Being Cheryl: Social Media Marketing Tips from Columbus, Ohio

If you’re like most LinkedIn users, your profile probably has your current job, you’re probably connected to a couple of your present and past co-workers and you might have uploaded a picture - and that’s the last time you did anything with the site. You might have even gone far enough to get your profile to 100% completeness. But 100% only means you’ve completed the basic things LinkedIn thinks you should have… it doesn’t mean you’re going to automatically have success with the site.

* Complete your profile 100% It tells you how. Just do it. Next.

* Customize your LinkedIn URL: Go to “edit my profile” and in the white box at the top of your profile you will see “public profile” and an “edit” link. Make your URL as close to your real name as possible.

* Have 3 links under “websites” and customize the titles: Post links to your company, your website, your blog, your social profiles - whatever you’ve got, just put a few links here where people can learn more information about you. But don’t just put “My Company” and “My Blog” for the Links - select “other” when adding the links and customize them so people know exactly what they’re getting before they leave LinkedIn - my links are “My social media marketing blog” “Follow me on Twitter” and “Sync Creative.”

* Select 1-5 keywords for your industry and use them repeatedly throughout your profile …and especially in these five places:
Your headline
Your current position
Your past work experience (even if not necessarily applicable to the keyword/industry you’re in now)
Throughout your summary
Specialties

* Start a group for your industry and take the time to build it: This gives you free e-mail marketing to all group members and free traffic to your site by putting your URL and RSS feed in the group. To start building the group, send invites to people you’re already connected to, then it will show up on all of THEIR network’s feeds and start to spread. Also, add the group logo and link to your website, blog, newsletter, social media profiles, email signature, etc, to expand membership. To ensure value for new members, send auto-responders to people as soon as they join suggesting certain people to connect to, linking them to related resources, informing them of upcoming events - anything that would provide genuine value.

* Take advantage of events on LinkedIn. You can utilize your group membership to promote them.

* Answer questions in the Q&A section. Don’t necessarily push your product or service, though – let your expertise come through in your answer.

* Get as many recommendations as possible: This may seem obvious, but would you hire someone with zero recommendations in the real world? Easiest ways to get recommendations: write them for other people (but be genuine: don’t recommend someone you couldn’t really vouch for) and ask.

* Connect with as many people as you can: While many people only connect with people they actually know, the real value of LinkedIn comes through your 2nd and 3rd connections. By connecting with as many people as possible, you can have access to millions more people and ensure that they also have access to you. One way to vastly increase your secondary network is to go to toplinked.com, download the CSV file, upload it to LinkedIn and connect to over 100 of the most connected LinkedIn users - you’ll then have access to all of their connections.