21 key issues you should know as a manager to survive worthily on LinkedIn (Part 1 of the 3: Be)

Before treating LinkedIn part 1, for a moment I put myself in your shoes as a company manager...

Are you serious that I need to have a LinkedIn profile? How well I am now, apart from all that social media mess. In addition, I have a lot of work to waste my time in front of a screen and with people I don't know who they are or what I can get out of all this. Deep down, I already have the communication people who deal with these digital issues...

For a moment, it's me again.. And I'll tell you: Manager: You don't know how much I understand you., I had my doubts, too.. And the road is long, once you come in, it's hard to get out. And, Of course, who tells you that's managed alone, deceives you. You need to get into a new habit; And that, for so little, Are 3 Weeks (You know, the myth of 21 Days). 

If you spend a few minutes each day for the next few 21 Days, you may find that, deep down, this Linkedin thing isn't so bad. And maybe you'll even like it.. But let's not get up there., things need a certain maturation.

LinkedIn part 1: Here I show you the first ones 7 of the 21 questions LinkedIn makes you know if you're well-focused to take advantage of all this. The full itinerary includes three parts: Be, Be, Highlight, and here we'll focus on BEING.

If you're short on time, I'll summarize you in a minute of video:

LinkedIn part 1 Be: Creation / Improved PROFILE

01-  What first impression do you want to leave?

When LinkedIn asks you this is because it knows that there is always a possibility to leave a good impression of input.

To do this you have five elements that will achieve that effect.

• Your picture. If you don't put it on, your reasons you'll have (Security, Discretion...) but you miss an opportunity, say the face is the mirror of the soul. Here you go a website that will give you an opinion on the proper of that photograph. My colleague and friend Inge Sáez expands on that.
• Your name: Little to say here, except for a couple of things. If you're Latino, better use your two last names, will always help you distinguish yourself from someone who has the good taste of being called just like you. To find out more, David Diaz Robisco tells you other keys about the name.
• Your professional headline: The great opportunity to advance what you can do for others and explain where you're going. If you stay with "CEO", you know you've wasted 200 and peak characters to seduce a little more. Here Peter of Vincent it details it better.
• Sector: It's good that you add the sector that most closely resembles yours (I know, they're not all). Basically because that's how LinkedIn will suggest people, companies and groups to follow and start building a network comme il faut.
• Background: It's that picture behind your profile picture.. You can survive without putting it, but it's like you're wearing a broken shoe, a pity. Put what you want, an image of the company, of your favorite landscape. It's very landscaped, Size 1584 X 396 Px. Angels Carsi explains it better.

02-  What can you do for your customers and their companies?

This is the second impression, but it's where we look more at those of us who want to know a person in detail, and that includes your stakeholders. 

For this you have the famous "about" or "about", a space of up to 2.000 Characters (A 300 Words)

• About. Think like it's a pitch., that brief but concise speech, Direct. First the bisté, then the potatoes. First your value proposition how will you grow your customers, Shareholders, Colleagues...? Then explain how. And then explain what you're made of, what's your professional DNA, what you believe in, what moves you. Here you go an example. 

• Attention. I must confess to you that in this "about you" you play it. Here it makes all the sense to have worked before your self-known section, Objectives, purpose and value proposition of your personal/professional brand. And that's just what it includes, among other things, a process of Executive Branding. 

03-  What's your tour?

We got to the third impression, and no less. Your tour, your experience.

Another place that will show your stakeholders your very accurately told professional story

• Experience. Here it's important to put the name of every company you've been through. You'll see that LinkedIn, when you start writing, suggests it. Good sign, that means that organization has a company profile on this network, whose logo will automatically appear to you. If the company doesn't have a profile (Error) or it's disappeared (what are we going to do to him), there will be no logo.
• It details your job description: Deep down, LinkedIn won't read what you write, a robot will do it, that's why it's important to define well what you did, what you achieved, with the largest number of keywords that help that robot better understand what defines you as a professional.
• Eye with las dates: Being precise with dates is interesting, because the network can propose you to have people you agreed with. Come, remember.

After seeing this example, Tell me, how many times does it appear - naturally- the keyword "Personal Branding"? Appears 4 sometimes the keyword "personal branding", 3 the word "personal brand"… That's what I meant by the robot., is what we know as keyword positioning.

04-  What is your formative capital?

This section helps LinkedIn and your stakeholders certify that you have the hard skills to put your value propositions.

• Training. As in experiences, it's important to fine-tune with dates so LinkedIn can connect with your study colleagues and help you complete your basic network. And the network will also suggest you based on its database in corporate profiles. Unfortunately, there are many schools that haven't created a business profile (cracking mistake), and that will leave that formation without a logo.
• The latest experience and the latest training will appear in the initial first impression box. Both each experience company and each university in training can be changed to highlight in the initial block what has the most value for whom?... for your customers.
• To find out more: Miguel Gómez Caballero explains it in detail.
• Volunteering Experience: If you have it, this is the ideal place to fill in the data in the same way as experience and training. And that talks about your values, so don't waste this opportunity.

05-  What's your reputation?

Here we already enter the territory that I like: branding. The brand, your professional brand, comes to life in this section. The "about" section is still personal marketing: you talk about yourself. But here, my friend, it's the others who do it.

And here's a warning in case you think these sections shouldn't be treated with all the affection: lack of information or non-reputation is BAD reputation. That's where it's said.

• Skills and validations: Here you can include near 60 skills that define your fields of experience and knowledge well. In this case, it will be your Community on LinkedIn who validate each fitness based on "good, very good or excellent."

• Skills test: Recently, LinkedIn has included this section, more technical in nature, that allows you to publicize your network fields of knowledge such as programming languages, Adobe application domain, Autocat, video editing, SEO management, Agile methodologies... I don't see it essential in management, But everything helps.
• Recommendations: It's bad not to have any, and have too many. There's no magic number, but it should be related to the size of your community and the number of experiences. A warning: eye with recommending someone out of engagement or for giving a push, your reputation is at stake if that person doesn't meet expectations. A good way to receive is to give first. Recommendations capture the essence of your personal brand, that's why they're interesting.

06-  What do you care?

Social media is learning opportunities. And LinkedIn is one of the most complete in this field.

• Interests: LinkedIn allows you to Follow (don't connect) leaders Influential world cups like Bill Gates, René Brown or Daniel Goleman. Also follow Companies, To Universities and belong to Groups Professional.
• The issue of groups deserves special mention. You can apply to be a member of groups in your activity sector that allow you to learning and sharing Knowledge. And you can also ask to be a member of Groups Dand managers among which you can generate networking. But it's not just going on, you can also post, Comment, Interact, search for professionals, and that makes them a strategic place.

07-  Do we understand each other?

Few networks allow us to create profiles in multiple languages. If you speak more than one language, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

• Languages: By default, your stakeholders will see your profile in the language in which Them are using LinkedIn . If you don't have a profile in that language, they'll see your profile in the language you used during setup.
• Creating a profile in another language is easy: Add section > Supported languages > Add profile in another language. You won't need to translate company names, Schools, check-in and check-out dates. The rest, all the information, Yes.

And with this we finish the LinkedIn part 1 (Be). Next week, I'll wait for you with the 2nd part: Be, activating the profile with other 7 Issues.

Here's the LinkedIn podcast part 1 (Be). You can also hear it in Spotify, Apple Podcast And Google Podcast.