5 Simple Steps for Improving Your LinkedIn Visibility

by Stephanie Sammons published by www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Are you wondering how to get the most from LinkedIn? Over the last few months, the LinkedIn network has made upgrades and undergone changes.

If you already have a profile created on LinkedIn, it’s a great time to revisit and refresh your presence!

Or if you’re just wondering how to get started, these 5 simple steps will help you make the most of your time and effort!

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the largest professional social network online today, with over 100 million professional users. The average household income of LinkedIn users is over $88,000 per year, which outpaces the average income for the readership of the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Business Week!

If you are a professional or a business owner, you can’t afford to miss out on the opportunity to build relationships with potential customers, clients, partners and peers on LinkedIn. It’s a powerful audience that you can engage, interact with and influence.

#1: Complete your LinkedIn “profile box.”

When visitors first land on your LinkedIn profile, a box displaying your profile highlights fills the screen. Given the importance of first impressions, the information in your “profile box” should be complete, current and optimized.

This is your best chance to make a good impression. In many cases, someone may read through your entire profile, but most people are going to get the information they need from your profile box.

Upload a professional image. This is your very best opportunity to make a great first impression and is essential to attracting connections. No professional photo? No credibility

Create a compelling headline. You only have 120 characters at the top of your profile to describe who you are, whom you serve and how you help. Use brief, descriptive, compelling keywords so the right professionals on LinkedIn can discover you. Focus on terms that your target markets are more likely to search for. What language do they use? Make your headline text compelling, but use words that resonate with your market. 

List your current position and at least two past positions. If you don’t list at least two past positions, your profile won’t be considered “complete,” which can mean missed opportunities to be discovered by prospective clients and customers. Make sure to describe each of your roles in depth, and again use those keywords that will resonate with your target markets! It is also okay to list two or three positions that describe your current role, as I have done in my own profile. 

Add your education information. List colleges and the high school you attended in this area. Why? One of the primary search tools within LinkedIn is the ability to locate people with whom you attended school. This is a potential connection point that can open doors for you. 

Customize your “website” listings. Under the Websites section of your LinkedIn profile, you can have up to three listed. Choose the “Other” option when setting up each of these links and describe the links to your brand with relevant terms. For example, rather than using the phrase “my website,” I use “Smart Social Pro Blog.” Not only is this more descriptive, it also gives me a better opportunity to rank for those keywords in search. 

Include a link to your Twitter profile. Add your Twitter handle to your LinkedIn profile. Visitors to your profile can now follow you on Twitter directly from within your profile box! LinkedIn and Twitter are tightly integrated. You can share your tweets as LinkedIn status updates (best practice: add #in to the end of specific tweets rather than choosing to send all tweets to LinkedIn), and you can share LinkedIn status updates as tweets! 

Edit your “vanity” LinkedIn URL. An example ishttp://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniesammons. This will enable your LinkedIn profile link to show up in search results under your name on all the major search engines! It is important to claim those results for your name as they provide a gateway into your personal brand.

Following these seven tips will ensure that you put your best foot forward with a comprehensive snapshot of who you are, what you do and where people can learn more about you. Your LinkedIn profile should serve as one of your most valuable professional digital assets. 

*Check out tips 2-5 here!

LinkedIn: Busting 8 Damaging Myths About What It Can Do For Your Career

By Kathy Caprino, M.A.

As a career and executive coach, speaker and recruitment consultant, I use LinkedIn (LI) extensively each day, and I truly enjoy it.  I’ve found that building my network to over 1,000 direct contacts (accessing 10 million+ indirect contacts) has been well worth the two years of time and energy.  I’m a big fan of LI – and truly appreciate the power of the tool and all the opportunities, gigs, partnerships, insights, information and support that have come my way from it.

I like LinkedIn so much that I often refer to it as the “great cocktail party in the sky.”

