With virtual networking and meetings the new normal, now is the perfect time to get more visible on LinkedIn, strengthen your personal brand and credibility with a larger audience looking for your services.
Hundreds of your potential clients or referral partners are on LinkedIn but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to connect with them. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Get it right and you’ll build relationships that lead to new business, grow an audience, and blitz your competition.
Scroll down for our free video training with some tips and quick fixes for your profile.
This free video training will focus on getting the best possible version of you out there on LinkedIn through personal branding, storytelling, and networking. You'll come away with ideas on how to use LinkedIn to win new clients, reconnect with old clients, go after a new target market, etc.
I’m Tom Etherington, and I’m a Content Marketer and LinkedIn Personal Branding Expert.
My career began as an entertainment journalist, and I interviewed many celebrities for magazines, newspapers, and digital content. I’ve used those same skills to tell people’s stories on LinkedIn for the last seven years.
I’ve created LinkedIn profiles and industry expert content for dozens of professionals business owners to build their personal brand, strengthen their credibility and supercharge the size of their network.
✔ YOUR PROFILE IN THE FIRST-PERSON
Business is all about personal relationships, so make it from you. Writing ‘Tom is the owner of a Content Marketing agency…’ immediately distances me from my audience and makes everything less personal.
✔ TELL STORIES IN YOUR PROFILE
People remember stories, but switch off at a list of achievements. Showing a passion for a mission will engage people from the off, so describe what motivates and drives you (hint: it’s not about the money).
✔ READ YOUR PROFILE OUT LOUD
You'll get a real sense of how you come across and whether you have all the benefits (to your clients and referral partners) of your experience and skills covered off. Better still, read it to someone else and see how they react.
✕ WRITE IN THE THIRD-PERSON
Would you walk into a networking meeting and start talking about yourself in the third person? Probably not, so it’s not a great idea to do it on LinkedIn. The profile is about you delivered by you.
✕ WAFFLE ON YOUR PROFILE
People are time-poor, and don’t like to be hit by a wall of text. All they need is a snapshot of you at this stage to begin the process of know, like and trust. Fill everything in and make it as engaging as possible, but the real connection comes later.
✕ START SELLING
Your profile is the place to set up your shop front but not the place to start madly pitching and trying to strike deals. Your profile is the place where people come to learn about you as a person, your business and whethertheywanttoconnect, so keep the sales pitch out of it.
