Tag Archives: personal marketing

Social Media

LinkedIn for Personal Marketing and Branding with Keith Warrick

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Keith Warrick, my friend and fellow LinkedIn evangelist, was interviewed on BDPA Blog Talk Radio about professional social networking. Keith was an early adopter of Linkedin, becoming a member well before I joined April 1, 2005.

In the BDPA interview Keith pointed out the benefits of LinkedIn goes far beyond an online resume. So many people turn to LinkedIn when  they are in career transition only. LinkedIn is a powerful tool which can promote your skills, demonstrate creditability and build relationship.

Keith says, “LinkedIn is an unique marketing and advertising platform that promotes a product. That product is YOU.”

Keith suggests fully completing your LinkedIn profile to gain the most benefit. LinkedIn will prompt you to create a 100% complete profile and coax you along to do so. Keith says just 2% of LinkedIn 150 million members have a 100% complete profile.

To reach 100% profile completeness, add all of the following to your profile:

  • Industry and postal code
  • A current position with description
  • Two more positions
  • Education
  • At least 3 skills
  • Profile photo
  • At least 50 connections

As Keith says, imitation is the best form of flattery. Take a look at Keith’s or my profile for idea on how you can attract your target audience to find you through the LinkedIn search features.

Click below to listen to Keith’s interview with BDPA.

Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio
Social Media

LinkedIn Customized Profile URL

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Did you know you can customize your LinkedIn profile URL? Every LinkedIn member can create a easily recognizable link directly to their profile in LinkedIn.

When you create a profile in LinkedIn, the system automatically generates a link to your profile. By default, this is a meaningless string of numbers and / or letters. I recommend Linkedin members edit this field and creating a custom URL for their profile.

Create your own LinkedIn customized profile URL

My custom profile URL is http://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilmwilliams. Clicking on this link will take you directly to my profile page in LinkedIn.

Click on my custom URL http://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilmwilliams and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Members can customizable the last part of their URL or the segment after “in”.

http://www.linkedIn/in/<CUSTOMIZE>

Each LinkedIn member profile is unique. If you have a common name, you may have to be creative in your selection. Consider these options:

  • <FirstName LastName>
  • <FirstName Middle Name LastName>
  • <FirstName Middle Initial LastName>
  • Tag line: i.e., WorldsBestLawyer

Add your newly customized LinkedIn profile URL to your email signature and include it in your resume.

Enter a comment below and let us know your customized LinkedIn profile URL.

Social Media

Duplicate LinkedIn Profiles

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Duplicate LinkedIn profiles are common. This can happen when you create a LinkedIn profile using one address then you receive another LinkedIn invitation to join through a different address. When you click on the link to the LinkedIn website, it does not recognize your email address and you are encouraged to create a profile.
ivan-walsh-linkedin-profile
Creative Commons License photo credit: Ivan Walsh

Why is this a problem? When you build connections and recommendations they are tied to a single profile. Currently, there is no way to merge two different profiles. They are each stand alone entities independent of one another.

Think of a customer or client who looks for you on LinkedIn. If they see two separate profiles, how will they know which one to connect with? The only way to resolve this is to delete one profile. When you do this, you will lose all your connections and recommendations on the deleted profile.

You can prevent this from occurring by updating your LinkedIn profile with all the email addresses you use.