The analogy of the cocktail party truly fits.  LinkedIn has the following aspects in common with an awesome cocktail party:

You get the chance to connect with like-minded people who you may otherwise never have had the chance to meet

By investing just a bit of time each day, you can learn a great deal that’s of interest and use

It’s a blast to connect to people that you admire from afar, and who can teach you vital things about how to be more of what you want to be

You can determine in an instant if you want to invest any more time and energy in getting to know new folks you see

Socializing beyond your limited sphere helps you build a powerful community that supports and enriches

You can add great diversity to your pool of colleagues and peers by branching out and connecting with new people across the country and globally

Meeting new people who are doing amazing and inspiring things in this world is exhilarating

But after two years of using LinkedIn for several hours each day, and after counseling others on how to build their personal brand on LinkedIn for professional advantage, I’m witnessing some negative effects of the misguided notions people have gleaned about what LinkedIn can do for them.

I’d like to share what I’ve observed to be the Top 8 Myths about LinkedIn as a professional tool, and offer some straight talk about what you can expect it to do for you.

Here are the Top 8 Myths we need to bust:

Myth #1: LinkedIn will get me a job

Nothing is going to “get you a job” but you.  Yes, you can search new job openings in your area, and discover who posted the job, and connect with these folks.  You can find people who work at companies posting jobs, check them out, and ask their help to introduce you.  But these steps aren’t going to land you a job.  You must still do the rigorous internal and external work of knowing what you’re great at, communicating your talents, finding strong-fitting positions, then get on the radar of the hiring manager or recruiters involved, and present yourself as a highly qualified and desirable candidate.

Myth #2: LinkedIn will replace recruiters

There’s a growing fear out there that LinkedIn will replace recruiters as conduits for connecting talented candidates to leading employers.  It’s just not so.  There’s an important personal dimension to recruiting that a tool such as LinkedIn simply can’t provide.  From critically sifting through hundreds of resumes, to understanding the components of true “fit” for the hiring company, to personally interviewing and filtering candidates, and doing the extensive legwork of communicating “fit” to both employer and candidate — recruiting is a labor-intensive job that requires expert, personalized skill and attention.  Again, LI is a powerful tool that certainly has changed the recruiting landscape, but recruiters remain vitally important in the process.

Myth #3: There’s no need to fully flesh out my profile – a brief line or two is fine

OK, this one makes me nuts.  Here’s this vastly powerful free networking tool that allows you to tell the world who you are as a professional – what you stand for, how you’re different from all the rest, what you’re passionate about, and how you’ve contributed in the workforce.  And yet thousands of folks simply don’t spend any time to articulate who they are, or present themselves in a compelling, engaging manner.  As a recruiter, when I view a poorly executed profile, I see a lack of interest in promoting yourself that speaks volumes about how committed and excited you are in your professional endeavors overall.

Myth #4: Because I have over 100 (or 1000) connections, new opportunities will come easily to me

As in everything in life, quality matters over quantity.  If you have scores of folks in your community who have nothing to do with anything you care about (or who aren’t interested in what you’re doing), then your connections will not generate productive or beneficial results for you.

Myth #5: When folks accept my LI invitation, they want to partner with me or connect more deeply

I’ve learned this the hard way in my recruiting work — just because people accept your invitation to connect, doesn’t mean they care about being in connection with you in any deeper way.  It may simply mean that they saw your network as something advantageous to THEM, and they linked in for their own professional gain. Connections are interesting as far as they go – but it’s you who must make something positive of them.

Myth #6: LinkedIn is the best professional networking tool for all businesses or careers

LinkedIn is not the best tool for all businesses, jobs and careers alike.  Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be more powerful and effective, and reach more of your target audience.  Know your audience and their tastes and behaviors, and select the best tool to connect with your prospective clients, colleagues and partners.

Myth #7: The more updates I post the better

Again, quality reigns supreme here.  Choose carefully what you put out there in the world, and be respectful of the time and energy of those who read your updates.  Make sure what you share performs at least one of these important functions:  1) informs, 2) entertains, 3) enlivens, 4) supports others, and/or 5) adds value.

