master linkedin by robbie abed · than marketers having to go out to get prospects' attention....
TRANSCRIPT
Master LinkedIn
By Robbie
Abed
WHAT DOES MASTER LINKEDIN REALLY MEAN? .....................................................................3
Inbound Marketing...............................................................................................................................4
LinkedIn Is Your New First Impression ......................................................................................6
MASTER YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE..................................................................................................7
Your Name................................................................................................................................................7
Your Picture.......................................................................................................................................... 10
CITY.......................................................................................................................................................... 15
SECTOR................................................................................................................................................... 15
YOUR SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ 16
Summary Section #2 – Why you do what you do ................................................................ 20
Summary Section #3 – Interesting facts .................................................................................. 22
Summary Section #4 – How can I help you? .......................................................................... 23
Summary Section #5 –Skills .......................................................................................................... 24
JOB HISTORY............................................................................................................................................. 25
RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................................... 27
EMBEDDED MEDIA................................................................................................................................ 32
How to Communicate Your Message Perfectly ...................................................................... 33
LinkedIn No No’s ................................................................................................................................ 34
STATUS UPDATES .................................................................................................................................. 36
LINKEDIN PUBLISHING ....................................................................................................................... 37
Top 3 tips to get more views on your posts ........................................................................... 44
Building relationships with those that interact with your article ................................ 50
GROUPS ....................................................................................................................................................... 52
ADVANCED: REACHOUT...................................................................................................................... 53
SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................................. 57
WHAT DOES MASTER LINKEDIN REALLY MEAN?
I’ll be honest with you. There are quite a few articles and books about how to
create a “killer LinkedIn profile”. I know, because I’ve read them all. I bought
every single one on Amazon and read them cover-to-cover.
I’m going to summarize them for you in one long run-on sentence:
“Use a nice picture, use every character in your summary, optimize your headline for keyword search, ask for recommendations, join relevant groups, and join the conversation with status updates targeted to your industry!”
There you go. I have just given you the secret to building a killer LinkedIn profile
in one sentence.
Now don’t get me wrong. This is all great advice, and I actually advocate some of
them in this document.
The biggest issue that I have with every article and book written on this topic
that’s out there is that they cover the basics but miss the core issue, which is
How do I use LinkedIn to generate opportunities?
We’re all using LinkedIn so that we can find a higher paying, more challenging
environment with as little to no office politics as possible. We’re using LinkedIn
so people can FIND us and OFFER us opportunities we otherwise wouldn’t be
aware of.
So Master LinkedIn is focused primarily on finding a better approach that will
yield more career opportunities.
You have officially mastered LinkedIn when people come to your profile and
contact you without you having initiated the contact.
This program is focused on mastering Inbound Marketing techniques specific to
your LinkedIn profile. It is not a checkbox to see if you’ve filled out every possible
field on LinkedIn.
This brings me to the first foreign term you need to know, which I just
introduced:
Inbound Marketing Below you’ll find the definition of inbound marketing provided on Wikipedia:
Inbound marketing refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospects' attention. Inbound marketing earns the attention of customers, makes the company easy to be found, and draws customers to the website by producing interesting content. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing
In this case, the website you want to draw customers to is your LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn is a marketing tool for business professionals.
Your #1 goal in using LinkedIn is to get others INTERESTED IN YOU and to get
them to take action and CONTACT YOU.
You will do this by implementing inbound marketing techniques specific geared
towards driving and converting viewers to your LinkedIn profile page.
Before we dive into fixing your LinkedIn profile, I think it’s important to first look
at how bad others profiles really are.
Go to LinkedIn and pick out a few random profiles from your connections.
Ask yourself these three questions:
1. Does their LinkedIn profile tell me EXACTLY how this person could help
me?
2. Does their LinkedIn profile tell me more about them than just their
professional history?
3. Does their LinkedIn profile entice me to reach out and learn more about
them?
Chances are that the profiles you selected score 0 out of 3 when it comes to these
3 questions. Most LinkedIn users view their LinkedIn as an online version of
their resume, and therefore they never really dive deeply into how LinkedIn can
change their appearance.
The thought process that is generated when someone views your profile should
go something like this:
1) Who is this person?
2) Ahhh … she looks pretty interesting. Let me spend some more time
reading her profile and learning more about her!
3) I think this person can help me immediately, or perhaps establishing a
relationship with them might possibly benefit me in the long term.
4) I would really like to meet this person.
5) Let me connect with her or send her an email via the contact information
that’s been conveniently provided within her profile.
That’s the goal. Unfortunately, for 97% of LinkedIn users the reaction to their
profiles goes something like this:
1) Who is this person?
2) I’m not sure who this person is or how they can help me.
3) I’m moving on.
LinkedIn Is Your New First Impression Here are all the different ways that someone might happen upon your LinkedIn
profile:
1. You apply for a job and they want to do more research about you.
2. You post something on LinkedIn and that triggers one of your connections
to click on your profile to learn more about you.
3. You meet someone at a networking event and they decide they want to
learn more about you.
4. A colleague wants to know more about you so they connect with you on
LinkedIn.
5. You publish an article on LinkedIn and a complete stranger reads it, wants
to know more about you, and clicks on your profile.
All five of these cases revolve around the same question:
1. Who is this person?
2. What is their background?
3. Is this someone I should connect with and stay in touch with?
This last question is the key to LinkedIn, and is worth repeating: Is this someone I should connect with and stay in touch with?
Unfortunately, the majority of LinkedIn users get this wrong. They don’t
understand that their LinkedIn profile needs to be INTERESTING.
PRO-TIPS
LinkedIn is not your resume.
