Podcast with Christine Whittemore
Christine is Chief Simplifier at her marketing consultancy, Simple Marketing Now. I met Christine online through Twitter. We both participate in the Content Marketing Institute, which is one of our common professional interests. Christine’s background is in the flooring industry which uses very traditional, offline marketing. She experimented with her first blog in 2006. Recently she participated in a multi-part blog series on using popular social networking sites including LinkedIn® basics and advanced LinkedIn® tips. Below are eight tips we discussed for LinkedIn® content marketing and social networking.
Don’t Overlook the LinkedIn Basics
Make sure your profile is 100% complete with a LinkedIn photo. Surprisingly, many people overlook this basic. Use the LinkedIn® profile toolbar to confirm your profile is 100% complete at all the levels. Use keywords that define you and your personal brand. You want to be found on LinkedIn® for searches on keywords that are relevant to you. Check out how Christine’s profile uses keywords to describe her three websites.
Maximize Your Public Profile
LinkedIn® offers a public profile that is indexable by Google. And, LinkedIn® also gives you the ability to create a vanity URL. Claim your vanity URL to personalize it to your personal brand. Make it work for you like Christine and I do:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/cbwhittemore
http://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges
Paint a Clear Picture of Yourself
Give visitors to your profile a thorough picture of all your qualifications through your content. Show how you are adding value to the world. Whether your goal is business development or searching for a job, they are very similar. Look to connect with other people with common interests. Find common ground to take those connections offline to build a relationship.
Tell a Story
The content in your profile summary should tell a good story about you. Let your content work for you. Use your content to tell your story. Connect with people backward in time from your work history without regard for geographic location.
Profile Mining
When seeking to make new connections, dive deeply into a person’s profile. Look at all their content, your shared connections, the groups he/she belongs to, groups you share in common, questions answered, books they’ve read, events attended, etc. Look for opportunities to connect in a meaningful way based on common ground and interests. When you do make the connection it usually will be more meaningful for both people if you’ve done your homework.
Connecting Twitter to LinkedIn
Use discretion if you connect your Twitter feed to LinkedIn®. Your tweets may not work in your favor on your LinkedIn® profile. LinkedIn® is business-focused. Depending on how you use Twitter it may not fit with your LinkedIn® content strategy.
Be a Frequent LinkedIn User
If you’re not signing into LinkedIn® several times a week, you’re missing out on networking. If you’re a job seeker you should sign in every day to network and check the job listings. If you are invisible digitally, you don’t exist. LinkedIn® gives you a powerful digital presence. You can create meaningful content to tell your story 24/7 on LinkedIn®. Take advantage of it!
Shop Around for Groups
Be selective about the groups you join. The quality of available groups ranges from poor to great. Some groups are more about self-promotion and not enough about quality interaction and content. Look for good interaction in groups with intelligent and relevant discussions with moderation. A good group always has a strong moderator to police the self-promotion and non-relevant content.
Leverage Your Content Marketing to Reach the Modern Buyer
Content is an essential asset to reach today’s buyer. Since the modern buyer is looking to build relationships with sales professionals before deciding to purchase, content helps warm them up.
LinkedIn® is a powerful social networking tool for business development and job searching. Follow these content marketing tips and you’ll get more value from LinkedIn®. Learn How to Design a Content Strategy That Generates Sales Leads From Day One to fill your sales pipeline.
