Ah, LinkedIn. No noise. No fluff. With LinkedIn, you get your own private bodyguard. You can't just be friends with whomever you want or stalk people online.
Speaking of, are we connected yet on LinkedIn? Let's do it.
No, LinkedIn has maintained their sophistication. They haven't sold out. Yet.
To be honest, I prefer their app to Facebook and Twitter. It's easy and well thought out. Heck – it works with little load times! And being on it just makes me feel all "business-y."
But let's get honest.
More than 80% of LinkedIn members are decision makers (*according to LinkedIn).
Should you really have a presence on "the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 135 million members in over 200 countries and territories."
What do you think?
Here are 3 easy steps to tapping in to this professional database and generating leads:
Make a Statement and Pimp Your Profile
Step 1. Your Headshot - This should only be one of two things -
a. Totally business professional (i.e. suit and tie)
b. Interesting and eye-catching, but still professional
I switch back and forth and I recommend changing this on a regular basis. Can you air on the side of "professional," then later let people see a "business casual" pic every now and then!
And Remember – CHANGE keeps you interesting!
Step 2: Proof Your LinkedIn Summary
People may be able to excuse spelling errors or strange posts on your Twitter or Facebook, but on LinkedIn, it's like you're at a big high-end networking dinner with suits and 
high-heels.
You kind of sit up a little straighter and refresh your lip gloss when you get on LinkedIn.
Even after years of prep school and a prep college, spelling just isn't a strong suit of mine and probably never will be. Read my popular blog post on how Spelling Errors Can Assassinate Your Brand here.
Step 3: List Your Mad Skills
I see most people forget to list their skills and specialities. DON'T do this. It's like getting free internal traffic to your profile. You want to list as many skills as you can think of – think of them like "keywords."
How has pimping my profile worked for me?
On a weekly basis, I get LinkedIn messages from people making comments on my profile – usually because I've made a statement with my name. I'm the Mommy Breadwinner and my online marketing agency is She Builds Empires. People comment on this via email because they find what I'm doing interesting. My profile is BOLD – something most people are afraid to do.
Step 4. Hook up Your Twitter
Twitter + LinkedIn = Synergy
If you're on Twitter, there is absolutely no good reason why you shouldn't connect your Twitter with your LinkedIn profile. I mean, you'd have to have some pretty extreme reasons for NOT wanting to do so in order for me to agree that you shouldn't link the two. If your tweets are live to the public already then you should be proud and show them off on on LinkedIn. And, if you wouldn't want your LinkedIn friends to see your tweets, you probably SHOULDN'T be tweeting that anyway…(hint, hint).
Adding Twitter to LinkedIn:
- Creates consistency
- Creates synergy
- Creates leveraged time
- Shows off the personal AND professional side of you
- Helps boost Twitter followers
- Keeps you active in your LinkedIn feed
How has connecting Twitter to LinkedIn worked for me?
Not all of my LinkedIn connections are on Twitter. And, because the life line of tweets is so short (in real-time), I have a better chance of my messages getting seen in LinkedIn. My tweets direct people all over the place – to my newsletter, websites, freebies, services, new Facebook page and how-to blog posts. I use this as a tool to simply direct traffic.
If you're not thinking strategically about social media, you're missing out on a huge opportunity for business growth.
How can you create leads on LinkedIn? What's one thing you can change on your profile right now to help draw people in? Think BOLD my friends!
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