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Did I tell you the one about…?
The day I lost my wife’s wedding ring? Aarghh!
Stories are SO powerful, in life, and on LinkedIn…
Have you ever noticed what it is about people who can keep other people’s attention the most? It is their ability to tell stories – to be a raconteur.
This skill translates to LinkedIn too.
Putting things into context, inside a genuine story or experience, is the most powerful way of getting a message across.
People don’t retain facts or figures, but they do remember a story. This is why when you’re wondering what to post on LinkedIn or how to post on LinkedIn, start with telling a story, either through text or video, it can be so powerful.
If this idea is something you’ve never tried before, why not give it a go?
I really did lose my wife’s wedding ring, but the story is too long to tell here. I might turn it into its own longer video one day!
What’s YOUR Story?
How ‘personal’ should I be on LinkedIn? Is LinkedIn like Facebook?
“LinkedIn is becoming like Facebook” – is a comment I hear quite often.
So, what’s the answer?
I figure for the most part LinkedIn is about business-to-business relationships. But who said that business, at the same time, isn’t about personal relationships?
My key reason for posting content and engaging with others is to build TRUST in my personal brand. To do this I have to provide value, but I also want people to have an understanding of what drives me, what I am passionate about.
Therefore, it simply HAS to be personal.
However, I don’t think LinkedIn is a platform to share what I ate for breakfast, nor to share my holiday photos. I want to respect my Connections’ time and only add something useful in exchange for their time.
So, I only use personality to add value, not to waste their time.
It is a delicate balance, I agree. But getting it right is really important to create trust in your brand and from there go on to build a relationship that will influence your future.
Are YOU making the BEST 1st impression you possibly can?
LinkedIn 101 – Your Profile Image…
Forget algorithms, forget engagement. If your LinkedIn Profile Picture doesn’t cause the right reaction, a visitor to your Profile might go no further.
What a shame!
I have to say I’m seeing a greater percentage of good Profile images, but there are still many howlers out there!
This is YOUR personal brand folks! It’s what people will see of you before emailing you, before meeting for a coffee. It’s what we do – we check out a person’s profile.
The first thing we do is eyeball the Profile Picture, right?
So, let’s go right back to basics and make sure we are ticking that box!
Let’s make that first impression the best it can be!
In this video, I help you avoid LinkedIn Profile Picture fails and share how to make a good LinkedIn Profile Picture.
For some more helpful LinkedIn advice visit my post on How to Win Business on LinkedIn – Part 1.
Do have the correct Linkedin Skills displayed on your LinkedIn Profile?
Perhaps ‘Microsoft’ & ‘Project Manager’ & ‘Magician’ don’t do you justice?!
It’s a part of your LinkedIn Profile you might not have considered recently. But what features as the top 3 skills really should be those you’d like to be recognised for. Only YOU will know the best Skills to put on LinkedIn to represent YOUR experience.
If you haven’t edited this field, LinkedIn will display the top three skills you have as determined by the number of times you have been endorsed for them. And that can be very random (and scary) indeed!
Take a quick look with me to see how to edit Skills in LinkedIn and what you might to do to improve things. It might just be the recognition you need to open up that next conversation. It could even increase your visibility in search results…
Check out my handy checklist for more LinkedIn advice on how to spruce up your LinkedIn Profile and activity.
Have you ever wondered: “Can I have two LinkedIn accounts” or “Should I merge two LinkedIn accounts?”
Have you even checked it out?!
The most I have ever found is four, belonging to one person!
Try searching for yourself on LinkedIn and see who comes up in YOUR name.
The increasing number of people with a portfolio career, one job but an interest in another area, or two different jobs at the same time, leads may people to ask me if they CAN have two accounts, representing different parts of their life?
If you’ve been wondering the same thing you might want to check out my advice in the video above.
If you would like to find out more about how LinkedIn works, head over to my blog post.
Are you making yourself difficult to get hold of on LinkedIn?! So many people are, but it’s easy to correct with the right LinkedIn advice!