Be interesting.
No buzzwords.
LinkedIn is not a popularity contest.
Tell your story.
MASTER YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE
This is a meaty section and you probably won’t be able to get through it one
sitting. Take your time.
If you have any questions at all during this process, please shoot an email to me
at [email protected]. Please use the subject line “Master LinkedIn
question” so I can make sure it doesn’t disappear in my inbox.
Your Name Stop everything you’re doing. Open up another browser tab or window.
Go to Google.com and type in your full name and click search. What’s the top
result? If it’s a page about you, click on it.
Now ask yourself these questions:
● Does the content of this page represent who I really am?
● Does the content of this page truly represent my skill set and my passions?
● Does the content of this page give a great first impression to a stranger?
● Would a stranger WANT to contact me after viewing the content of page?
Every single person who interacts with you or who wants to learn more about you
is going to Google you. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about hiring
managers, potential business partners, classmates, recruiters, or anybody else.
Not only should you be the first listing that they see when they do a Google search
for your name, but the results that they get when they click should be an accurate
representation of who you are.
Luckily, LinkedIn ranks high in search results, so by using this free tool you have
the ability to control your brand.
PRO-TIPS
You might potentially be turning off the people who want to contact you
because your LinkedIn profile is incomplete or doesn’t make a great
impression.
Your Facebook profile should not show up on Google searches. My
Facebook profile is COMPLETELY different from my LinkedIn profile. If
you saw the pictures of the food I eat on LinkedIn, you would hate me. Since
Facebook’s privacy controls are hard to manage, sometimes things will show
up that you don’t want others outside of your friends to see.
Your LinkedIn profile MUST show up high on the search results or others
will assume that you are not active. Creating your own website with your
name as the domain is another strategy, but will not be covered in this
document.
ACTION ITEMS
1
Remove Google’s ability to show
your Facebook profile when
someone searches your name.
You want everyone to click on your
LinkedIn profile, not your Facebook
profile. Here is how you disable it.
2
Is your name a common name like
John Smith? If so then there’s a
possibility that you’re nowhere to
be found on Google because you’re
indistinguishable from all the other
John Smiths. This is even worse
than people not being able to find
you at all.
Start adding your middle name to all
communications so it’s easier for people
to find you. Instead of John Smith,
become John Maddox Smith everywhere,
including on your LinkedIn profile. This
way you will show up at the top of a
Google search of your name.
Your name should be consistent across
ALL platforms. This includes LinkedIn,
Email, Email Signature, Twitter, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I received an industry certification. Should I use the suffix as part of my name?
A: If the certification is REALLY a big deal and you want to make sure that others
know it, then by all means include it.
I used to be Robbie Abed, PMP which stands for Project Management
Professional.
I can honestly say that those three letters hurt me more than they helped me.
What I quickly learned was that receiving my PMP certification wasn’t actually a
HUGE deal. Also, I was more than a project manager, but by attaching PMP to
my name I was giving people the impression that my focus was project
management, when in reality that wasn’t the case or the impression I wanted to
give. I wanted to be viewed as a senior leader, not just a project manager
Know that by calling out a certification, you are having an impact on the first
impression that you give.
Your Picture
Let’s discuss the obvious.
• You must have a picture
• It must be a headshot.
• This is not Facebook. Nobody cares about your cat, your spouse, or your
kids. In fact, nobody cares about what is below your neck. They want to see
your pretty face and that’s all.
Now let’s discuss the non-obvious.
Having an image included in your LinkedIn profile drastically increases the
number of people that view you and interact with you. Users conducting a search
are simply more likely to click on a profile when there’s a picture.
Take a look at the image above. This is what I found when I searched for other
“Robbies” in Chicago. The results without pictures look extremely uninviting, and
as a result they have a much lower click-through rate.
What’s funny about this particular example is that the profile I clicked on first
was the one with the picture of the guy with a cat on his head. It’s a
professionally photographed shot, and sure enough when I dove into his
LinkedIn profile I found out that he is a comedian and that this is what he is
known for.
In this case, the cat on the top of the head worked perfectly for the image he is
trying to create. For the rest of you, keep your cat out of the picture.
TAKE ACTION
I’m going to be the bearer of bad news here. You need to get your head shot done
professionally. Having a professional picture will make a WORLD of difference
and will immediately put you into the top 1% of LinkedIn users.
Find a photographer that specializes in portrait / headshot photos. I wouldn’t
spend more than $250 USD for this, but you should prepare yourself for paying
between $150 and $250.
The best part is that once you have the photo, you can use it for all of your other
profiles, as well as for any other occasion.
I would recommend other methods, but I honestly haven’t been able to find one
that works.
In a nutshell - don’t try to do this on your own. Hire a professional. I asked my network and searched every inch of the Internet about this topic. It all came back to the same answer: Get it done professionally.
If you’re not sure where to go to get this done, ask your friends on Facebook
whether any of them have someone they can recommend who’s in your local area.
PRO-TIP
Use your picture across all public social media
platforms. You should always use the same name and
same photograph across all public profiles.
Your Title
Your title should include keywords indicating what your strengths are, not just
what your current position is.
That’s a very important distinction.
So, if your title is Chief Marketing Officer at XYZ Corp., then your title on
LinkedIn should be: Digital Marketer, Lead Generation Expert, Mobile Marketer
Here’s why: LinkedIn Search
Your title is the biggest ranking factor that determines how you show up in LinkedIn’s search results.
When hiring managers or recruiters are looking for candidates, they do keyword
searches based on the title that they’re looking to hire.
