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Things about social media, “how to’s” and “must nots”
In my first blog post, I told you what a fan I was of LinkedIn. For professionals who depend on finding even the most minute connections and enterprising upon those connections--job seekers, PR professionals, fundraising guys and gals--LinkedIn is ideal.
However, I've found that the majority of users of LinkedIn are amateur users. So, if you've signed up for LinkedIn and are now wondering what to do next, I implore you to keep in mind these 5 tips:
In an earlier blog we spoke about the role and value of using LinkedIn. This week I would like to provide a worksheet that you can use to improve your own LinkedIn profile. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments about using the tool.
Improve your LinkedIn Profile Worksheet
Step 1: Create a powerful Professional Headline
You are allocated 120 characters for your professional headline.
Here is a simple tool to enable live messaging between two LinkedIn connections; provided they are both online on LinkedIn and using the tool. "LinkedIM" is a live chat app particularly built for LinkedIn users via LinkedIn API.
The tool comes as a website version here, and you can also add it as a Google Chrome Extension, here (if you are using a Chrome browser).
Susan Gunelius has created a great list of tenets for content marketing that are easy to understand and follow.
1. Be Accessible
Don’t publish content and then disappear. Abandoned content won’t deliver the results you want and need.
2. Be Human
Leave corporate rhetoric and hard sales pitches out of your content marketing efforts.
3. Be Social
Content marketing isn’t a one-way street.
I'd like to start with some numbers. Up to last March I was averaging 1 hit per day. So far this May, I'm averaging 100 hits per day. I started up jamesrovira.com using Wordpress.com in December of 2011. I wasn't too committed to it at the time: I just wanted a place that I could use when I wanted it. From Dec.
Recently I had to pair down a LinkedIn class which was 2 hours long to less than an hour. Now considering that the full class was jammed full of information that I wouldn't leave out, this was a task and a half. So I thought about what the most important things are from the perspective of someone who does not use it very often and would most likely need the crib notes.
10 Reasons Why You Need LinkedIn
In our office, we actively encourage all of our students to create a LinkedIn profile. It doesn't take long to create, it'll upload your resume for you, and it makes it so easy to network! Even if YOU don't know anyone in your field or at your dream company- one of your connections might! Kristin Johnson at Profession Direction, LLC came up with this great list of 10 Reasons Why You Need a LinkedIn Profile.
LinkedIn wants to be your new favorite app. With a tagline of "the world's largest professional network", LinkedIn is well on it's way to becoming your morning commute time killer, lunch break distraction, and after work entertainment. LinkedIn allows users to create an online resume, network with co-workers and other professionals in their field, as well as look for jobs and participate in discussion forums pertinent to user interests.
LinkedIn is a great network for professionals who are trying to find a new job or gig or grow their own professional network. The problem is that many people mistakenly use it as just another social network like Facebook or Twitter, which can turn them into a social pariah. Follow these rules from the folks at Iconic Mind so that you're able to harness the full potential of LinkedIn without ruining your professional reputation.
Hoffman's presentation is one of the most simplistic, direct, yet substantive presentations I've ever seen. This one focuses on what sort of skills college graduates should hone and what actions to take to be a step ahead in the advancement of their careers.
I particularly find his third point appealing: to take intellectual risks. Unlike most self-proclaimed career gurus out there, Hoffman emphasizes that taking risks is important as long as its negative repercussions (which emerge in a worse-case scenario) don't severely impact on one's main career path.
