PSMP Jan Blog 2

Raising your profile

LinkedIn sits very much in its own marketing space.

If Twitter works very much like a town crier for your brand, Facebook the friendly, engaging face, and Instagram your brand being at its best, then where does LinkedIn fit?

The answer of course is that LinkedIn is less about your organisation as a whole and more about you, the person who makes your brand and organisation tick.

It’s a professional social media space designed to connect a global workforce – and the trick to making the most of it to make the most of yourself on it (with a positive knock-on effect for your organisation).

It allows you to connect, communicate and collaborate with a wider network around the world and learn from their ways of working.

It also allows you to publish your own thoughts or articles which will raise your (and your organisation’s) profile. To keep on top of social media scheduling, download my handy guide to social media planning here.

Your profile is the very best of the professional you, so ensure you fully optimise it on LinkedIn | @JSTweetsDigitalClick To Tweet

Making the best of impressions

It all starts with your LinkedIn profile.

Once you’ve downloaded the app and created your account, you’ll want to make to make your profile as powerful as possible.

To do this, take the following tips into consideration:

* Understand your audience – This is where you should most focus on brand ‘you.’ It’s your chance to make your first impression on future employers, partners and peers. Think about what it is about you that you want them to know – your achievements, your employment record, your ambitions.

* Professional photo – Of all your profile photos online this is the one you should invest in. Like an interview, first impressions count, so you should always look at your best. Getting a professional head shot is advisable here.

* Attention grabbing headlines – Work on getting across the most valuable things about you in your headline and then play around with it until you’ve made it catchy. Keep your audience in mind.

* Demonstrate your expertise – Be sure to talk about all aspects of what you can do.

* Keep it evidence based – Tell stories about your experience using the best possible examples.

* Third-party affirmation – Alongside having a strong headline and photo inviting social proof for your profile is gold. Get as many endorsements as you can from existing or past colleagues, clients, suppliers, anyone you have a good relationship with.

* Customised URL – As LinkedIn appears high in search results creating a vanity URL for yourself will make it easier to find you and get top of any search rankings.

Get as many recommendations as possible from your peers and invest in getting a professional headshot. This and more will make the most of your LinkedIn profile | @JSTweetsDigitalClick To Tweet

How to make LinkedIn work for you

Publishing rules of thumb

Once your profile has been set up you should think about publishing some articles to the community.

This is a great way of promoting your profile and sharing your knowledge among your peers.

It will also get your agency some exposure – for instance if you worked for Dublin Airport you could reference a case study of how you used Facebook to engage with both local and global audiences successfully.

Any blog post or article will become a part of your profile and will appear in the newsfeed of your connected friend or followers, who in turn can share and help you find new connections and followers.

Your articles may be searchable both on and off LinkedIn depending on your settings. If you change your privacy setting to ‘Everyone’ it will be shared publicly and give you opportunity to share more.

Employ some hashtags

When using the publishing tool, you can add hashtags to leverage your articles towards those who’ll find it relevant. You can also use tools like Hashtagify.me, Ritetag and Trendsmap to focus in and select trending hashtags for your topic.

Share your knowledge and raise your profile by publishing some snappy articles about your work or business interests on LinkedIn.Click To Tweet

So, what should I write about?

If you’re a little stuck about where or how to start, then you should try to keep it simple for yourself.

Pick a niche topic you know well and then think about different approaches.

‘How to’ posts or listicles are always a good idea. They will educate people while giving them digestible snippets of information.

While including some impactful visuals and videos will work too, by helping to get your article noticed.

Then when you’re happy with what you’ve written, be sure to share them across all your social media platforms (not just LinkedIn) and create some hyperlinks to your website, or your Government department one.

When writing for LinkedIn, find a niche topic you know well and keep it short and simple. Why not try a ‘How to’ article or listicle and then employ some relevant or trending hashtags? | @JSTweetsDigitalClick To Tweet

Best in class examples of public sector profiles

LinkedIn provide the best 25 examples of profiles on their page. This comprises of people working in the public or who provide services for the public sector.

Take a look through and see if you can find some employees to base your new and improved profile on.

Want to know more?

All the above helps you build up your professional reputation and manage it online.

Aim to update your profile every quarter and your head shot every year. Be sure to regularly post and share articles. Also remember to seek lots of recommendations from your network too.

As always, if you’d like to make LinkedIn work better for you, we’d be only too happy to help.

Contact us today.

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