How to drive value as an entrepreneur on LinkedIn

Often LinkedIn gets the reputation as a job seeker’s platform. I like to call it a professional social network with less on the social than Facebook but still a place to build relationships, no matter whether you are employed for another company, a job seeker or an entrepreneur building your own business. As an entrepreneur on LinkedIn, you have different goals than a job seeker but you are still growing a network.

5 reasons to build a great profile as entrepreneur on LinkedIn?

You may think that as an entrepreneur on LinkedIn, you can decrease your information and just have an account. But that will not work for you any more than a minimized profile will work for a job seeker. When you have a robust profile as an entrepreneur, you will attract many more readers and connections. You can think of your LinkedIn profile as a bio or introduction to who you are for others.

1. LinkedIn has a high Google ranking and if you prospective client Google’s your name, LinkedIn may be the first thing the client sees. Make a good first impression.
2. You can speak in a different voice than any other advertising you have and build relationships on LinkedIn as well as build trust in your product.
3. You can network with vendors, customers, and other professionals to continue to expand your business.
4. Share authoritative content either by sharing articles about your industry in your status or even by writing your own blog posts using the LinkedIn Pulse feature. If  you do this, do it well – compelling headlines and read-worthy content linked to your company. Since LinkedIn allows you to share content beyond your connections, you can gain exposure to new markets and customers.
5. Treat your LinkedIn connections like a Rolodex. I remember a pastor who would spin his Rolodex and send hand-written notes randomly to the person who showed up just to say he was thinking of them. Whether you make it hand-written or message someone via LinkedIn, they know you paused to think of them that day.

How do you build a successful profile as entrepreneur on LinkedIn?

Nothing on LinkedIn is forever. You can change things as often as you like and should to keep your information fresh and keep your profile garnering views. This post is about your personal profile but your company page is just as critical on LinkedIn and should be well done.

Photo – Not only is a photo a good idea for an entrepreneur but it is essential.

• Your prospect clients can get to know what you look like and that builds trust.
• Statistics say you have 7x to 11x more likelihood of being looked at if your LinkedIn profile includes a photo.
• Make sure it is a good one. Professional photographers can capture you better because of their training but if you are going a different route make sure you understand lighting, how color enhances or detracts, and profile versus long-range shots.

LinkedIn Headline – who are you? What is your brand? Here is my current one:

• Multi-Certified Resume Writer ★ Blogger ★ Coach who uses interactive sessions to reach your career goals!
• Digest it – Your title or occupation (Multi-certified resume writer), other value (Blogger), and something different about you or your process (coach who uses interactive sessions to reach your career goals!)
• Keyword driven – If someone is seeking resume writer, my profile will come up.
• Limited – The headline has 120 characters to make an impact. Not only can you change your headline as you see fit, you should make sure you use the length to optimize your keywords.

Summary – The poor summary is often forgotten but is so critical. Write this in an appealing way to your readers.

• The “i” voice has been proven to be more effective than third person. Make it personal.
• It is easy to sound like a commercial. Can you make the summary an attractor that sounds like you are talking with a prospect client or customer but more as a friend than an advertiser? Building relationships is so critical.
• Research is proving that especially with the millennial generation, you need to build trust before selling but I think that is crossing over to other generations. This makes it more likely that people want to hear a personalized message that builds trust in you as an entrepreneur on LinkedIn even before building trust in your company.
• Strategies differ for the summary. Pick a style that fits you. (story, highlights, message)

Experience – Don’t neglect filling out experience

• You may think that as an entrepreneur you don’t need to fill out details with your work but you are missing an opportunity to build credibility. Help your customers understand your qualifications and skills. Let them know your success stories so they can be confident in hiring you.

If you need help to get more benefit from LinkedIn, contact me, the same strategies that work for job seekers can be retooled to work to bring you business and more qualified clients.

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