Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Your headline is critical, because it tells us how you see yourself. The default for a LinkedIn headline is your current job title, and that might be the best headline for you — but what if it’s not? Maybe your brand is a little different from the title your employer bestowed on you. There are lots of people who’d be better served creating their own LinkedIn headline than letting their current job title define them professionally.

Two every second: That’s how many people join LinkedIn as new members,  many of whom hope to exploit the platform’s rich resource for industry contacts, new clients and partnership opportunities.

That means that by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll have on average 350 people and counting to compete with for the professional world’s attention. What you do with your LinkedIn profile can mean the difference between garnering views as compared to converting those views in taking the next step of building a relationship with you....

LinkedIn announced its team has been working to reengineer its search engine to help users find what they’re looking for faster.

The company claims that its new search engine, which is now available, can save its members more than a year of collective time spent searching.

Here is a run down of some of the changes made

Do you want to use your LinkedIn profile to market yourself more effectively?Have you thought beyond adding a list of jobs and responsibilities?LinkedIn is the number-one social network for professionals, but that doesn’t mean you have to treat your profile as a traditional, boring resume.In this article you’ll discover four ways to turn your bland LinkedIn profile into a LinkedIn marketing tool that attracts potential decision makers....

With more than 259 million users, LinkedIn is the most popular social network for professionals as well as one of the top social networks overall. Are you using it to its fullest potential?

While new social networks are sprouting up constantly, LinkedIn is a powerful platform that often gets underutilized or put on the back burner.

But the truth is, LinkedIn can be extremely powerful -- especially when you're aware of all the little hidden tricks that don't get nearly enough exposure as they deserve. To help you master LinkedIn, below is our ultimate list of 35 awesome tricks you may have been overlooking....

We often hear marketing and sales reps expressing their love/hate relationship with LinkedIn. Are you one who views the site as social stalking for business professionals?

If you’re a user that only checks the site to look up a prospect’s credentials or check a connection request email, you are missing valuable opportunities to grow professionally, to grow your sales leads, and -- ultimately -- to grow your business.

The benefits of using LinkedIn go beyond prospecting and recruiting. The site can also be an incredible inbound marketing tool. I tapped into the knowledge of LinkedIn expertWayne Breitbarth, who shared a few tips on the following features that you should be utilizing....

As the Internet buzzes with social media activity, knowing where to network can be a challenge.

While LinkedIn is still viewed by many as an online resume (huge mistake btw!) – it lives at the top of my list for professional networking.

Not spending any time on LinkedIn? Let me tell you why you should.....

We’ve written before about some of the best practices to make the most of your LinkedIn marketing, but I’ve recently discovered even more vital facts and stats about the social network, particularly about making the most of your LinkedIn Company Page.

For instance, did you know that 80 percent of LinkedIn users say they want to connect with companies? Which is great news, because users are almost 50 percent more likely to buy from a company they engage with on LinkedIn.

I thought I would share all the stats I’ve found with you here in the hopes that we can fine-tune our LinkedIn marketing and improve our LinkedIn Company pages together.

To social selling expert Jill Rowley, ABC doesn't mean "always be closing." It means "always be connecting." She believes that because a sales rep's network is their net worth, salespeople should live on LinkedIn, researching and requesting thought leaders, industry influencers, and potential prospects.

The upshot of this mantra is that sales reps should be connecting with people they know online, but have never met in person. And the difference between being perceived as a valuable contact rather than a stalking stranger in these situations comes down to your LinkedIn request. "I'd like to add you to my professional network" just isn't going to cut it.

LinkedIn allows you to write personalized invitations that contain up to 300 characters -- take advantage of this real estate to make a strong first impression. Confused about what to write? Let the following template be your guide....

Since LinkedIn is really focusing on becoming a Content Marketing platform (Publisher, Pulse, etc) it makes sense that they are recreating the Company and Showcase page platform to help in the curation and dissemination of targeted content.  Particularly useful to those of use who do Content Marketing.Showcase pages are essentially sub pages of your LinkedIn Company page. (If you don’t yet have a company page, create that first.)

To create a Showcase page simply click the drop down arrow to the right of the “edit” button in your Company page and then click on the link that says “Create a Showcase Page”.

Creating a Showcase PageShowcase pages look a little bit like Twitter and Pinterest and Facebook got together and had a baby.  Fortunately, they are pretty simple to set up...

Linkedin‘s vision is to create economic opportunities for the 3 billion people in the global workforce. Today, Linkedin is starting a competition to discover the best ways to use its data to make that vision a reality.

The Economic Graph

Linkedin has been vocal about its love of graphs. Its CEO Jeff Weiner explained that his company’s vision is to build a digital mapping of the global, the Economic Graph. Linkedin is not just a collection of resumes. Its users have built a rich dataset of skills, people, schools, companies, jobs or knowledge. All these entities are linked together and form the rapidly growing Economic Graph....

Last week I hosted a webinar, Representing Your Brand on LinkedIn, to address common challenges that marketers face when it comes to establishing your brand on our powerful platform. Whether it’s multiple lines of business, products or an infrastructure based on many regional teams, LinkedIn has tools to help you effectively shape brand perception and get your compelling content in front of our 300+ million LinkedIn members.

The webcast covered:

1. How to leverage your LinkedIn Company Page

2. When to create a Showcase Page

3. How brands can best utilize Direct Sponsored Content.

Here are a few of the prevalent questions that were answered during the webinar. Feel free to dive deeper with the webcast recording and deck....