Social media extends to any and all businesses, but LinkedIn is different than any other social media platform. It connects with key business decision makers, and it’s easy to maintain brand recognition when done right. While many people wing-it, and jump on this platform with no insight as to how to take advantage, others take free online LinkedIn classes and implement a plan. If you’re not savvy about LinkedIn, a few free classes will definitely put you in the driver’s seat.

LinkedIn is huge! One out of every 15 people on the planet is on LinkedIn. That’s about half a billion. People who are potentially interested in buying your product or service, and you can get in front of decision-makers for virtually anything. As a business person, this should excite you.

Better Analytics

LinkedIn revamped their analytics having to do with content that you create and post, so you can see a lot of content about who is interacting with your posts. For example, you can see who liked a specific piece of content, what company they are with, and what role they play in that company. If you’re looking to leverage LinkedIn connections, these analytics are a gold mine.

Let’s say you write a blog post and several people interact with that posting. You can see who those people are, and their connections, and reach out to them.

Becoming A Thought-Leader

Anyone can use LinkedIn to position themselves as a leader in their industry. You might be a brand new, wet behind the ears salesperson, or a freelancer, or entrepreneur of a new startup, and you can still attract the attention of the right people. With a little work and marketing goals, LinkedIn offers half a billion people for you to work with. However, there are basic things you must do with your profile in order to lay the foundation for success.

The basic parts of your LinkedIn profile page include:

Your picture
Headline
Summary
Work Experience
Keywords — so you can be found through LinkedIn and Google’s search engine
Groups and associations

This is the minimum. Just enough to get you started, but many people make the biggest mistakes here. They rush through the profile, sharing very little in-depth information, or leave something out like a picture. LinkedIn profiles must sell because that’s the first presentation potential customers will see. If your profile is half-filled out, or boring, it won’t sell you, so on to your competitors.

Your profile is like the silent salesman. It’s not just an online resume but more like a sales letter. So what information do you want people to have? You need to think about what impression you want to give the reader. In marketing terms, this is your positioning.

That First, All-Important Headline

The first thing people will actually read about you is your headline. That shows up not only on your profile, but it shows up under your picture when they look at who has viewed their own profile. You want your headline to grab them and let them know who you are.

Headlines, in general, aren’t used to persuade. They’re used to sort. A headline in an online sales letter just divides the viewers into two groups. Those who are interested enough to read more, and those who have no interest at all.

Your headline should do the same. This is where you start to shine.

Latching On With Your Profile Summary

Your profile is your sales letter. It’s what people look at to figure out who you are and if they want to consider doing business with you. The heart of the profile is the summary. Getting your summary right, and making it sell you and/or your product and services is the key to this whole process of turning LinkedIn into a marketing machine. Get this wrong, and it’s a whole waste of time.

All parts of your LinkedIn profile are important. Every bit of information will help determine if you get interest or not. Like we mentioned before — silent salesperson. Your profile works for you 24/7, and when done right, LinkedIn can add a massive amount of business and profit to your bottom line.