PRO-TIP
Don’t get caught up in your current title. Sometimes your job title
doesn’t match what you actually do. When creating your LinkedIn title,
feel free to represent yourself based on your actual job skills.
For example, if your title says that you are a systems analyst and you are
actually programming mobile apps all day, feel free to add “mobile
developer” to your job title.
In your LinkedIn job history, you can use the job title that was officially
assigned to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I use my company name in my title?
For example, some people say “Product Manager at IBM”.
Here is my rule of thumb. If the company name is a well-known brand, and being
associated with this company adds value to your personal brand, then include it.
If you work for a small or medium-sized business that is not well known, then
including the company name adds no value. Stick to the keywords that others will
search to find relevant profiles.
If you’re an engineer or work in marketing for Apple, then by all means include
that in your title. It will likely generate interest in and of itself.
If a potential employer or any other connection wants to know where you work,
they can look in the job position section – that’s what it’s there for. Also, your
company name shows up automatically and very clearly underneath your name.
It can also be used if you have a common name and want to make it easier for you
to show up in LinkedIn or Google Searches.
What not to do
Don’t say “Currently looking for opportunities,” even if you are. It’s
an immediate turn off and will tarnish the rest of your profile. Sorry, that’s just
the way it is.
Recruiters and hiring managers want to feel as if they’ve found someone special:
Pulling a candidate away from a job usually makes them feel like they’ve
discovered a “good one.”
Take Action
Use LinkedIn advanced search to search titles you are thinking about using. See what types of candidates show up. Use their profiles as inspiration.
CITY City is obviously the city you live and work in. This is a sort section, but that’s not
how this works.
Here is a great pro tip.
PRO-TIPS
The ONLY exception to not putting the city you live in is when you’re looking for
a job in a different city. So if you live in Chicago but you want to work in New
York, then by all means change your city to New York.
Why?
Two main reasons:
1. Hiring managers in New York will immediately be turned off if they see
that you live in Chicago. They won’t give your profile a chance.
2. If you don’t change your city, you won’t appear in candidate searches by
recruiters and hiring managers. If they are looking for a director of
marketing in NYC and your profile is listed as Chicago, you might as well
be invisible.
Changing your city on your profile is not lying. It is optimizing your profile to
show up for the right results. For your job history, list the proper city where
you’re working or worked for that position.
SECTOR Sector is another filter term that is used by recruiters and hiring managers to find
the right candidate. Select the industry in which you currently work.
YOUR SUMMARY
After your photograph, your summary runs a very close second in terms of overall
importance. Your summary will make or break the amount of interest that is
shown in you.
Remember: Your goal with LinkedIn is to get others INTERESTED IN YOU and
get them to take action and CONTACT YOU.
Before I go into the details of the formula to use for your summary, here are the
rules that you must obey.
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Rule #1 – Your entire profile, including your summary, must be written in the
first person — not the third person.
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I once struggled with this, and when I was still learning LinkedIn I must have
Googled the question 200 times, but now the answer is crystal clear.
Writing your LinkedIn profile in the first person is the only way to go.
For example:
BAD: Robbie has 10 years’ experience in the auto industry.
GOOD: I’ve worked in the auto industry for 10 years and am enjoying every
second of it.
BIG DIFFERENCE!
The reason is simple. LinkedIn is a professional website whose main purpose is to
give someone a better idea of who you are. It’s not only about the work that
you’ve done; it’s also about your story.
PRO-TIP
LinkedIn isn’t about getting a job, it’s about building
connections with people that can get you jobs.
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Rule #2 – Your summary section must represent who you are as a person inside AND outside of work.
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I should be able to read your summary section and feel like I know as much about
your professional background as what it’s like to work with you.
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Rule #3 – Nobody cares about how many years of experience you have.
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It’s no longer a selling point. Who’s better? A salesperson with 5 years, 15 years,
or 30 years of experience?
Do you know? Because I sure as hell don’t. Companies hire on results. Companies
hire for culture fit.
The only exception to this point is if the number of years of experience is truly
phenomenal in terms of a piece of work that you’ve created.
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Rule #4 – No more buzzword bingo.
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Buzzwords are not only worthless, but also a waste of space. They’re also
overused. Admit it – they’re just words that fill a piece of paper.
Here’s a list of buzzwords that you shouldn’t use for the simple reason that
they’re all meaningless:
• Results oriented, team player, problem solving, multi-tasker, effective
communicator, leader, self-motivating, hard worker, detail-oriented (or
anything “oriented” for that matter), strategic thinker, go-to person, thinks
outside the box, go-getter, accomplished, dynamic, pro-active, track
record, synergy, value adder, expert, self-motivated, time-focused,
passionate, responsible, creative
Summary Components
The summary section is a free-text field. You can put whatever you want in it.
Linkedin allows you to use 2,000 characters, which is more than enough.
Lucky for you, I’ve created a structured approach to writing your summary
section.
Your summary should have the following components:
1) Value statement 2) Why I do what I do 3) Interesting facts 4) How I can help you 5) Special skills
Summary Section #1 – Your Value Statement
This should be the first sentence of your summary. It’s important that this is by
far the most thought-about sentence in your profile.
Do you know what the goal of this first sentence is? It’s to get them to read the
second sentence.
Do you know what the goal of the second sentence is? You’ve got it. To get them
to read the third sentence.
PRO-TIP
If your first sentence sucks, then by all means you will be perceived as someone who sucks.
This is where most everyone on LinkedIn fails. Their first sentence — hell their
first paragraph — sucks.
It needs to be a clear statement on the value that YOU bring to the world. Do not
use your first sentence to tell everyone what your current job is. The site provides
an entire section that’s dedicated to your professional history.
