Pendragon Straight Talk: Episode Eighteen

 
TRANSCRIPT
 
JOHN GLOVER: Hello and welcome to another Pendragon Straight Talk. This week’s question is why should I create a LinkedIn Profile?
 
LinkedIn is the number one global platform for professionals, with over three hundred million people worldwide now using LinkedIn, you can’t afford not to be in there, and in there with a professional look.
 
Whenever anyone does business these days they look in two places, Facebook and LinkedIn, to check out who they are doing business with, LinkedIn being the more preferred business check, so you have to make sure you have a profile and its relevant to what you do.
 
Your LinkedIn profile might be the first professional impression someone has of you, so make it a good one. It’s a bit like your own personal website. People say, let’s see who we are dealing with here then, and they look you up on LinkedIn.
 
If you are an individual then you should think of your LinkedIn profile as resume, or to show of your skills for any customers looking at you, who are trying to work with you.
At its most effective your LinkedIn profile contains all its professional experience, updated and accurate, with some personal spice sprinkled in.
 
The first few lines of your profile are actually the most crucial, name title, and most recent positon. Those three parts show up in a LinkedIn search, along with your photo. So consider adding a recent and clear picture of yourself. Make sure your profile photo is a professional looking headshot.
 
From a company’s perspective, use your LinkedIn profile to promote what you do as a company. Use the headline to capture in a few words what that is. If you are a business owner, sales professional or consultant looking to secure new clients, you need to look at getting your profile set up correctly.
 
Even if you had a face to face meeting with a perspective client, if they are serious about working with you, the chances are they’ll check you out on your LinkedIn profile, and then they can make a better decision about whether they want to work with you or not.
 
It’s just smart business practice to know who you are dealing with.
 
When businesses are looking for suppliers they use Google. When they are looking for particular professionals they search LinkedIn. Either way you want to be found and when you are, you want to make sure you look impressive online.
 
You need your LinkedIn to communicate the value you can bring to the world. With a stand out LinkedIn profile you can do this easily.
 
Thanks for listening and I look forward to talking to your next week.