LinkedIn and Networking go together like tea and cake.
When it comes to business, you can’t beat meeting and talking to your latest contact face to face. But now you can maintain that connection online. Over the years, our love affair with social media has infiltrated our lives more and more. It’s not only Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that demand our attention anymore, LinkedIn has also made networking on a national and global scale much easier and, in many ways, so much more effective.
If you’ve never heard of it, think of LinkedIn like Facebook. You have a profile, but instead of ‘friends’ you have ‘connections’. These can be people you’ve worked with previously, people you’ve done business with as well as friends and family. The difference is the focus is a little more on business, rather than pictures of cats. Although we feel this is changing.
Think back to a simpler age when you went to conferences, events or business expos. What did you do with all of those business cards that you picked up? Be honest. Did you pop them in a box, a drawer or your nearest ‘rolodex’ and forget about them? If you’re anything like us, you probably did. You can tell how far we’ve come when it comes to business networking that even the term ‘rolodex’ is out-dated. With the emergence of LinkedIn, you need to take that business card and connect with those same people on LinkedIn. Why? Well, why not?
Remember, you went to that networking meeting, exhibition or conference to make connections. You endured those seemingly endless PowerPoint presentations and monotonous car journeys just to build your network of contacts so you could improve the reach of your company and to instigate some new leads. LinkedIn can help you to stay in touch with those connections in a much more modern, efficient, immediate and friendly way.
3 changes you can make to your LinkedIn Profile.
If you already have a LinkedIn profile, then you’ll know how powerful it can be, but here are four quick changes you can make to optimise your profile and get the most out of networking, virtual-style.
- Profile picture – Your chance to make the right first impression is your profile image. It needs to look clean and professional. It should be a recent high-quality photo that people will recognise. This might be the time to invest in a professional head-shot.
- Headline – This is the area where you need to think carefully about what your target client would search for. What do you want to be found for?
- Connect-ability – How easy is it for people to connect with you on LinkedIn? In my background summary section, my first few lines say … “Want to contact me? Use email address kate@pieceofcakemarketing.co.uk”
Networking face-to-face still has its place, but utilising LinkedIn also gives you the option to combine the two types of networking together. They can be an incredibly powerful partnership. Let’s connect.
Does your LinkedIn profile need a make-over? Email kate@pieceofcakemarketing.co.uk for more information.
Have you got a creative block? Do you need someone to help with content creation for your social media? Our social media content creation prices start from £99 per platform. Complete social media management services are available on request.
If you are looking to plan your social media more effectively and you would like more ideas. Take a look at our downloads and templates package.