Myth #8: Being highly connected on LinkedIn is a sign of professional success

Having hundreds (or thousands) of connections does not necessarily equate to financial success, business prowess or entrepreneurial acumen.  It means only that the user has spent time and energy to build his/her network, and that others have felt it of some value to mutually connect.  Don’t mistake volumes of connections with professional credibility or success.

*  *  *  *  *  *

In the end, while the LinkedIn “cocktail party in the sky” has had a dramatic impact on how we connect and engage with each other professionally, it’s not able, on its own, to bring your career to the level of success, fulfillment and reward you want.

LinkedIn is only a tool, and is only as effective, engaging, and productive as the user behind it.

Top 10 apps for HIT students and professionals

Hertencia Bowe, the national health information management program coordinator for Rasmussen College, spoke to Healthcare IT News about some smartphone apps that can help students and professionals be "more knowledgeable, prepared and organized when they're on the job."

Bowe oversees the development and expansion or the college's Health Information Technology and Health Information Management degree programs and curriculum.

Bowe says students and professionals that are pursuing a HIT degree can expect "a career of analyzing medical data, medical billing and coding and health information management," which she says means they must "be able to juggle numerous responsibilities."

Below is a list of the top 10 apps that she recommends HIT students and professionals use:

Drug Flashcards
This high-rated flashcard app has more than 200 flashcards covering the most popular prescription drugs on the market. The application allows users to edit, add and tag the drugs of your liking – making it the perfect application for medical professionals who need to brush up on their knowledge of prescription drugs.

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)

Download this app to receive up-to-the-minute scholarship, or more specifically the last seven days worth of published articles from the New England Journal of Medicine. Along with these articles, it allows users to download images, video and more. This application is perfect for students when they are researching articles for class assignments.

Awesome Note
Balancing a busy scheduler requires a powerful organizer. Try using the Awesome Note, a note-taking, calendar-viewing, to-do list-making, map-checking, Google Docs-syncing app. This will help keep students organized and ready for any challenge.

ToodleDo
If an old-school datebook or Microsoft meeting planner isn't cutting it anymore, look to ToodleDo. This app allows users to track project priority, start dates, due dates, and statuses. Even better, it can flag tasks, hide tasks, and create sub-tasks. This organizing tool can help students to never miss an assignment due date or forget to study for a big exam.
Living Medical Textbooks
This application by Projects in Knowledge offers actual medical textbooks on topics ranging from heart disease and diabetes to multiple sclerosis. One of the best capabilities of the app is that the books' chapters are updated every time a new medical discovery is made, making the textbook "living," and easily navigable.

Dragon Medical Search
Too busy to type? Dragon Medical Search allows a user to say a drug or disease's name into their phone's speaker to search for information. Sources like Medscape, Medline and more aggregate data on a chosen topic and offer a wealth of information and resources. This tool will particularly come in handy when students are learning how to code.
mSecure Password Manager
An HIT student or professional will be interfacing with many different online applications and a lot of different software.  The mSecure Password Manager app allows users to store all email and computer-related passwords, plus credit card numbers and more, helping users to access data safely and effectively, anywhere.

Google Fusion Tables and health data
For the HIT student or professional who wants to reach out to a larger community, this is an online database, accessible via smartphone, which allows users to share, combine and examine healthcare data. Offering maps, data sets and more, one of its coolest functionalities is its search tool where users can access everything from "best place to live" to "most common place to have pneumonia."

ICD 9
This highest-rated ICD-9 app features 2011 codes and healthcare data for physicians, hospitals and clinics looking for a handy medical diagnosis coding resource. The app allows users to view codes and symptoms and search through the database to find the exact medical code they are looking for.

Skyscape Medical Resources                                                                                                             Skyscape Medical Resources, compatible with the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad features a collection of free Medical Information and Decision Support resources for healthcare professionals. The free app features current medical guidelines, drug guides, interactive algorithms, calculators and more.

Great New LinkedIn Feature for Job Seekers!

Check out LinkedIn's new feature that allows you to tap into your network more effectively than before!