Here are some examples:
I help people to position themselves for life-changing opportunities by teaching them to rebrand themselves on LinkedIn and other career-oriented environments.
I change people's lives by teaching them how to find and strengthen their voice. Whether it’s in a work setting or on a park bench, I am constantly pushing those around me to write better.
I turn around disaster IT situations by reorganizing failing projects and leading them to completion through fearless operational excellence.
See what’s different about this?
It doesn’t start off by saying, “Jane is an accountant with 10 years’ experience.”
It talks about the value that you bring to the world.
PRO-TIPS
Your summary’s first sentence doesn’t have to relate to what you’re
doing at your current job. Don’t get caught up in that. To master
LinkedIn, potential employers and connections need to understand
why they should engage with you on a personal or professional level.
Your summary’s opening should be brief; maximum of 2 sentences.
A stranger should be able to read your value statement and
understand exactly why they would hire you or partner with you.
Your summary’s opening is NOT a summary of everything you’ve ever
done.
Summary Section #2 – Why you do what you do People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it – Simon Senick
Now that you’ve gotten their attention with your value statement, this section
should focus on your story and you need that to be equally as engaging.
Tell us what you believe and then tell us why you believe it.
Stating your beliefs doesn’t mean telling everyone what religion you are and
whether you vote Republican or Democratic. It means telling me what you stand
for.
PRO-TIP The purpose of your LinkedIn profile is for it to be as
close to you in real life as possible. If somebody meets
you offline, they shouldn’t be surprised.
Use the second sentence and a few paragraphs to tell your story. Give the world
some insight and context into who you really are. A quick story is an amazing way
to give others deep insight into the type of person you are.
Here is a great example from Christine Quattro’s LinkedIn profile
I found my voice a little over 10 years ago on the streets of San Francisco. It wasn't easy, and shedding the expectations of what my writing "should sound like" took the longest. I decided then that if I could use my experience to help others I would; and so I did. When I was in high school I started a business helping Grad students edit their papers. In college, I started a business helping candidates and companies tell their story. Editing is organic for me, and every day spent editing or writing is a happy one. Every person we meet is trying to relay an important message. The problem is, most people just aren’t very good at matching their message to their words. I am certain about this because it was my exact struggle
for many years. I help others to navigate the road of book writing, story telling, edits & revisions; all while holding on to their authentic voice.
This is powerful!
I want to empower you and show you that your LinkedIn profile CAN show
personality. It can show the real you.
A resume is limiting, but LinkedIn is not. Open up your horizons. Show the world
who you really are.
Summary Section #3 – Interesting facts This is why I don’t like resumes. Resumes are very professional, and they really
provide no space or opportunity to say anything interesting about yourself. The
worst part is that if you’re an accountant who wants to become a digital marketer,
you’re screwed by your resume because it shows that you have no “real”
professional experience as a digital marketer.
Use LinkedIn’s summary section to tell the reader anything about yourself that
you think they should know. You can list awards and special recognitions, or
anything that you’re really proud of. Most importantly, use this space to help the
reader to get a better sense of who you are and what your strengths are, EVEN if
it doesn’t specifically relate to your professional experience.
You can include information about side jobs that you’re passionate about, and the
success you’ve had. Again, this information wouldn’t fit in a resume, but it fits
PERFECTLY into your LinkedIn summary. Tell the reader everything they need
to know.
The summary section allows people who read your profile to relate to you as
much as possible. The more they relate to you, the more likely they will be to
reach out to you.
Maybe you have a patent. Maybe you turned around your local hockey team and
helped them to their first winning season in 20 years. Maybe you’re a diehard
Notre Dame University alumni who runs the local alumni group. Maybe you train
horses on the weekend. You get the point.
PRO-TIP
Passions are important. Your goal is to help the reader see
that you are passionate about other topics beyond excelling
at your current job. It also helps establish similarities
between you and the reader. The more similar you are to
the person reading your profile, the more likely they are to
reach out to you
Summary Section #4 – How can I help you?
This is the call to action. This is where you need to convince your reader that
you’re OPEN to receiving unsolicited requests or opportunities.
Tell them to contact you and give them your email address!
Yes. Your real email address. Your oh-so-sacred email address.
Mine is simple: Email me at [email protected]. I read every email.
This is great on many fronts. You’re telling the viewer that they don’t have to be
scared to email you. Give it your best shot.
Also, for those who aren’t connected to you or don’t have a premium LinkedIn
profile subscription, they can email you directly.
Adding, “I read every email” also adds allure because it says that even though
you’re in demand, you still read every email that you receive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why can’t I just tell them to add me or inMail me on LinkedIn?
A: The biggest issue with inMail is that users either have to pay for premium
service or be a 1st degree connection to use it. It’s a roadblock.
Q: Won’t I get a lot of spam?
A: Honestly, I get some occasionally, but for the most part the emails I’ve
received have been great. I’ve received opportunities and feedback I would have
never received otherwise.
And [warning: humblebrag], I get a LOT of profile views.
By adding my email I am INVITING people who otherwise might have thought
they were bothering me to contact me.
Summary Section #5 –Skills
This section’s purpose is primarily for showing up in search results for specific
terms. It’s essentially a comma-separated keyword dump of your relevant skills
that you think people might search for.
This is mine:
SKILLS
Digital Marketing, LinkedIn Coaching, Story Teller, Chicago Author, Chicago
Speaker.
A few people have found me because they were looking for a Chicago author or
speaker and these keywords helped me show up higher in their search results.
JOB HISTORY Repeat after me 10 times:
LinkedIn is not my resume…. LinkedIn is not my resume…. LinkedIn is not my resume….
