You hear it all the time – that old business maxim that goes something like this: “It’s not what you know. It’s who you know.”
Well, to tell the truth, it’s both. You’ve got to know your stuff, and you have to make sure the right people know you know your stuff.
Today, one of the best ways to communicate your expertise is through LinkedIn. I was an early adopter of this business social network. Been using it for years, in fact.
But I discovered I had a lot more to learn when David Himmel came on the show. He’s the Florida Marketing Leader at PwC and also acts as the firm’s LinkedIn Training Leader.
After listening to him, believe me, I’m going to spend some time working on my profile.
LinkedIn, Himmel said, now has 325 million users. It’s the No. 1 social network for business, and they’re adding two new profiles every second.
He acknowledged that a lot of people are burned-out on social media, but the fact remains that when somebody hears your name, they’re going to Google you. Himmel said one of the first results that will pop up is your LinkedIn profile.
“I know a lot of people who have had it with social media,” he said. “Even if you don’t participate in social media, you need to be on LinkedIn.”
When people look at your LinkedIn profile, Himmel said, they’re interviewing you – without you being there. That’s why it’s so important to have a complete and detailed profile.
Since few people have taken a class on how to fill out a profile properly, here are some of Himmel’s tips for a captivating summary:
– First paragraph: Answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.” Discuss your professional background. Two sentences max. Use a first-person, conversational tone. No jargon.
– Second paragraph: Answer the question, “What do you do now? What is your role?”
– Third paragraph: Answer the question, “Why you? Why should I choose you over these other guys? What is the value you provide?” This is the one thing most people never complete, Himmel said.
Be aware of the “Activity Broadcasts” setting in your admin menu, Himmel added. Make sure it’s off when you’re making changes to your profile or adding content that you don’t want broadcast to your network.
“Most people don’t think. They just want to fill this out quickly,” he said. “This is a sales tool. Before you start using LinkedIn, you have to have a great profile. It’s like going to the dance without dressing up. You don’t want to start using LinkedIn with a crummy profile.”
In the Skills area of the profile, he said, you need to list 15 to 20 skills that tightly define you.
Expanding the network
But what do you do with connection requests, I had to ask. Networking guru Ivan Misner says you should be careful about who you let into your room, so to speak, so how do you evaluate a LinkedIn connection request?
At PwC, they look at second-degree connections, Himmel said. In other words, who do the people in your network know?
The average LinkedIn user has 300 connections, he said. Doing the math, that gets you access to 90,000 second-degree connections.
The only way to get to those second-degree connections is to ask the primary connection for an introduction. And you can’t ask somebody you don’t know for an introduction, Himmel said.
Therefore, you don’t want to connect to someone you don’t know because you can’t ask them for an introduction to their connections, he said.
When you get a connection request, Himmel said you have three choices:
– Accept it. Do this if you feel comfortable having them in your network and you’re able to ask them for an introduction to their connections.
– Ignore it. They don’t get a notification when you click “Ignore,” so don’t feel guilty about using this.
– Reply to it. If possible, set up a meeting to get to know them.
We talked about lots more, including including when to make recommendations and the advantages of having a premium LinkedIn membership. It’s all designed to help you build business with LinkedIn.
Click here to listen to the full interview with David Himmel, Florida Marketing Leader and LinkedIn Training Leader at PwC.
