Are you in demand? Do people seek you out? Do they feel it is important to be in your network? If not, you are falling off pace in this new social world we live in.
As a B2B Marketing leader, you are responsible for keeping your team on pace. Those who are invested in Social Selling and prospecting need to peddle fast. That’s why LinkedIn’s new profile features are important to you (currently only available to paid members).
Here’s an executive summary and how you can become in demand.
The 5 New Ways to Stand Out on LinkedIn
1) The ‘How You Rank’ Tool – This should be your favorite new tool. This is an upgrade to the popular “who’s viewed your profile” tool. You can now stack rank your profile views against your team and your connections.
Not only does this give insight into measuring success. It drives behavior by adding a competitive dimension to social selling. For instance, you can easily see which employees are driving the most demand. Recognize if employees are effectively positioning themselves to attract new business.
Even greater, it delivers customized insights to help you build your brand. This appears on the right-hand side of the page. It suggests ways you can begin increasing views to your profile immediately. See example below or for your own profile by clicking here.
2) – Keyword Suggestions to help you optimize your profile: LinkedIn makes this process easier for you. When editing your profile, it prompts you with a popup of top keyword suggestions. These personalized suggestions help you get found in search. See the example from a profile below. If you don’t optimize your profile with the right search terms, you simply won’t get found. Incorporate the suggested terms into the following areas to maximize your impact. Headline, Summary, Experience and Skills.
3) – New profile cover photos: Just like you can on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, you can add a large background cover photo. This helps your LinkedIn profile reflect your unique brand. It enables a more personal feel to stand out. See an example below from Jill Rowley.
Download my LinkedIn Networking Toolkit for tips on creating profile cover photos.
4) – Stand out in search results: Premium members have a new advantage in LinkedIn search results. The listing is now twice as large as non-member listings to help stand out. It shows more elements from your profile. This includes; current title, past jobs, education, etc. With millions of professionals on LinkedIn, this helps give a competitive edge. See the example below where Steve’s listing stands out.
5) – Invite opportunity with Open Profile: Basically, there is now more flexibility on your privacy settings. If you want to be found for opportunities far and wide, you can. There is an option to make your profile “open”. Now every LinkedIn member can see your full profile and send you a message free. Download my toolkit for instructions on turning it on.
Key Takeaway
B2B Marketing leaders are responsible for keeping company employees and products/services in demand. In the “network era”, you must master LinkedIn to stay in demand. If you don’t, your demand will fall over time. Download my LinkedIn Networking Toolkit to master the Linkedin features and drive demand.