The reason you hated writing your resume so much is that the bullet points for each job
were mostly a pain-in-the-ass to write, and didn’t add any real value.
Here are four tips for creating your professional history on LinkedIn:
1. Do not - any under any circumstances - import your resume into LinkedIn. I know that LinkedIn provides this tool, and I don’t blame them.
However, it promotes laziness and lets you transfer over all of your resume’s
worst elements.
2. Make it EASY to understand what jobs you’ve held and what your duties were.
a. Each job gets a summary — not just bullet points. In fact, ditch the bullet
points all together. Stop trying to think what the “right way” to write the
summary position is and write it in clear English.
b. If you’ve held multiple positions within the same company, do not create
separate positions in LinkedIn. Group them all under one heading and
include the explanation in your summary for the job. I know you’re trying
to show off, but you’re confusing the hell out of everyone and impressing
no one.
3. You are not a bullet-point robot. Tell us what you did as if you were standing
right in front of us.
a. Use first person. Use normal words that we can understand. The reason
resumes don’t work is that - in reality - you made that shit up in the first
place because it’s an unnatural way of explaining what you did. On
LinkedIn, you can do this.
4. Do not list more than two jobs as “Current”. a. I’ve seen someone list six jobs as “current”. SIX!! Do you know what that
signals to everyone else? You might as well just post, “I have no idea what
I’m doing, I don’t value my own time, I come up with ideas and don’t
execute them, please avoid working with me at all costs.”
b. If you’re a consultant and have worked with many clients, put it all under
one name. It’s probably best to use the name of your consulting company.
Not every project has to have its own description. I know you think it
strengthens the idea that you have a lot of experience, but in reality it just
confuses everyone. Remember, your goal with LinkedIn is to allow
someone to quickly glance at your profile and KNOW what you’re good at.
The more you confuse them, the worse off you are.
RECOMMENDATIONS The recommendations section is one of those sections where you have no choice,
but to use it. It can only help your credibility when others are stalking your
profile.
My recommendation is to have at least 3 recommendations per job in your job
history.
Do you know the #1 reason you don’t have a lot of recommendations on your
LinkedIn profile?
Believe it or not, it’s not because you’re lazy. It’s because you’re scared. Okay,
you’re lazy and scared. You’re scared that the person you ask to write a
recommendation won’t respond to your request. You also don’t want to “bother”
them.
Let me tell you something.
Stop being scared! Recommendations are extremely important for reinforcing
your brand. They also add instant legitimacy to who you are.
Now for the juicy tidbits. How do I get them to write me a recommendation?
Has anyone ever gone out of their way and bought you lunch for no reason? What
was your feeling after they bought you lunch?
You probably felt surprised and happy, and most importantly you then had an
ache in your stomach because you owed them a favor, which was probably to turn
around and buy lunch for them in the near future.
Same thing holds true with recommendations.
You can write a recommendation for someone without them having to solicit you.
The option is right here, about halfway down their profile.
So if you want more recommendations, here is the step-by-step process you
should follow:
Step 1: Write them a glowing recommendation.
If you didn’t notice, take a close look at the message above to Virju. I customized the
contents of the message. The P.S. is a great touch.
Step 2: Chances are they didn’t write a recommendation back because that’s just
how life works.
I would wait about a week after you’ve written your recommendation of them.
Specifically ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn. In the first step we passively
asked them to recommend us within our recommendation of them, but they don’t
have any recommendations pending on their side within LinkedIn.
Go to Profile | Edit Profile and scroll down until you see recommendations.
You should see the option Ask to be recommended. Click that and then go
through the series of steps to find the person you want to ask to recommend you.
Make sure to customize the message. Put the project / company name title in the
subject so they don’t know it’s spam.
Hi Virju – Great being on a project with you.
Can you do me a favor? Can you write a short recommendation for me on
LinkedIn?
Step 3: Email Follow up (A week later from requesting their recommendation).
Subject: LinkedIn Recommendation. Virju! Could you recommend me on LinkedIn? I sent a request last week on LinkedIn to have you recommend me. Let me know if you have any questions! I know you’re busy so I won’t bug you after this email ☺
- Robbie There is something about the line “I know you’re busy, so I won’t bug you after
this email” that triggers people to take action.
If they don’t recommend you after these three steps, they are either very busy or
didn’t like working with you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I haven’t spoken to them in a long time?
A:
1) Shame on you for not keeping in touch.
2) I would first try to initiate contact by some other means to warm up the
relationship before going in for the kill. Comment on their LinkedIn or
Facebook post.
3) Send them a message with one simple question: “How’s life? It’s been a
long time, what’s the latest and greatest? Are you still doing XYZ?”
PRO TIPS
1. As soon as you finish a project or leave a company, ask for
recommendations! The longer you wait, the more scared you’ll be to ask.
2. Your first attempt at getting a recommendation - even from a close
colleague of yours - will almost always end up with them not writing one. That’s why you have to remind them! People are busy so
you must stay on top of it!
3. FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP, FOLLOW UP.
a. It usually goes like this. First notification for recommendation: I
think he just sent me spam.
b. Follow up #1 – Oh, she’s serious about this. Okay, super busy right
now. I’ll get to it.
c. Follow up #2 – OH SHIT. I forgot to write the recommendation. I’ll
write it now.
EMBEDDED MEDIA Another big difference between your resume and LinkedIn is that on LinkedIn
you can attach different multimedia to your profile.
This is another great way to customize your brand.
If you have a video of you speaking, it’s a great way to show off your
communication skills and help you with your job search.
Here is how you use Embedded Media
Go to Profile | Edit Profile
Move down to Summary and you will see this:
If you have any presentations that are relevant, upload them. LinkedIn can
upload almost any file.
