Company and Personal Branding Tip for LinkedIn: the use of Summary

In the book “How to REALLY use LinkedIn” I already explained the difference between Summary and Specialties.

In Specialties you use jargon, abbreviations, and “tech talk”. Use Summary to explain what you do in words that everybody can understand, whatever their background.

This is my advice for building your Summary from a company and personal branding perspective:

1. One paragraph about the organization that is the same for all coworkers. This elevates company branding.
2. One or two paragraphs about the professional expertise of the individual. This helps personal branding.
3. One paragraph describing some personal interests. Let the visitors to your Profile see more than just your resume. People do business with other human beings, not resumes!

To your success !

Jan

This is an excerpt from the Updates to the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Click on the links to get these updates for free!

Why Many People Are Frustrated When Going to Events (and What to Do About It)

Most of us go to receptions, mixers, seminars, conferences and other networking events on a regular basis. Many people get frustrated because they spend a lot of time and don’t see any results.

The first and most important tip to change this, is to ask yourself the question: Why are you going to this particular event? What are you hoping to learn there? Who are you hoping to meet?

Then think about your objectives. What are your goals for your professional life? Where do you want to go? What do you want to achieve?

Then look at it and ask yourself: Are the events I’m attending the best places to achieve my goals?

If you think about it, you will often come to the conclusion that you regularly go to events which are irrelevant to your goals and that you’re missing events where you could meet people who can help you achieve your goals.

Let me explain this a little bit more in detail to avoid confusion. People often observe that by asking these kind of questions, networking becomes very focused leaving no room for spontaneity. The paradox is that by thinking more about your objectives and handling them in a more focused way, there will be more room for spontaneity.

People often tell me that a specific networking event wasn’t worthwhile for them because they didn’t meet anyone interesting. And with each so-called uninteresting person his or her frustration grew.  But others feel this on a conscious or subconscious level, which isn’t beneficial.

But if you know in advance the names of the three people you want to talk to or the profile of the people you’d like to meet, you will be better focused and more interesting to others. You will have something to talk about and you will give other people the opportunity to help you. People enjoy helping one another, especially if it doesn’t cost them any money and only a little time!

Of course it all starts with the networking attitude: look for ways  how you can help others first. Add to this the strategy described above and your participation in events WILL pay off!

To your success !

Jan

PS: this is one of the tips from the CD “Let’s Connect at an Event, 30 immediately applicable networking tips to make every event a success” (in Dutch: “Let’s Connect op een evenement, 30 direct toepasbare netwerk tips om van elk evenement een succes te maken “). Click on the links for a free light version of this CD (scroll down at that page).

Company Branding Tip for LinkedIn: The Use of Websites in LinkedIn Profile

To achieve better branding and visibility results on LinkedIn from a company’s point of view, this is a tip using the “Websites” part in the LinkedIn Profile of all employees of the same company or organization.

As I already wrote in “How to REALLY use LinkedIn“: don’t use “My company” or “My website”, but “Other” together with words that appeal to the people you want to attract with the particular website.

I advise using the websites on the Profile of the employees of an organization in the following way:

1. Website 1: link to the home page of the website of the organization (for example: www.company-abc.com) using the same key words for all coworkers. Remember to use the “other” function to add these key words.
   Multiple links to a specific page will cause it to appear higher in Google (or another search engine) when people search with these key words.
2. Website 2: link to a specific page on the website of the organization that relates to the job of the individual. For example: www.company-abc.com/products/copiers.html for an account executive for copiers. Also use the key words for finding copiers. This will help the website to reach a higher rank in search engines, and it will make a connection with the expertise or job of the individual.
3. Website 3: “free” link. This can be used to link to a blog, a personal website, or another web page of the organization.

To your success !

Jan

This is an excerpt from the Updates to the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken). Click on the links to get these updates for free!

How to Find the Right Customers, Employers, Suppliers and Partners using Company Size on LinkedIn

Many LinkedIn users wonder how to find potential customers, employers, suppliers and partners using company size.

Since this is not a field in the “Advanced Search” screen it seems like you can’t do this.

Good news! There is a work around.

This is how you find the companies and the people who can get you in touch with the people in that company:

1) In the top menu, choose “More …” and the “Companies”

2) On the left hand side, under the drop down box “Location” click “Show more”

3) Choose the company size you are interested in (and use other parameters like Location and Industry as well to have laser focused results)

4) On the right hand side you see all the companies that have a Company Profile on LinkedIn (remark: look at the left hand side to the related industries LinkedIn suggest to broaden your search)

5) Click on a company.

6) You see the Company Profile with interesting information like an overview of your first degree connections, your second degree connections (and via whom you can reach them), divisions, demographics,…

This shows (again) what a treasure chest of useful information LinkedIn is!

Have a great networking day!

Jan

PS: get your free light version and free updates of the book How to REALLY use LinkedIn (or in Dutch: het boek Hoe LinkedIn nu ECHT gebruiken)