“Everyone is now an entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.” Reid Hoffman, CEO, LinkedIn LinkedIn is the proverbial dark horse of social media. We all know it’s there, but few use it to its full potential. Whether you’re a job seeker, consultant, entrepreneur or happily employed, LinkedIn can be an incredible asset for your career. LinkedIn is not just a virtual resume that should be tucked away for a rainy day. Instead it acts as a resume, cover letter, references document, database of your contacts throughout your life and a place where you can learn, share and interact in a professional manner. 100% of Fortune 500 CEOs are on LinkedIn High Value Audience // 45% are business decision makers Your next job: You may not find it…. It may find you When it comes to marketing yourself and your business, most people go straight to Facebook because of the sheer size of the user base. But demographically speaking, LinkedIn has a leg up. LinkedIn has over 150 Million worldwide members, in over 200 countries (59% outside of USA). 1 million new members each week, more than 1 new member every second. 51 percent Male // 49 percent female…so pretty much 50/50 77 percent of LinkedIn users are age 25 and above. The average Household income of LinkedIn users is $109,000. LinkedIn is a network full of people who love, you guessed it, NETWORKING. They’re the movers and shakers of their industries. These are the people you want to know about you and your business. Yes, Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools, but LinkedIn users are known to be especially serious about their jobs, industry, an social network. With that in mind, you must shift tactics when it comes to marketing your‐ self on LinkedIn, as conversations and content are geared more toward cultivating partnerships and advancing business than posting silly pictures from parties. Your LinkedIn profile needs to be absolutely flaw‐ less, since you’ll be judged harshly by recruiters who are analyzing you to see if you fit their corpo‐ rate needs. That means no spelling or grammati‐ cal errors and it should be completely filled out, leaving no experience or details out. Think of your profile as an asset and as a portrait of you as a professional who someone would want to possibly hire for a newly available job. Because your LinkedIn profile generally ranks in the top five Google search results for your first and last name, your pro‐ file must be completely filled out. First impressions are everything, and skimping on your personal profile will quickly decrease your value. Headline: Your headline will automatically be displayed as the last job you’ve had, unless you change it manually. I rec‐ ommend that you brand yourself for the job you want, not the one you have! This means that you should revise your headline so instead of “Marketing Specialist for Toyota,” it could be “Internet Marketing Expert for Fortune 500 Compa‐ nies.” This way, you’re positioning yourself for a future potential job, while leaving your current job within your LinkedIn profile. Summary: Your summary should include a brief paragraph summarizing your work experience, especially work experi‐ ence that is relevant for the job you want. Feel free to spice this section up with your unique abilities and differenti‐ ators, such as industry awards and honors. In the second paragraph, you should define your career aspirations. Experience: Don’t just list the past few jobs you’ve had. I recommend that you put every single job you’ve had that is still related to either your current position or the job you are searching for. The easiest way to complete this section is to copy and paste the bullets from your traditional resume. Now that you have a compelling and immaculate pro‐ file, it’s time to start developing your network. A LinkedIn network is all about your professional network graph. That means that your first, second and third de‐ gree contacts are visible and can help you with career opportunities. The more first degree contacts you have, the more second and third you will gain, which is why I recommend that you accept everyone as a con‐ tact. You never know when someone can help you! Some users believe it is only important to stay connected to those you already know and trust, but that only limits your network. REMEMBER There are 135 million members out there to connect with. Instead of being selective about people you add or accept, start connecting with more contacts and help them connect with each other. The more direct connections you have, the larger your overall network will be, creating more business opportunities in the long run. Import your contacts: If you’re brand new to LinkedIn or you want to start building your network, without having to search for people, you should use the import function. LinkedIn allows you to important contacts from Windows Live, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! and AOL. You can also search through your college or workplace and add people you’ve worked with or have gone to school with. Be open and available: A huge part of LinkedIn is its messaging system and by being available and open to accepting con‐ tact requests and continuing conversations, it will help you build relationships. Leave your email address: People cannot add you to their network without your email address, so you should either leave your email address at the end of the summary area or put it in the contact field and label it public. Update your status: Don’t worry, you don’t have to update “yet another” status bar with a message. Try using Ping.fm or hellotxt.com to push your status to all of your social networks at once. Make sure that your LinkedIn status message is ex‐ tremely professional because the audience is more career minded people and hiring managers. Your LinkedIn URL should appear as “http:// linkedin.com/in/yourfullname.” If it doesn’t, you’re missing a vital opportunity to have your profile rank higher in Google and to make it eas‐ ier for people to find you. Neglecting this no‐brainer move is a rookie mistake. It only takes a few minuets to correct. When filling out your profile, customize your URL to reflect your name. Find this in the “edit profile” screen. Promote your URL: Take your distinct URL and put it in your email signature, on your traditional resume, on your blog (with an optional icon graphic), your website, your presentations, and possibly on your business card. If you have a blog or a website to add, select “other” in the dropdown menu and customize its name so that the full URL doesn’t appear. A customized website name will inspire others to click through to your site(s). Websites: LinkedIn gives you the ability to list up to three website links. I would recommend that you select your blog, any web pages you own, your company and possibly your Twitter profile link. Instead of leaving each title (for each link) as “My Website,” you should change them to the actual title of each of your links, so that the link can be associated with the URL. This will help optimize your profile and drive Google PageRank to your other web properties. The laws of karma apply here: The more you give, the more you receive. A solid recommendation can potentially change someone else’s life by setting them up with their future employer. Recommend others as much as you can, and they will reciprocate. Recommendations: Many people argue if LinkedIn recommendations are legitimate, especially because they typically come from your trusted network of friends and colleagues. The truth is that they are very significant because when a recruiter searches for talent, they will view and identify profiles that have the “thumbs up” graphic next to them. If you don’t have a “thumbs up” graphic, that means that you haven’t been recom‐ mended and if you do and you’ve been recommended several times, there will be a number next to it. If two candidates for the same job had the same background and skills, yet one had twenty recommendations, who would you choose? Exactly! Recommendations can come from colleagues, teachers, managers and even ce‐ lebrities. Portray yourself as a LEADER and Valuable contributor to your network Now that you have a remarkable profile and you’ve developed a sizable network, it’s time for you to become a leader on LinkedIn. This professional network allows you to do a few key things that will help you gain followers, attention and, possibly, a new job. LinkedIn groups give you the most mileage out of your LinkedIn experience. Whatever your industry or business, join groups that will put you in touch with other experts in your industry. Try starting your own group and establish your self as an expert in the field. Like a mini social network, these niche groups will foster discussion, spread your message, and connect you with key people. Start a group: Groups are extremely powerful assets for your brand. Instead of starting a group based around your company, if you have one, do it around the topic you want to “own.” Decide whether you want to localize it (Group Name, Boston) or make it international, allowing anyone to join. By starting a group on LinkedIn, you’re automatically portraying yourself as a leader. You should invite your current contacts to your group, especially after analyzing their profiles to see if they would be interested.