It’s actually a unique way to expand the number of characters your summary
allows. You can upload any white papers you’ve created, as well as any
presentations that are allowed to be shown in public.
How to Communicate Your Message Perfectly
There is a perfect formula that you should use when communicating any
message. It’s KNOW, FEEL, DO.
• KNOW - What do I want the other person to know?
• FEEL – How do I want the other person to feel?
• DO – What do I want the person to do?
When it comes to your LinkedIn summary, this is perfect.
KNOW
What do I want the other person to know?
[Robbie’s]I want them to know that I can change people’s lives by teaching them how to re-brand themselves on LinkedIn.
FEEL
How do I want the other person to feel?
[Robbie’s]I want them to feel that I understand their issues and I can help them.
DO
What do I want the other person to do?
[Robbie’s]I want them to feel like they can contact me.
Your LinkedIn profile should establish the following:
1. I know EXACTLY what this person does for a living.
2. I know EXACTLY what this person’s strength is.
3. I know EXACTLY why I would hire this person.
LinkedIn No No’s
If you’re on LinkedIn long enough, you might have seen these LION groups. They
are the “LinkedIn Open Networkers”.
Long story, short – it’s stupid. Don’t participate in any of these activities.
These LION’s are people collectors that provide no substance to the world or
business. Don’t put LION in your profile.
I know that I’ve told you to accept random connections, but I’m talking about
INBOUND random connections — people who have shown interest in you and
your profile. LION is about everyone accepting each other without even looking
at profiles.
I constantly see these posts where everyone adds their email address in order to
be connected, and it drives me crazy. It’s the equivalent of waiting at a busy train
station and handing out your card to everyone you see while saying, “Open
networker, connect with me – let’s do business.”
NO. No one wants to do business with you.
Okay, I’m done with that rant. ☺
STATUS UPDATES You should be posting a minimum of 2 status updates a week. There are multiple
reasons why you should be posting and sharing more on LinkedIn.
1) Recruiters and Hiring Managers are always scouring LinkedIn to find
candidates for their clients. By posting more, you will show up higher in
search results and increase your chances of getting noticed by them.
2) Keeps you on top of mind of others in your network.
PRO TIPS
• Just because they don’t comment or like it doesn’t mean your network
doesn’t see it!
• Anything you comment on will be seen by your network. If you comment
on someone’s update or LinkedIn post, it will be seen by everyone
• Images are an extremely effective way to get shared.
• Text-only posts are often read.
• If you’re going to post a link, add your commentary to it - Use your comments to reinforce your brand.
LINKEDIN NO NO’S
• For the love of everything, please disconnect your Twitter account from
LinkedIn. Keep Twitter on Twitter. It’s lazy.
• STOP COMMENTING ON STUPID IMAGES. Those “How many squares
are in this picture” images. Don’t comment on those. They spread so
everyone can see them and let them know how stupid you are for
commenting.
• Don’t be a Negative Nancy, ever. Keep it positive.
• Don’t comment on politics - this is not Facebook.
LINKEDIN PUBLISHING I went from no followers to 28,000 followers on LinkedIn in 3 months’ time.
I built an email list of 10,000 people. That’s the reason you are on this email list
right now.
All from one source ……… Drumroll please!
LinkedIn’s publishing platform.
Being able to write articles on LinkedIn is EXTREMELY POWERFUL. It is by far
the most effective platform through which professionals and non-bloggers can
reach their target audiences. No social media tricks and no following are needed
to be able to reach thousands of professionals. You don’t have to have an inside
connection either.
If your content is good, it will spread. If you don’t believe me, check out these
images:
I put my email address at the bottom of one of my posts. On a NATIONAL
HOLIDAY, July 4th, this is how many people sent me personal emails.
Because of the posts I was the #1 most-viewed profile out of all of my 1,500
connections.
And I don’t mean to brag (okay, maybe I do), but at the height of my writing I had
more profile views than Conan O’Brien!
It’s safe to say that Conan wasn’t really active on LinkedIn, but I’m not letting you
rain on my humblebrag parade.
Below is a snapshot of how my profile views shot up in a very short period of
time.
Being able to master LinkedIn publishing is a requirement for using LinkedIn
effectively. It is a tool that will allow you to reach thousands and thousands of
members and puts your name on the map.
Why should you use LinkedIn publishing?
There is a 99% chance that the reason you’re reading this is that you saw my
writing on LinkedIn and subscribed to my newsletter.
I use LinkedIn as a personal marketing tool to reach others that I’m not even
remotely connected to.
I use LinkedIn publishing for two reasons:
1. It allows me to reach others I’m not remotely connected to.
2. It lets my current connections know that I’m still alive and still honing in
on my practice specialty.
I do think that the number of followers is a great metric to determine whether
you’re doing something right.
So I’m going to teach you how to get more connections and followers on
LinkedIn.
It all starts with LinkedIn publishing.
Three Articles You Should Read Immediately
How I Used LinkedIn Pulse to Land 5 Jobs in 40 Days
Over the next 40 days I posted 6 more articles, leading to 63,000 page views and more than 7,000 social shares. In the middle of this spree, business leaders started reaching out. They wanted to talk to me, meet in person, and find a way to work together. All of a sudden, I had an audience that cared about what I was saying. In those 40 days I ended up booking five different gigs, which in my line of work consisted of speaking and writing opportunities and marketing consulting work.
I’m not telling you this to brag, but to encourage you and let you know that when you publish on LinkedIn the right way, good things can happen.