Once we have accepted a LinkedIn Connection request, the contact details for each other are available on LinkedIn. But when was the last time you checked your LinkedIn contact details over?
When we engage on LinkedIn, most of us would value a prospect getting in touch, wouldn’t we?
I can tell you that so often when I go to check out a person’s contact details, they are missing something, or worse, they are quite simply wrong!
It seems pretty basic stuff to have the correct contact details visible on LinkedIn, but it’s such a common error to find that there is an incorrect email address, no telephone number, or no links to useful websites.
nigelxxx@h0tmail.com does not cut it on LinkedIn! Make sure you display a business email address if that’s where you’d like to send people visiting your profile.
And here’s an advanced tip – how about adding your contact details to your ‘About’ section as well? That way anybody on LinkedIn who finds you can get in touch without being connected!
Should you DELETE some of your LinkedIn Connections?
My LinkedIn network is EXTREMELY important and valuable to me.
In fact, I often quote: “I am the product of the people I surround myself with, and that makes me very special”
I have been careful to consider every Connection request very carefully before adding them to my network. (I frequently don’t accept Connection requests).
I ask myself this question to determine the answer: “Can I add value to your life, or can you add value to my life?”
If the answer is ‘Yes’, then you are a welcome new friend.
I don’t need connections, but I love new relationships. A BIG difference.
So, what if you have not been as careful? Have you tended to accept all incoming requests to connect? Is your LinkedIn homepage feed full of meaningless drivel? Are you not getting more of the ‘right’ requests to connect?
Then deleting some connections might be the answer.
But beware, there is a right and a wrong way! Watch my video for some valuable LinkedIn advice.
Have you ever wondered if you can sell on LinkedIn or how to sell through LinkedIn?
It is a business platform for professionals after all, isn’t it? So, how do you secure those sales?
Here’s my little secret to success…
To find out more about how LinkedIn works, click here.
What is the difference between Connections and Followers on LinkedIn?
Why do some people have ‘Follow’ as their default option on their LinkedIn Profile whilst most people have ‘Connect’?
What’s the difference between Connect and Follow on LinkedIn?
Confusing, isn’t it?
I answer some of these common questions in this short video.
Oh, and if you want to find your stats, you might find these links helpful:
https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/invite-connect/connections/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/followers/
To find out more about how I choose whether to Follow someone or Connect with them, check out this blog post.
Are you telling stories on LinkedIn?
How many times have you heard the start of a conversation with “Let me tell you something that happened to me…”?
It is immediately interesting, isn’t it?
I find that one of the most powerful ways of engaging people with your content is to ‘storify’ it.
We don’t recall facts and figures, but we DO recall stories. It’s in our make-up. We love people that can tell a good story!
So, when you are pulling together your content sharing strategy for LinkedIn, try making it personal. What did it mean to you? How did it make you feel? Add the context, so I have a richer understanding of the point you are trying to make.
It’s good for the algorithms too. Search engines LOVE stories. So you get twice the bang for your buck when content becomes a story.
Why not give it a try and see if telling stories on your LinkedIn Profile, and in the content you publish on the platform, works for you?
Many people visit your LinkedIn Profile before contacting you.
What first impression do you make?
Are you proud of your Profile?
If not this recording of a free Tips to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile webinar I did might be just for you.
During the lockdown period of the COVID19 situation, I ran weekly free webinars on how to improve your LinkedIn Profile to ensure people could keep learning how to maximise their LinkedIn presence.
For examples of other topics I can over in webinars for you and your business click here.
What is YOUR LinkedIn location set to? Is it where you live, or where you do business?
A common error occurs on LinkedIn – you are NOT representing where you wish to attract attention.
Have a listen to this video where I’ll let you know if YOUR location is working for you.
For reasons as to why you should never leave elements of your LinkedIn Profile blank click here and for a comprehensive checklist to make sure your LinkedIn Profile is top notch, visit this blog post.
Who should I connect with on LinkedIn?
Do you ask yourself this question? Many people ask me this when seeing LinkedIn advice!
