Justin Levy» Personal Branding http://justinrlevy.com Social Strategist | Speaker | Author | Content Creator Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:46:30 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 8 Tips to Get More Out of LinkedIn http://justinrlevy.com/2010/11/8-tips-to-get-more-out-of-linkedin/ http://justinrlevy.com/2010/11/8-tips-to-get-more-out-of-linkedin/#comments Sun, 21 Nov 2010 03:59:06 +0000 Justin Levy http://justinrlevy.com/?p=2555 When we talk about social media platforms there is a tendency to point to Twitter and Facebook as the platforms where we all agree that we spend a majority of our time online. When we need videos we go to YouTube. When we need photos we head over to Flickr. And when we need to update our professional resume, we head over to LinkedIn. But that’s exactly the issue. Many of us only invest time into LinkedIn when we’re nearing or at the point of need. I’m guilty of it too. Twitter and Facebook are the dominant platforms in our lives and LinkedIn takes a backseat to those activities.

However, whenever I conduct social media training sessions for groups of professionals, the platform that they always request we spend the time most time on is LinkedIn. It is the platform that they’re the most familiar with and trust the most. They can clearly understand the benefits of putting time into LinkedIn. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and the other social networks require more convincing for them to grasp the value that they can extract, besides any personal value such as staying connected with family and friends.

Have you kept your LinkedIn profile updated? When was the last time you provided a recommendation for someone? Are you taking time to explore Groups and Answers?

If you’re like me then you could be spending more time within the LinkedIn ecosystem using it more effectively, reaping benefits and building your foundation prior to needing your network. As with many things in life, what you get out of LinkedIn will only be as good as what you put in. So, here are 8 tips to get more out of LinkedIn that you can start doing today. Heck, you might even get a few extra sales out of using LinkedIn.  They may seem like basic tips but sometimes refreshers are good to remind us to keep up with the basics.

8 Tips to Get More Out of LinkedIn

  1. Fill out your profile completely including customizing your URL with your name. It’ll only take 4 minutes to optimize it.
  2. Connect with colleagues, friends, and others in your profession and areas of expertise/practice.
  3. Find relevant Groups to join and begin participating in them.
  4. Post relevant, helpful information via status update such as industry news and important updates.
  5. Search Answers for questions relevant to your industry and your areas of expertise. Provide thoughtful and helpful answers to show expertise in subject matter.
  6. Follow companies to receive regular updates on their status.
  7. Search on general terms and industries to find new industry peers to connect to.
  8. Write recommendations for colleagues and others in your network. Also, ask for recommendations, where applicable.  Need some tips on writing a good LinkedIn recommendation? Here are a few.

If you’re looking for even more tips on maximizing the potential of LinkedIn, I’d go grab a copy of Lewis Howes‘ book, LinkedWorking (affiliate link).

Do you find LinkedIn to be valuable? What other tips would you add to this list?

Oh yeah, and if we’re not connected, come find me over on LinkedIn (http://linkedin.com/in/justinlevy). Use this email address: linkedin [at] justinrlevy [dot] com.

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Photo Credit: mariosundar

]]> http://justinrlevy.com/2010/11/8-tips-to-get-more-out-of-linkedin/feed/ 13 Google Now Helps You Get to the First Page in Search Results http://justinrlevy.com/2009/04/google-now-helps-you-get-to-the-first-page-in-search-results/ http://justinrlevy.com/2009/04/google-now-helps-you-get-to-the-first-page-in-search-results/#comments Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:08:58 +0000 Justin Levy http://justinrlevy.com/?p=1055 justinlevy-google-profileGoogle Profiles is your area in Google’s universe where you can store and link all sorts of information about yourself.    Why is this important?  Because it’s yet another area on the interwebs where you can have a presence which is discoverable by search engines, *cough*, especially that little one who made the profile page, Google.

Have you been keeping your Google profile tidied up?  Did you even know that you had (or could have) a Google profile?  You can find your profile here.

Over the past week or so Google has been making improvements to Google Profiles.

First, they changed the way the URL displays for your page.  It used to be (…and still is unless you change it) a string of numbers that identifies the page as YOU.  For example, to Google I was: http://www.google.com/profiles/113345621158656129639.  But, with the change in settings, I’m now easily found as: http://www.google.com/profiles/justin.levy.  The only two minor notes here, as reported by Lifehacker: If you’ve previously linked your profiles page to your Gmail account, you can’t change it.  Your link will be your Gmail user name.  The other caveat is that you can only change your URL once, so be careful with that choice.

The second change was announced this week and concerns the prominence that your profile receives from Google.  Google will now start displaying profiles on the first page of Google search results.

Both of these announcements are HUGE from Google.  Why you may ask?  For some, reaching the first page of Google is a never-ending losing battle.  It can be very hard, if not impossible, to reach the front page.  Now Google is ensuring that at least some part of YOU reaches that front page.  You need to take advantage of this.  Maximize your profile by linking your websites, blogs and other profiles.  Use the “About Me” section to highlight all of the important stuff that you would want a potential employer, prospect or partner to find.

Want some more tips?  Google has provided a few tips on making your profile more useful over here.

Now, stop reading and head over to your Google profile and optimize it…

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]]> http://justinrlevy.com/2009/04/google-now-helps-you-get-to-the-first-page-in-search-results/feed/ 14 Pixelated Conference Series – Personal Branding http://justinrlevy.com/2008/10/pixelated-conference-series-personal-branding/ http://justinrlevy.com/2008/10/pixelated-conference-series-personal-branding/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:23:55 +0000 Justin Levy http://thatsgreatpr.wordpress.com/?p=349 For Day 2 of our Pixelated Conference Series (you can read more about what this is from Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel and Bryan Eisenberg), I thought we’d explore personal branding.  While yesterday’s focus on productivity was more of a full-day conference packed with tons of reading recommendations, I thought I’d make today’s sessions shorter…more like a breakfast seminar.  I don’t know about everyone else but Tuesdays are meeting day for me so therefore it’s hard for me to dedicate a full day to a conference but I do attend a lot of events/meetings at breakfast and lunch so I thought this might be appropriate.

Today we have 3 speakers lined up for you: Jim Kukral, Dan Schawbel and Gary Vaynerchuk as well as a few extras for you to take with you after breakfast.

Breakfast Seminar

We start today again with an interesting video to make sure you’re awake.  If you’ve never seen this series before, make sure you check out a few of them!

Click here to view the embedded video.

First up is web marketing strategist, Jim Kukral who is going to speak about his thoughts on Tim Russert and personal branding.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Next is personal branding expert, Dan Schawbel who is going to talk about developing your digital personal brand.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For our keynote today, we have the always entertaining Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV who discusses building personal branding through social media as well as what it takes to be successful at developing your brand.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Some of my favorite posts (the short list)

Great Sites to Check Out (again, the short list)

eBook:

Ok folks, that wraps it up for our breakfast seminar on personal branding.  Be sure to tune in tomorrow for Day 3 of our 5 day Pixelated Conference Series.  I hope you enjoyed and I encourage you to share your thoughts on personal branding in the comments below.

Now it’s time for me to run to a few meetings but while I’m away from my laptop I’d love to hear how you develop your personal brands.

[Disclosure: I am a featured columnist for Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding Magazine]

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