offer and how my company helps people accomplish their goals. Rachel was able to ask me some questions, do some research and capture my voice while writing my website copy exactly as I needed it to be written. Now, the copy on my website is much more professional than what I would have created and having this task handled by Rachel and Resonance freed up my time to complete other tasks I am better suited to do.

It was a joy to work with Rachel. Her professionalism and sincere desire to help was apparent from the first communication until the final delivery. I will definitely use Resonance again and highly recommend their services.
Increased website traffic, New Lead Generation

We were experiencing a lack of internal resources to consistently maintain the Ustream blog. So we turned to Resonance Content Marketing to write blog posts on current industry topics while maintaining a consistent tone with the brand. The result is increased website traffic, new lead generation from gated assets on blog, and better educated/qualified leads. And I now have more time to spend on marketing strategy with the confidence that the content we push out is extremely well written and engaging.

Rachel is an amazing writer and has really managed to create engaging and relevant blog material on topics that aren’t always super interesting. On many occasions, she has been able to quickly turn around one-off requests and the results are always top-notch. She has also helped guide our content strategy based on her expertise in content marketing, which has been a huge asset to our team.
Social Media Ranking Better Than Ever!

We are so happy to have hired Resonance for our social media needs. We spend most of our time serving our clients and studying our field so we can provide the highest quality possible. We no longer worry about our social media, as we have total confidence in the wonderful work Rachel and her team have accomplished.

Our social media is active, promoted, and is ranking better than ever! People often comment about what they see on our Facebook page. Resonance has added a creative, and artistic twist to our social media that is appealing and captivating to our audience. This has allowed me more time to work with my team and clients, so I can focus on service towards the people that help our business grow.

I know there will be wonderful content on Facebook, and that Rachel will answer to posts, comments and questions as soon as a comment arrives. I am often impressed at how quickly she responds! Thank you Resonance! I highly endorse Resonance and encourage companies who need social media strategies to work with Resonance! You won’t regret it!
Event Sold Out Two Years In A Row!

Rachel worked with me on creating a content marketing calendar and content for the Big Social Media Summit (Big SMS) three years in a row. She is very organized and knows just the right amount of posts on social, email newsletters and content to send. Her content marketing efforts helping us sell out our event three years in a row! I am expecting the same for October 2014.

Rachel was hired to write content for our email newsletter and content for our social platforms. In addition, she had a budget to do advertising on social media. She participated in the event live and after the fact to assure buzz was created before, during and after the event. As a result, our event sold out.

When I work with Rachel, I have total peace of mind. I know that she is on target, on time, reliable and delivers over and above the results I expect.

I trust Rachel totally with her ideas on strategy, marketing and the content used to not only promote our events, but also post on my behalf on social networks. I have been doing social media for 8 years, and I hire Resonance to post on some of my social sites as it saves me time, and keeps my social sites relevant and current. They always post great, engaging content that gets my social properties likes, comments and shares.