…the list goes on…
I was asked this question again recently, so here is my take on what makes a good LinkedIn ‘Connection Strategy’.
To find out more about why you should vet all your LinkedIn Connection requests head over to my blog post.
Alternatively, to discover why personalising Connection requests YOU send out is vital, click here.
To learn how to export your existing LinkedIn Connections click here or for a list of reasons why I don’t accept certain Connection requests click here.
I teamed up with LinkedIn legend Deborah Corn to deliver this lively and insightful webinar to empower the audience to grow their network on LinkedIn with high-quality connections and strengthen existing relationships on the platform.
As a founder of the LinkedIn Group Print Production Professionals, which boasts 99,878 Members, Deborah has 29,810 Connections and 27,566 Followers to her name. Meanwhile, I have 4,700 Connections and 5,100 Followers. So, you can see that Deborah and I approach LinkedIn in different ways, which made for a fascinating debate.
If you’re a seasoned LinkedIn user and want to take your understanding of LinkedIn to the next level, this could be well worth your time!
What type of Posts get ENGAGEMENT on LinkedIn?
When I’m giving LinkedIn advice, you’ll hear me say there are only two things to do to be successful on LinkedIn:
It’s as simple as that!
But what does engagement mean?
What can we do to improve the engagement on our posts?
This is not a topic I can cover in a short 1-minute video; it is a much more complex topic.
So, grab a coffee and use this 10-minute experience to help guide YOUR strategy around posting.
It might just be the most important 10 minutes you could spend to maximise YOUR effectiveness on LinkedIn!
When people seek LinkedIn advice from me about how to use LinkedIn they often ask me how often they should be active on LinkedIn.
My answer is easy – a little and often.
To be honest, success won’t come from going on LinkedIn when you have a spare hour on a Friday afternoon. Success comes from being engaged a little and as often as you can.
Posting your own content is important, but I figure spending at least as much, if not considerably more time on OTHER people’s content will bring greater rewards.
So how do you make LinkedIn a habit?
Here’s what worked for me..try it and see for yourself.
Do you ever take a sneaky peek at your competition on LinkedIn?
Do you have a strategy around Connecting (or not Connecting) with your competitors?
It’s a question I often get asked and I have a very clear and decisive strategy for it and you might be surprised.
But you might find a KEY tip about your privacy settings even more revealing…
On LinkedIn, we have Likes, Comments, and Shares available to us. But what works best?
Do you spend a lot of time finding articles to share on LinkedIn?
Here’s why I think hitting the share button on LinkedIn ISN’T a good option. And yes, this may surprise you!
In this LinkedIn advice video I reveal why it’s often not worth upgrading to LinkedIn Premium but, on the other hand, also share the one feature of the LinkedIn Premium upgrade that I think is particularly valuable.
Most of the content you consume on LinkedIn will be Posts. So, what is the case for publishing LinkedIn Articles?
Here I describe the case for publishing BOTH types of content but I explain the key differences between a LinkedIn post and a LinkedIn article plus what you should expect.
In short:
So, which form you choose to create on LinkedIn will depend on your goals.
I’d love to know if you have a similar experience or even a different one. Let me know on Twitter and/or LinkedIn!
People, individuals like you and me, engage with each other on LinkedIn. We don’t engage with Companies.
It saddens me to see so many companies relying on continually posting from their Company page with very little benefit. With just a small change in their strategy, that same content could have an infinitely greater exposure and impact.
I share why LinkedIn company pages just DON’T work and how to get around this for a better LinkedIn strategy…specifically by building the LinkedIn Profiles of your employees (and yourself!) to become ambassadors for your brand.
For more reasons why I’m not a fan of LinkedIn Company Pages when it comes to an effective LinkedIn strategy click here.
LinkedIn success requires commitment folks! It’s that consistency and being there for a little bit of time every day that really unlocks the success.
Keep in the relevant conversations that are happening so you don’t miss anything!
If you have a LinkedIn strategy in place and do it right, every minute you spend on LinkedIn can generate new opportunities, and who wouldn’t want some of that?!
