LinkedIn: Time to Get Your Digital Storefront in Order!

COVID-19 has thrust digital sales & marketing into the category of business-critical activity for pretty much any business you can think of. And with a vaccine unlikely to be with us before 2021, it’s likely to stay that way the foreseeable future (if not forever!).

For businesses, the ability to attract customers/clients to their website, Shopify store, etc or creating leads through email marketing may now be the difference between corporate survival and demise.

For individuals, especially professionals and others that work in B2B companies, LinkedIn has gained even greater importance during the pandemic. The ubiquitous business platform serves as a personal digital storefront and online Rolodex for a growing number of us. Just like for companies, your online ‘brand’ can be critical to your success.

So, it’s time to get your storefront in order!  

Before we start, it’s worth remembering that LinkedIn is an open-access, business networking site. All content that you post is visible to the world, including your colleagues, your clients, business partners and the media. Most, if not everyone, will, therefore, associate all content that you publish or post with your work persona rather than your private identity. The golden rule, therefore, is that everything on your LinkedIn profile: your biography, your profile picture and all content that your post, should be consistent with the brand that you want to project in your business life. For example, unless you would routinely show up to a work meeting accompanied by your dog and sporting a Hawaiian shirt, that’s not the image to chose as your LinkedIn profile picture. Similarly, before you post a comment, ask yourself if you would share that same comment face-to-face with a colleague or someone you just met at a business networking breakfast.

Start off getting your digital store window in order with some housekeeping:

• Be your best self: Make sure that your biography is up-to-date, accurate and clearly sets out your experience, skills and, most importantly, how you create value for your customers/clients, employer, etc.
• Be visible. A recent, ideally professionally taken, photograph is a must.  
• Be contactable. Update your contact information with a current email address and phone number.  If the only way that your network can connect with you is via LinkedIn messenger, you impeding others from reaching you and maybe missing business opportunities.

With your profile up-to-date, make sure that you are doing all you can to enhance your brand online:

• Be a leader (especially if that’s your job!). Post original content and ‘like’ content that aligns with your values as a leader and those that you aspire for your organization. Contribute to discussions about your organization’s role in the world and the economy that it operates in.
• Generate goodwill in your brand. LinkedIn is a brilliant place to build goodwill amongst your network at the cost of nothing more than your time. ‘Liking’ and commenting on other’s posts is a good start, but if you want to make your contacts truly feel valued (re)share their post/article, send them a message appreciating their content, endorse them for a skill or write a recommendation.
• Add to the conversation. Produce content that demonstrates your passion and expertise. But, make sure it is relevant and original. Pretty much no one cares about that project/transaction/breakout role you had in 1997. And don’t even think about posting that ‘A Conference Call in Real Life’ video… because, while it was funny the first time, the shine has faded over the approx 537 times that it’s appeared in my LinkedIn feed since!
• Don’t be a serial reposter. People are likely to ignore everything you share if continuously publish posts along the lines of “Interesting article in [INSERT BLAND BUSINESS PERIODICAL] about [INSERT PERVASIVE NEWS STORY WITH SOME VAGUE RELEVANCE TO THE POSTER’S ROLE]”
• Be kind, be modest. You may have a strong and opposing view to comments and content that others post, but criticizing them or making comments intended to make you look smart are will not reflect well on you. If you don’t any something nice to say, it’s often better to say nothing at all.
• Be authentic. Again, remember the golden rule as you nurture your digital brand. I cringe whenever I read “Truly honored to have been asked to speak at XYZ’s annual ABC conference.” You’d never utter a sentence bloated with false modesty to someone face-to-face so don’t erode your brand by posting it on LinkedIn.

Now that you’re working to enhance your brand, make sure that you are getting the most out of it. That will not happen if you only use LinkedIn passively, collecting contacts like you would baseball cards. Visit the site regularly. Take the opportunity to engage with your contacts that are also active. If you make a new connection take the time to learn about them, their experience, skills and personal backstory. Offer the same about yourself. Most importantly, ask how you can help them. 9 times out of 10 they will do the same for you… and that provides the opportunity to put your storefront to work and find that next lead, next client/customer, next key employee or next role.