Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business by EntMedia

ULTIMATE GUIDETO FOR BUSINESS

Third Edition

 Access more than 500 million business professionals in 10 minutes

 Leverage the latest tools to create a steady flow of business

 Supercharge your personal and business profiles

Foreword by Melonie Dodaro  Founder & CEO Top Dog Social Media

TED PRODROMOU

Linked in Access FREE How-To Course ($297 value) and Support Website for Content Updates

Acknowledgments xi Foreword by Melonie Dodaro xiii Introduction xv LinkedIn’s Evolution xvi My Personal LinkedIn Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii What You’ll Find in This Book xx chapter 1 Why LinkedIn? 1 The Demographic Gold Mine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Business Professional Search Engine 2 High-Value Professional Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Conclusion 5 chapter 2 Getting Started on LinkedIn 7 Why Choose LinkedIn? 8 Determine Your LinkedIn Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 What About Other Networking Websites? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Conclusion 13 Contents Linked in v

vi n CONTENTS ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS chapter 3 Creating Your LinkedIn Account 15 Contact Information 21 Adding Your Social Media Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Conclusion 25 chapter 4 Supercharging Your LinkedIn Profile 27 Profile Headline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Profile Picture 33 Status Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Education 38 Volunteer Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Skills and Endorsements 40 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Accomplishments 43 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 chapter 5 LinkedIn Privacy Settings 49 Public Profile 50 Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Privacy 54 Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Communications 57 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 chapter 6 A Tour of Your LinkedIn Homepage 61 LinkedIn Mobile App Homepage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 chapter 7 LinkedIn for Companies 67 Components of a Company Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Company Status Updates 71 Creating Your Company Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Conclusion 73 chapter 8 LinkedIn Search 75 Why Use Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

CONTENTS n vii ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS Keywords Are Still King 76 LinkedIn Advanced Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Using LinkedIn’s Advanced Search for Sales 82 Advanced Job Search 90 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 chapter 9 Getting Found on LinkedIn 93 Keyword Selection 94 Competitive Analysis 95 LinkedIn Ranking Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 LinkedIn Hashtag Communities 98 LinkedIn Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 LinkedIn ProFinder 102 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 chapter 10 Giving and Receiving LinkedIn Recommendations 105 How Can Social Proof Get You Hired in Today’s Economy? 107 What Are LinkedIn Recommendations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Why Do I Need LinkedIn Recommendations? 109 How Many LinkedIn Recommendations Should I Have?. . . . . . . . . . . 110 What Makes a LinkedIn Recommendation Great? 110 What to Say in Your Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Whom Should I Recommend? 113 How to Ask for Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 LinkedIn Endorsements 118 Conclusion 120 chapter 11 Connecting with Others 121 Strategic Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Open Networking 123 Are Your LinkedIn Connections Real People? 124 Connection Invitation Etiquette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Removing a Connection 127 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 chapter 12 Using LinkedIn InMail to Reach Out 129 InMail vs. Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 What Is InMail? 130 Tips for Writing InMails to Increase Your Response Rates . . . . . . . . . . 134

viii n CONTENTS ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS Conclusion 136 chapter 13 LinkedIn Groups 139 LinkedIn Groups Aren’t What They Used to Be 140 Finding Quality Groups 140 What Is the Best Way to Use Groups? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Communicating with Group Members 147 How to Start a Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Managing the Group 151 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 chapter 14 Managing Your LinkedIn Connections 155 Using Notifications to Engage Your Network 156 Syncing LinkedIn with Google Calendar and Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Conclusion 160 chapter 15 The Definitive Publishing Platform 161 Controlling Your Content 162 Status Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Articles 165 Who’s Viewed Your Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 Native Video 168 Broadcasting Live Video 169 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 chapter 16 LinkedIn Mobile 173 LinkedIn Mobile App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 LinkedIn Job Search 176 LinkedIn SlideShare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 LinkedIn Learning 180 Premium Apps 180 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 chapter 17 Recruiting New Employees 185 Harness the Power of Your Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Tips to Help Your Recruiting Effort 189 LinkedIn Recruiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

CONTENTS n ix ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS Finding a Job 192 LinkedIn Career Pages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Work With Us Ads 195 Conclusion 196 chapter 18 LinkedIn for Sales and Marketing Professionals 197 Building Your LinkedIn Sales Network 198 Should You Go Anonymous? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Leveraging Your Company Page 203 Leveraging a Company Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Prospecting on LinkedIn 204 LinkedIn Company Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Conclusion 211 chapter 19 Sales Navigator 213 Engaging Your Leads and Connections 215 Discover New Leads and Accounts Automatically 217 Team Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Social Selling Index 217 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 chapter 20 LinkedIn Advertising 219 Content Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Advertising Options 220 Text Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Dynamic Ads 221 Feed Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Message Ads 226 Display Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 LinkedIn Elevate 227 Data Tools 228 Website Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Conclusion 234 chapter 21 Creating LinkedIn Ads That Convert Like Crazy 235 Selling Through Ads on LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Creating Laser-Focused Campaigns 237 Writing Effective Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

