- November 24, 2019
- Posted by: Con P. Sweeney
- Categories: LinkedIn, Social Media
When I’m reviewing LinkedIn profiles (And, trust me, I review a lot of them in my line of work!) I often notice how many are confused as to their purpose.
What are the owners of the profiles trying to tell us?
Are they even sure themselves?
Let’s discuss this!
To start, a LinkedIn profile should do one of three things:
- Help someone find a new position
- Position someone as a subject matter expert (SME) or influencer in their particular area of expertise
- Develop leads for a business
Each one of these purposes is unique and has its own audience as well as its own objectives.
Furthermore, what one does with LinkedIn to support each of these purposes is different.
For example, someone looking for a new position will focus on engaging with recruiters, hiring managers in their target companies, and will be looking to network into such to get close to potential hiring managers.
Someone looking to be known as an SME or an influencer will focus on content more and engaging with other SME’s and influencers.
What’s most important is that the profile owner understand what she or he is trying to do.
I see people who are in business for themselves talking all about their past experiences but nothing at all about what they offer to potential clients now.
And, there’s no Call to Action (CTA) either!
Then they wonder why nobody calls!
The starting point when planning to get onto LinkedIn or overhaul your profile is why are you there.
What are your goals and objectives?
Once you understand these, then you can decide how you’ll use LinkedIn:
- Who your audience will be
- How will you engage with them
- What types of content will you need
- The frequency of your activity
- What types of metrics will you need to measure your success (Yes, you will be successful!)
All this involves sitting down and taking a long, hard look at yourself.
LinkedIn is not simply a resume posting site.
(Although, many treat it that way.)
LinkedIn is an opportunity to tell your story to the people who are most likely to benefit from it.
Whatever your reason for being on LinkedIn, own it, do it well, and you’ll get the results you’re looking for.
Yes, I know it’s not easy but then nothing in life worth doing ever is!
That’s it for now!
Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.
Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!
In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!
I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.
And, remember!
I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me. Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.
I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.
My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.
Stay well!