LinkedIn Mistakes to Avoid

Using LinkedIn appropriately will lead to greater success for you as a business owner. However, it is important to understand which practices to avoid in LinkedIn also.

Poor Choice of Photo

One of the very first things that people do when they go to a profile is look at the photo. They want to connect what the person looks like with their profile and the profile of their business. Not including a photo is a big mistake. If you don’t understand the importance of the profile photo, it creates a negative perception of you as a business professional. It is also a mistake to include a group photo as your profile photo.

LinkedIn is a professional social media site, not a personal one. Your photo should be clear and you should be recognizable. You should never include your business’ logo or a product shot of any kind. It is not a bad idea to pay a local photographer and get a headshot of professional quality. If you insist on taking your own photo, make sure that the lighting is correct.

Lack of Detail in Your Profile

Your profile certainly should not have the level of detail that your resume has; however, it should have enough detail for others to get to know you a little bit. There are some key areas that will give you the opportunity to add keywords easily into your profile. The first area is your summary. It is a good idea to begin your summary with your 30-second elevator pitch (your name, what you do, what you are looking for). You need to make sure that the beginning of your summary really grabs your readers. You can, of course, use that same pitch when you are at face-to-face networking events.

Another area that is worth including is your employment history. People not only want to know what you are doing now but they also are interested in what you did in the past, which got you to where you are now. If you don’t include this information, your readers may wonder what you are trying to hide. You should take the opportunity to include keywords in your job descriptions. When discussing your past job descriptions, you should include as many keywords as possible. Remember to demonstrate how your previous work experience has made you that much better at what you are doing today.

Ignoring Applications

Filling out applications is a great way to bring your profile from 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions. It makes you much more real to those who are connecting with you. Applications allow you to post a PowerPoint presentation, attach a video, or send out other relevant and appropriate materials for your business. It is a wonderful opportunity to blast your message in a much deeper and more comprehensive manner. Any way that you choose to communicate your message will most likely be available to you. You are giving your LinkedIn connections many options by which to learn about your business offerings and how you can help them. If possible, link your video to your profile. You can go to http://www.jingproject.com and download free software, which will allow you to record a 5-minute screen capture as a video.

Failing to Join Enough Relevant Groups

LinkedIn allows you to join up to 50 groups. Make sure that you join only groups that are, in some important way, relevant to what you are doing. It is essential to use this feature to your full advantage. When you are considering which groups to join, make sure that you choose groups that your prospects would be a part of. After you have joined the groups, you just need to start discussions with those people.

Not Securing Recommendations

An extremely important part of your credibility on LinkedIn is recommendations. People want to know what other people say about you. They don’t want to hear you talk about yourself. Having 10 recommendations is a nice amount. It shouldn’t be too difficult to obtain that many from people with whom you have professional relationships. You shouldn’t feel shy about asking for recommendations. Most people will be happy to recommend you even though they probably won’t take the initiative to offer the recommendation without your asking first.

An easy way to get recommendations is to help your business connections in some way and then request a recommendation from them. It is all about helping each other. You serve them and then they give you a recommendation afterwards. Client recommendations will really go a long way for you.

Overlooking Answers

You need to be involved with discussions through LinkedIn. The generation of discussions in which you are involved will build trust, credibility, and position you as a subject matter expert. Get involved as much as you can with discussions on subjects that you know quite a bit about. Your responses in a discussion can be linked to your profile, which will give you extra mileage and make you look really good. You will help others by responding to their questions with valuable information. You will feel good about helping others.

Another advantage of being a part of discussions is that you can indirectly communicate your own message. You should post helpful blog articles to your profile whenever possible. People really value articles with helpful information. It makes them feel that you are trying to help them and that you are not trying to sell them anything.

Selling Directly

Don’t try to sell directly on LinkedIn. First of all, your chances of success are slim. Second, you will do more harm than good to your brand over time. People are not on LinkedIn to buy products and services. However, with that said, there are selling opportunities on LinkedIn. You just need to remember to be discreet when going in that direction.

By providing valuable information on LinkedIn, people will trust your motive (you are there to help others) and will begin to trust you. People won’t buy anything from you if they don’t trust you. Would you?

Conclusion

The LinkedIn mistakes that we have discussed here are simple to fix. They are errors of omission. If you take a little extra time to build your content, you will improve what you have and make it more effective. Your #1 objective is to get people to visit your profile. Once you have accomplished that, you want your visitors to have a clear understanding of what you do and how you can help them. You definitely don’t want them to visit your profile, have unanswered questions, and move onto the next person’s profile and forget about you.

We are pleased to provide you the insightful comments contained herein. Please contact us at CompuKol Communications for further discussion on how we might be able to assist you and your team.