We Analyzed the 3,000 Most Successful LinkedIn Publishing Posts
Posts written in language reflecting a positive sentiment tend to get the most LinkedIn shares and likes.
How Dan Roth became the most powerful editor in business publishing
LinkedIn decided upon a multi-tiered editing system. The first line of defense would be an algorithm that filtered out spam posts. Any post that passed that test would be shared to the author’s network. If the post elicited a certain number of comments or shares, it would be flagged as popular and posted in Pulse. LinkedIn’s human editors would also scan for stories they wanted featured in Pulse as well.
Here is how I do it
The above links are extremely helpful in creating articles that spread like wildfire.
I created my own non-scientific system which has actually worked out fairly well
for me, and am more than happy to share with you.
Makes reader feel inspired / motivated +4
Agreeable tone / content +4
Authentic first-person story +3
Recent events in technology / business +3
Topic: Career Advancement / Leadership +2
Actionable tips / lessons learned +1
Industry specific / technical* -2
Click bait headline -3
I’ve found that if my article adds up to 7 or more, I usually have a winner on my
hands. The higher the number, the better it usually performs.
Where most people go wrong
1. Cute / Punny titles
I saw this in my newsfeed recently
I mean, c’mon. I get that the article is about Aretha Franklin, but do you really
need to get that cute about the title?
2. If your post starts with, “What you can learn from …”, it’s already a loser. I can tell the article is going to be a stretch comparison between two
things. What you can learn about your career from Kanye West announcing he is
going to run for president. You know what you can learn from that. Absolutely
nothing. Don’t even try to connect two disparate things. You’re better than that. 3. Boring posts
Ask yourself this question: If someone else wrote the post I’m about to publish,
would I enjoy it?
Top 3 tips to get more views on your posts
1. Tell me a story about something that happened to you.
If you went to an interview and someone asked how you would handle a certain
situation, the proper response is not to tell the interviewer what you WOULD do,
but what you DID.
That is a much more effective technique, because you’ve shown the interviewer
that you’ve experienced that issue and handled it effectively.
The same goes for LinkedIn posts. Posts that tell a story are 100 times more
entertaining than posts that are trying to teach us something and we’re unsure if
the writer actually knows anything about the topic.
Hell, I could write a topic about the top 10 ways to lose weight fairly easily. I’ve
seen them all. The difference is that I have never have actually implemented any
of these techniques, so the effectiveness of the article goes down the drain.
When you’ve experienced pain and were able to pull yourself past it, it shows in
your It’s also what gives your network a deeper understanding of what it’s like to
work with you.
2. Make the title and post content agreeable.
Most people try to get really fancy with their titles and their content.
In my experience, what’s extremely effective is writing about a topic that
everyone already agrees with. Take that topic and go into extreme detail about it.
THAT’S how you get more shares, comments and likes on your LinkedIn posts.
I’ll give you a few examples:
This post: The Biggest Career Killer of All Time: The Performance Review. This
article did phenomenally, amassing 426,00 views.
Do you want to know why I think this was shared so much? It’s because
EVERYONE hates performance reviews. I’ve never met anyone that likes them.
People read the post.
It wasn’t boring.
It was a personal story
It offered some lessons learned.
But mainly, people shared it because they also hate performance reviews.
Here’s another one of my favorites that did very well.
There are a LOT of miserable people in the workforce.
And lastly,
You can’t walk in to any office without experiencing office politics. This is a huge
issue in the workplace, and it didn’t surprise me one bit that this one was viewed
a lot.
3. Publish the post between 9am and 1pm CST (Central Standard Time). This has the best potential to be featured by an editor. LinkedIn’s editors are
mostly located in NYC and California, so this is a good sweet spot where they are
all working and looking for featured content.
My most viewed posts:
• How a Broke Trip to Aldi Changed My Life (261,000 views)
• How to Go From Working 60 Hours a Week to 40 By Sending 2 Emails a
Week (341,000 views)
• How to Win at Office Politics Every. Damn. Time. (460,000 views)
Results in 120 days of article writing on LinkedIn
• 1.6 Million Article Views
• 50 new high-quality relationships added to “Robbie’s Connection
Newsletter”
• 7,500 email subscribers to Summer of Quitting
• 10,447 new followers (Yes, LinkedIn has followers which are separate from
connections)
• 1,100 new connections
News Hijacking
LinkedIn is on a mission to not only provide career-advice but to provide the
latest news as well. As you know, career advice gets kind of old and stale, so
LinkedIn made a good decision to keep things fresh and focus articles on recent
topics.
This is an excellent piece that I found LinkedIn loves, plus their readers must also
love given how many of them get shared.
There are two components to this:
1) A recent news story involving a major brand or major incident.
2) Your take on the news story.
Justin Bariso is excellent at this — you may have read some of his articles. He
wrote two articles within a few days of each other and they received 725,850
views and 493,151 views respectively.
He took two events and added his personal opinion to them. The content was
great and it was an overall intriguing piece.
Links:
Burger King Tried to Make a Truce with McDonald’s. And McDonald’s
Committed an Epic Fail
Starbucks’ CEO Sent a Remarkable Email to Employees Yesterday. Here Are 2
Takeaways
At the bottom of every post, add the words, “Please follow me or add me on
LinkedIn. I accept all connection requests.” This works very well because many
people are afraid to connect with others on LinkedIn that they do not know.
As soon as you publish the article on LinkedIn, share it with your other social
networks to get some initial traction to the post.
If you have a twitter account, tweet “TIP @linkedinpulse” with a link to your
latest LinkedIn article. This alerts the editors at LinkedIn that you wrote
something and gives them a little nudge to feature it. This is actually
recommended by LinkedIn.