For more tips on topics like why you need a LinkedIn marketing strategy and how to use LinkedIn (including different perspectives about how long you should spend on the platform), visit my blog!
Avoid having a string of miscellaneous numbers and letters after your name in your LinkedIn Profile URL. It looks messy. It appears as if you don’t care.
Here I show you a neat little trick to personalise your own LinkedIn identity.
It doesn’t take long and helps make the right impression to visitors who land on your LinkedIn Profile, indicating you know what you’re doing on LinkedIn.
Why not add your new customised LinkedIn URL to your business cards and email signatures, joining the dots of your personal branding up?
For more LinkedIn Profile tips, such as how to take a great LinkedIn Profile Photo, or how to nail your LinkedIn About section, check out my blog.
What do the best LinkedIn headlines have in common? They tell me:
If I can’t tell these things from your LinkedIn headline then you’re not maximising those valuable 120 characters on LinkedIn.
Don’t let LinkedIn default to just putting your job title and company name as your LinkedIn headline. It’s dull!
Personalise your LinkedIn headline and make it your own unique strapline! It’s one of the most important pieces of Linkedin advice I can give you.
For more information on the Process behind creating the best LinkedIn headlines, including what to consider when writing your LinkedIn headline on mobile or desktop and if you should keep them even shorter than the 12- character limit, click here.
Alternatively, for a LinkedIn headline examples comparison head over to my blog post here.
Hashtags can be a bit baffling if you’re new to social media. In this quick LinkedIn advice video I explain:
I shared some key tips to help delegates at the CFN (Corporate Finance Network) Conference succeed on LinkedIn which centred around:
I also share some useful anecdotes and insights into how I choose to LinkedIn.
Now I’ve made these tips available for you to watch any time in this video. I hope they help you maximise your time on LinkedIn each day!
Are you an active and confident user of LinkedIn, looking to take your LinkedIn activity to the next level? Then this masterclass, that combines my LinkedIn training with First Frame Productions‘ Ryan Mulhern’s Smartphone Video Workshop, is one for you!
The workshop (which includes a tasty breakfast and delicious lunch) will be held on Wednesday 25th September 8:30am-4pm at Thorpe Park Hotel & Spa in Leeds.
Come join us to learn:
With 20 spaces available, you better book your spot soon!
Innovative bank meets the high street meets business meets cafe!
Find out what happened when I met café manager Bella Gamsu at the soft launch of the UK’s first Work Café on Park Row in Leeds, brought to us by none other than Santander!
With the official opening of the work café opening being on 18th July, the brand new venue offers:
I was kindly invited to speak at Manchester’s Business Catalyst Club, founded by Graham Shiers, on February 14th.
Check out some of the LinkedIn profile tips I shared at the event, including best practice advice for your:
An example of how interactive I make my talks when I speak at events, such as this Future Networking: Collaboration, Networking & Your Digital Footprint event on 17th January 2019.
During the engaging panel discussion, I shared some LinkedIn advice and helped attendees grasp the power of LinkedIn to deliver results, whilst Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive of Leeds BID explored the power behind collaboration. Meanwhile, Susie Cawood, Head of York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, talked about the value of face-to-face networking and putting these interactions into action.
After not speaking to a single punter all morning whilst exhibiting at Law 2018 Leeds Networking event in September, I decided to take matters into my own hands and share some LinkedIn advice on how to improve your Profile.
Check out how I livened things up by sharing insights including:
“Craft your message with your ideal client in mind…when you can describe your ideal client’s pain better than they can you automatically position yourself as the expert solution in their minds and they start to reach out to you.”
I met Sanae Floyd, a Sales Coach for coaches, at Simply Networking Leeds Expo, part of Leeds Business Week…here’s what she taught me.
“You need to have that 15-second elevator pitch for when you meet somebody” is a common phrase in the business world and I often equate that to your LinkedIn Profile Headline.
You have 120 Characters to get your LinkedIn Headline right – don’t waste them! Watch this video to find out how I would go about writing an attention-grabbing winning headline!
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