LinkedIn Dos and Don’ts: 10 Influencers Share Their Best Advice

LinkedIn is by far the best B2B marketing tool on the Internet. If you want to collaborate, connect with, learn from, or advise anyone or anything dealing with business-to-business, LinkedIn is the place to go.

Over the years, LinkedIn has become sophisticated for veteran users and somewhat complicated for newbies. As such, I thought I would put together some tips from veterans to help new users get acclimated and take advantage of the site.

Here’s what they had to say:

Michael Yublosky

Michael Yublosky is an expert LinkedIn coach and founder of JEM Consulting. He recommends that LinkedIn users build connections gradually rather than in mass. His philosophy is that quality trumps quantity, both in building connections and with LinkedIn groups.

Three tips for new users:

1. Layout your plan and objectives.
2. Find your target audience (who do you want to start a conversation with).
3. Brand your profile so you appeal to your target audience’s needs.

Things to avoid:

1. An incomplete profile.
2. Using the default connection request.
3. Attempting to sell something.
4. Asking someone to recommend you when you have never worked together.
5. Asking someone to introduce you to a connection when you don’t know each other that well.

Jean L. Serio

Jean L. Serio is a nationally recognized LinkedIn Strategist and founder of the website Get Your Buzz On. She is also the author of the upcoming book Market Like a Pro: 50 Tips to Start Maximizing the Power of LinkedIn to Engage, Connect and Build Your Business Today.

Serio states that LinkedIn is well worth the effort you put into it, with more than 380 million members (7/15), industry leaders, influencers, human resource professionals, recruiters, business, and brands.

“I don’t believe there is any other place or group in which you can discover clients, venture capitalists, even dream jobs that meet your professional requirements and fit your expertise.”

Three tips for new users:

1. Provide a professional photo–those without photos cast a bad impression.
2. Join groups–start and engage in discussions to raise your visibility.
3. Updates and posts–share a tip or technique with connections on a regular basis.

Things to avoid:

1. Failing to thank connections for sharing, liking, and mentions.
2. Failing to participate in groups and updating your home page.
3. Failing to stay connected.

Karen Yankovich

Karen Yankovich is a social media and LinkedIn evangelist, and CEO of UpLevel Media. She has over 20 years of experience in IT, marketing, and customer relationships.

She states that LinkedIn is not only her number one go-to source for growing her business, but believes it can be that for almost everyone.

Three tips for new users:

1. Be sure you have a recent headshot–“No more cropping out pictures of your grandmother!”
2. Complete your summary–You have 2000 searchable characters; use them.
3. Be generous–Give lots of recommendations, and share and comment on people’s posts. Be active in groups as well.

Things to avoid:

At all costs, avoid being a spammer. Don’t be that person that’s always pitching themselves. When your profile is thorough and positions you as an expert, all that generosity will invoke curiosity; let your profile speak for itself. The business WILL come.

Loribeth Pierson

Loribeth Pierson is consultant, trainer, and co-founder of Linked Journal, a consulting firm where she offers expert advice on how to use LinkedIn to generate leads, sell services, and land jobs. She ranks in the top 1 percent of most viewed LinkedIn profiles and was among the initial group of influencers recruited to post on LinkedIn Pulse. She has taught people in more than 76 countries on how to best utilize LinkedIn.

Pierson recommends that everyone utilize LinkedIn. “One never knows if their position will be around six months from now. Creating a LinkedIn profile shows you are in business, even if you don’t need business now.”

She also recommends that people audit their profiles regularly to keep it current at all times.

Three tips for new users:

1. Post a professional picture of yourself–and only of you–and remember to smile. (No sunglasses!)
2. Turn off your “notify your network” button on your profile page before you start to edit.
3. Fill in all blanks, but remember LinkedIn is more than just a resume–it is your story, so tell it well.

Things to avoid:

1. Never spam people. Get to know them by sending a message of value.
2. Don’t use InMail to spam. Use your InMail only after crafting a really specific message for a person.
3. Always remember to personalize your invitation messages to connect; don’t use the canned response.

Ashir Nelson

Ashir Nelson is the founder and CEO of LinkedIn Vault, a marketing company that assists small businesses, job seekers, and financial advisors take advantage of opportunities on LinkedIn.

He is an advocate of friendship networking and building quality relationships through LinkedIn. His advice for newbies comes in the form of what is referred to as the “Inbound Trinity.”

Three tips for new users (the Inbound Trinity):

1. Identify–This includes identifying your target audience and choosing who you want in your network.
2. Attract–Attract your target audience by optimizing your profile, and having a good headshot, headline, and detailed experience.
3. Engage–Leverage groups to connect with your target audience.

Things to avoid:

1. Purchasing a premium account; take advantage of all the free features LinkedIn offers prior to spending any money on premium features.
2. Accumulating connections that you do not know, or have no synergies with.
3. Moving into the “attract” portion of the Inbound Trinity prior to completing the “identify” portion.