Building relationships with those that interact with your article
LinkedIn recently presented a feature to view the stats of your LinkedIn posts.
You can see the “Edit Profile” screen on the top right, above your posts.
Within the View Stats section you can view stats for every post.
The great thing is that you now have, in one dashboard, anyone who has
interacted with one of your articles on LinkedIn. FYI, this is a great example of
the “inbound marketing” that was mentioned earlier in this document. You wrote
one piece and attracted many profiles to come to you to visit your article,
comment and share.
Browse through the profiles of people that interacted with your article and
determine if there are any that you would like to meet with or at minimum
connect with.
There are two types of professionals that you should be pursuing further
connection with.
1) Someone at or below your level in your industry.
2) Any executive in your industry, regardless of their location.
Here are two steps to take to start building a relationship with someone who
interacted with your article once you’ve identified who you want to interact with.
Step 1: Like and reply to her comment with an appropriate response. Make sure
to tag her in the response to make sure that she gets notified of it. You can do this
by typing @ and her name (this works most of the time).
Step 2: Send a connection request and select “friend” from the dropdown menu.
Create a custom message, something along the lines of:
Hi Jennifer, I really liked your comment on the article I wrote. We’re both in the same industry and I think we should connect! I am also an Agile & Scrum coach! - Robbie
GROUPS
I’ll be honest with you. I don’t use groups. At the current moment they are
unusable and not a great source of either traffic or new opportunities.
The amount of investment needed to generate significant results from Groups is
way too much.
I may change my mind on this later, but at this point my only recommendation is
to join groups that you would truly like to be a part of.
The one caveat to this that you might want to keep in mind is that recruiters and
hiring managers often use the Groups search tool to find candidates. If you are in
the same groups as they are, you will appear higher in their search results. My
recommendation is that you join groups that you believe your target recruiters
and hiring managers are on.
ADVANCED: REACHOUT The basics of reaching out to people you want to be connected to.
There is a lot of value to getting inbound connection requests and emails.
However, sometimes you have someone on your radar that you really want to
meet, or at minimum keep in touch with.
What’s the best way to get in touch with this person?
Before I dive into the step–by-step approach, you should understand the basics
and set your expectations accordingly.
1) You will get a higher response rate if you have something obvious in
common. Being from the same university, having the same previous
employer or sharing strong connections are great examples.
2) If they are active on LinkedIn and have a full profile, they are more likely
to read and respond to your message
3) The more clearly you articulate WHY you want to meet with them, the
better the response rate.
4) Don’t address an email or LinkedIn message to more than one person. It
just screams SPAM from a mile away. Just because it’s more convenient
doesn’t make it right.
5) Even with all that said, you should set expectations that only two out of
every ten will respond favorably. That’s being generous too. If you get one
response to connect in person or over the phone out of ten, that’s a win.
This is honestly the reason I respond back to every email and most
personalized LinkedIn messages.
My 4-step approach to connecting with anyone on LinkedIn and getting a meeting.
STEP 1: Check their recent activity. You can do this by clicking on the down
arrow in their header
and then click “View recent activity”
Now you will be able to see what they have shared.
STEP 2: Interact with one of their recent status updates / articles. If they are active on LinkedIn, they will have plenty of updates. Below you’ll find
the levels of interaction you can have with their activity.
Level 1 - (They will notice you): Like their post.
Level 2 - (They will notice, look at your profile and potentially interact
with you): Comment on their post with something intelligent and well
thought out.
Level 3 - (They will notice you and potentially look at your profile): Share
their post with a custom comment and tag the in the post.
If you really have them on your radar, this is the easiest way to get noticed.
STEP 3: Request to add them as a connection on LinkedIn
If you get any interaction from them using a tactic in Step 2, then move to add
them on LinkedIn with a custom short message.
You can refer back to their post and say “Hi John – I really liked the article you
wrote on industry topic X, Y and Z. We have a lot in common - it would be great
to connect with you on LinkedIn.”
STEP 4: Send them an inMail now that you’re connected At this point you have had several interactions with them and they are now your
first connection on LinkedIn. This means that you can inMail them directly, and
also have access to the contact information listed on their profile (which will
often include their email address).
If they list their email, you’re better off sending them an email instead of an
inMail because it will get responded too more quickly.
My emails vary, but I have a very high success rate with contacts with whom I
have connections in common and have a similar background.
Subject: Hi John - Coffee?
Body: John – We connected on LinkedIn a few weeks ago when I saw your article about innovation in mobile. We have quite a few shared connections and I actually started my career at Accenture and see that you did as well. You and I took a very similar but separate career path and I thought it would be great to connect with a former alumnus to see how we can help each other. I’m looking to connect with more likeminded folks and you fit the profile perfectly. I don’t have anything to sell you and am overall just looking to build my network strategically. I’m also happy to refer any folks in my network your way if you’re interested in speaking with them. Are you free next Tuesday at 10am or Wednesday at 11am CST for a 30-minute phone call? I can also do coffee if you’re open to it. I know you’re busy, and understand if you can’t connect at this time.
If you look at this email I am heavily focused on what we have in common and
why I initiated the contact. Because of the nature of emails, a lot of people will
assume you are trying to sell them something, so it’s important to bring their
guard down with their email and set expectations accordingly.
PRO-TIPS
If you refer to any work that they’ve created they will almost
always accept your request. People love when their work is
recognized.
Be genuine and authentic with your interactions.
It is in their best interest to connect with others that like their
work.
SUMMARY
In summary, LinkedIn is a very powerful tool. Use it often and don’t be afraid to
represent who you really are. Focus on your value and not your features (aka your
job history and titles).