x n CONTENTS ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LINKEDIN FOR BUSINESS LinkedIn Text Ads 239 Creating Attention-Grabbing Headlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Factors That Generate Clicks 240 Brainstorming Headlines 242 The Old Magazine Rack Trick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Create a Swipe File 245 Writing Your Ad Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 The Power of Images 246 Follow Advertising Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247 A/B Split Testing 248 Targeting Your Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Bidding 249 How to Measure Success and Improve Your Performance 249 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 chapter 22 LinkedIn Success Stories 253 Growing Your Coaching Practice: Gary Barnes, The Breakthrough Business Mastery Coach 253 Selling the Dream on LinkedIn: Paige Collin, Franchise Owner . . . . . . 255 Paving the Way to a Successful Military Transition: Cedric Crumbley, Author and Marketing Consultant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking: Doreen Hamilton, Public Speaking Coach 258 LinkedIn Native Video Success: Deborah Herman, Book Publishing Professional 260 Helping Women Sales Professionals Sell More Comfortably and Confidently: Natalie Klun, Sales Expert 262 The Accidental Entrepreneur: Linda Lovero-Waterhouse, Social Media and Online Marketing Coach 263 Cyber Security: Craig Petronella, The Petronella Technology Group . . . . 265 Financial Fitness for America: Keith Youngren, CPA and Financial Money Coach 266 chapter 23 Commencement 269 Glossary 273 Index 277

Why LinkedIn?

The better question is, “Why not LinkedIn?” With hundreds of millions of business professionals from nearly every company in the world just one click away, why wouldn’t you spend more time on LinkedIn if you were trying to grow a business?

You know when you’re thinking about buying a new car and suddenly you see that model everywhere? You never noticed many on the road, but now that you’re considering buying one, it seems like everyone is driving it. It’s called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, and it’s a well-known psychological effect.

I have the same problem when I see online ads and keywords. Sometimes I feel like Don Draper from the TV show Mad Men, analyzing every ad and keyword I see. Since I’m an SEO and online marketing expert by trade, I see the internet from the perspective of online ads, keywords, and search rankings. I’m always trying to figure out how a company gets top rankings or maximum exposure from their marketing campaigns.

I look for the same patterns on LinkedIn. Which companies appear consistently in LinkedIn? Which people get the most exposure? Which keywords get the most traction?

Chapter 1

Linked in 1

THE DEMOGRAPHIC GOLD MINE

With approximately 575 million members (at the time of this writing) and growing, LinkedIn is considered the most trusted social media platform among Washington Insiders by the National Journal. Unfortunately, most LinkedIn members don’t see the site as a powerful business tool but as a place to post their online resume. They expect others to hunt them down without providing any value to the site in exchange.

According to LinkedIn, only 23 percent of their members are considered active users, logging in more than once a month. The remaining 77 percent are considered static users, and LinkedIn is trying hard to engage them.

Today, LinkedIn has become the largest business-oriented search engine. With its advanced search features, you can find great employees to hire, find the perfect company to work for, find highly targeted leads to sell to, and network with the thought leaders of your industry—not to mention establish yourself as a thought leader, too.

You can mine deeply into the LinkedIn database and find a treasure trove of information that will change the way you do business. You’ll know so much about a prospect, their company, their competitors, their industry, and their products before you ever meet the person. LinkedIn is making it easier than ever to find targeted prospects for your business.

BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL SEARCH ENGINE

Not many people consider LinkedIn a search engine, but I invite you to consider the possibility. You know the power of appearing at the top of Google search results. You get free, high-quality, targeted traffic to your website, which generates more business for your company.

What if your profile or company appeared when someone did a people search on LinkedIn? What if your personal LinkedIn profile or company profile appeared when a prospect searched Google for keywords related to your product or service? What would that do for your career or company? What would your bottom line look like if you could identify highly targeted prospects just by searching on LinkedIn and Google?

If you still don’t believe LinkedIn is a powerful search engine, then why do LinkedIn search results so often appear on Google? If Google understands the power of LinkedIn, you should, too.

Throughout this book, I’ll be sharing my view of LinkedIn from the keyword and search engine ranking perspective. I’ll also share tips to help you get maximum exposure for your personal profile and your company using your professional network.

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HIGH-VALUE PROFESSIONAL NETWORK

So what can that professional network look like on LinkedIn? As you can see in Figure 1–1 below, according to online statistics portal Statista, 54 percent of household members in the United States who use LinkedIn are high-income and medium-income earners. There are approximately 150 million users in the United States or 26 percent of LinkedIn’s total membership according to Statista.

LinkedIn’s sweet spot by age is in the 25 to 44 age group, according to a 2018 study by Statista of internet users in the United States who use LinkedIn. Figure 1–2 on page 4 breaks down internet users in the United States who use LinkedIn by their age.

LinkedIn members are also well-educated. In a November 2016 Pew Research survey, 50 percent of internet users in the United States who have a college degree or advanced college degree use LinkedIn. See Figure 1–3 on page 4 to see the education level of LinkedIn users from the United States. These numbers are very similar to the education levels of European LinkedIn users.

If you are a consultant, executive coach, or professional service provider, you have an unlimited source of potential clients on LinkedIn who earn enough to hire you or have a corporate budget to hire you for their projects. This sure beats the old days of picking up the telephone book and cold calling people all day long.

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figure 1–1. Income Level of LinkedIn Members in United States Source: Surveys by Statista

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figure 1–2 U.S. Internet Users Who Use LinkedIn by Age Group figure 1–3. Education Level of U.S. Internet Users by Education Level

CONCLUSION

You now know that LinkedIn consists of well-educated, high-income members in the United States.

You can see the benefits of joining and participating in the networking Groups and demonstrating your expertise by helping others. In the next chapter, I’ll show you how to get started on LinkedIn so you can begin growing your professional network and becoming a recognized thought leader in your industry.

For additional updates and how-to videos, visit https://tedprodromou.com/UltimateGuideUpdates/.

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