Cherry Kwan

Cherry Kwan is a social media guru and community manager at TechWyse. She has given advice on best practices in all social media forums, with a more recent focus on LinkedIn.

She believes that LinkedIn is one of the best places to promote yourself professionally and recommends building yourself as an authority if you want to share your ideas on the site. She also recommends taking advantage of LinkedIn Pulse as she has seen many people obtain a significant return from doing so.

Three tips for new users:

1. Optimize your profile to showcase all your skills and experience.
2. Choose an appropriate headshot to show the professional side of yourself.
3. Join LinkedIn groups to connect with other professionals.

Things to avoid:

1. Avoid adding everyone. Your LinkedIn profile should be your professional network and a place for you to connect with other professionals in the industry. Before requesting a connection, think about why you want to connect with them. Most importantly, why should they connect with you?
2. You don’t really need LinkedIn Premium. Some may say that it’s great for filtered searches, but if you’re just starting out on using LinkedIn, I would suggest staying with the basics. There are already lots of great features with the free account, so you don’t need advanced filters for it

Bill Corbett, Jr.

Bill Corbett, Jr. is a PR and branding professional and the President and CEO of Corbett Public Relations. Corbett uses his 25 years’ experience to teach people how to use LinkedIn to grow their personal brand. He believes that personal brands are critical for success and that LinkedIn is a great place to start.

Three tips for new users:

1. Consistency–Frequency equals trust. Post frequently with quality content that is connected to your brand message.
2. Video–Every LinkedIn profile needs to have a video. Without a video, your profile will not present the same message.
3. Publishing platform–Publish long form posts on the publishing platform. This will lead to greater engagement, profile views, and more connection requests.

Things to avoid:

1. Being stagnant–Your LinkedIn profile is a living thing. You need to post, modify your profile, update, and use it regularly. It will do nothing for you if you just write it, post it, and leave it alone.
2. Being salesy–Never use LinkedIn to hard sell. It is a relationship building social media site. Hard selling drives people away instead of attracting them.
3. Don’t even get involved with LinkedIn unless you have a plan–You need to have a plan for how you will connect, how often you will post, how much time you will spend each week/day, and how you will use LinkedIn to connect with and communicate with your ideal clients.

Susan Tabor-Kleiman, JD

Susan Tabor-Kleiman is the founder of Your Professional Writer. She frequently appears in the media and at conferences as an expert in persuasive communication and LinkedIn.

Three tips for new users:

1. Personalize your connection requests instead of using LinkedIn’s default. This ensures that people will know why you want to connect, which increases the chance of meaningful engagement.
2. Use your summary section. This is the heart of your profile, so use it strategically.
3. Customize your headline. After your photo, your headline is the next place people go when they look at your profile. Make it interesting and engaging.

Things to avoid:

1. Do not treat your profile like a resume. Use your profile to really speak to your audience. Write in first person and let people know about you and your business.
2. Completing your profile and forgetting about LinkedIn. Remember that fundamentally it’s a networking tool, so continue to build your network and presence.

Doug Devitre

Doug Devitre is a marketing consultant and author of Screen to Screen Selling, a book on how to increase sales, productivity, and customer experience. He has been teaching people how to use LinkedIn for more than 10 years and is also a member of the National Association of Realtors Business Specialties Hall of Fame.

Three tips for new users:

1. Keep your bio concise. Use bulleted lists and make sure your profile demonstrates quantifiable business results.
2. Ask for recommendations from your past clients whose position is the same as those whom you wish to target, asking them to be specific in sharing the results from working with you.
3. Add multimedia by linking to YouTube videos, SlideShare presentations, or a web pages with a portfolio of past client results.

Things to avoid:

1. Don’t ask new contacts to buy during your first few message exchanges.
2. Build a profile and assume business will automatically show up.
3. Comment without tagging. Anytime you leave a comment without tagging someone or another entity mentioned, they might not see your reference and you will miss the opportunity for their network to see your update.

Anthony Faustino

Anthony Faustino is the founder of Faustino Marketing Strategies and Social Media Reinvention. One of his specialties includes real-time marketing on social media, including on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.

Three tips for new users:

1. Fill out your entire profile. Make sure your profile is keyword rich to give prospective contacts a way to find you.
2. Engage connections’ posts. Interact with their posts by commenting and liking.
3. Publish your own posts through LinkedIn Pulse.

Things to avoid:

1. Don’t use generic template request language. Personalize your connection requests.
2. Don’t be generic with post comments. Say something more than “great post” to show everyone that you have an in-depth thought about the content.

The post LinkedIn Dos and Don’ts: 10 Influencers Share Their Best Advice appeared first on AllBusiness.com

The post LinkedIn Dos and Don’ts: 10 Influencers Share Their Best Advice appeared first on AllBusiness.com.