There's a definite trend with people I've been talking to lately (and apparently the people THEY have been talking to) about LinkedIn. More and more of my clients are telling me that someone told them they absolutely need to be on LinkedIn and focus all of their attention there.
I don't necessarily agree. Facebook can also be a really important tool for business owners because it's where the most people spend their time, but having said that, I also think everyone needs to be paying attention to LinkedIn.
If you have a business and people might have a reason to look you up online at all, you want to have a solid LinkedIn presence.
What does that mean?
Have a well filled out profile.
Make sure that your headline describes what you do - it's the thing that people see first other than your photo and your name.
Make sure that the summary section is complete with detailed information about what you do, how people can work with you and is full of keywords you want to be found for.
Use recommendations and endorsements
Endorse people as a way to connect with them in a simple way.
Use other people's endorsements as a way to know if what you're putting out into the world correctly describes what you do.
Ask for and give recommendations. These testimonials are great ways to connect with people and the more recommendations you have the more social proof there is that you're great at what you do.
Publish content to the network
Use the publishing tool to publish existing content to your profile. It's an opportunity to get more exposure for your content and they get prominently listed on your profile. It's a great way to showcase your expertise.
Links & additional resources
The value of recommendations and endorsements on LinkedIn (blog post)
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