More so than any other social network, your number of connections on LinkedIn is a significant contributing factor to your profile being discoverable. LinkedIn operates through various “degrees” of connections, with 1st degree connections being users who are directly connected to your LinkedIn profile, and 2nd degree connections being users who share a mutual connection with you but aren’t connected to your profile themselves. These various degrees of connections can become especially useful when browsing through LinkedIn’s Job section, as users can sort through job listings with their own connections in mind. It is possible to list only jobs that were posted by your connections, either of the 1st or 2nd degree.
Career networking strategies are just one reason why your LinkedIn profile should be optimized to the fullest.Even if you are seeking to promote your current brand, as opposed to seeking new work, LinkedIn can be a valuable asset in enhancing both the visibility of you and your brand or company. Here are some tips that can contribute immensely to using LinkedIn for online marketing and SEO:
Make Sure Your Profile Is 100% Complete, While Remaining Concise And Inviting
Completing your profile should be your first priority. Make sure to elaborate your background. Education information should include the school you graduated from, in addition to the year and field of study. Your work experience should include bulleted points of tasks and skills applied, with the summary section neatly describing your skills. Do not write too much, as it will scare off some users and confuse search engines. Keep it simple and straightforward.
Creatively Emphasize Your Skills Through Detailed Keywords
A fully complete profile will bring at least a handful of organic views every week on its own. Going beyond this requires keyword tinkering. Completing your profile and making niche-appropriate connections is the best way to increase your profile’s visibility, but targeting search engines with unique keywords is another recommended maneuver. Change bland position titles like "Regional Manager" to something like "Regional Manager of Marketing Optimization", in order to separate yourself from others on search engine rankings. This is similar to web site topics; you are much more likely to draw search engine hits if your site’s keywords are geared toward something like “private alcohol rehab center”, as opposed to just “rehab center.”
Recommend Others, And They May Do The Same
Sites like Stormphorst assert the importance of recommendations on LinkedIn. Over 10 recommendations can allegedly elevate your profile. Reach out to previous clients, co-workers, and friends, and recommend them. Don’t ask for a recommendation in return. LinkedIn’s system automatically notifies them of the recommendation, and provides the option to recommend you back. In most cases, if you worked well previously together, they will.
The Little Things Matter
In addition to completing your profile, emphasizing detailed keywords (without over stuffing them), and recommending others, there are aspects of your profile that may seem minor, but will contribute effectively in the long run.These include:
- Setting your profile on Display All Information
- Participating in group discussions
- Linking to your LinkedIn profile on your web site and social media
- Interacting sincerely with your connections, without being self-promotional
- Setting a customizable profile URL, hopefully with a topical keyword included
All these tips will improve your LinkedIn visibility in no time.
