Confessions of a LinkedIn Master Who Dreamt of Taming LinkedIn

Confessions of  the Woman Who Set Out to Tame LinkedIn

Dawn Adlam wrote a book called Professional LinkedIn Profile: How to Gain the Recognition You Deserve (you can get it here: https://amzn.to/2zSaom5). I asked Dawn to write something about her book and this is the story in her own words...

“I don’t know about you, but if I hear the word ‘manual’ I run a mile! Imagine trawling through pages of how-to and images that don’t match the text. You’ve probably been there and got completely bogged down.

One of my goals (written down, of course!) was to write a book; isn’t, after all, a book in all of us waiting to be written? I fancied it would be a novel and had lots of ideas floating around but it went no further.

Then one day, out of the blue, I got a call from Paul. He said he knew I was a LinkedIn expert and asked me if I was interested in writing a book on how to use LinkedIn properly. I hadn’t thought about it, but when I did it made me recall the many, many people who had attended my LinkedIn workshops and training sessions who had asked the same thing.

The seed was there and Paul’s call got me galvanized into action. And little did I know of all the blood sweat and tears it would take over more than two years to do it. You’ll understand me when you write yours.

I guarantee this is not a laborious manual (at least, I don’t think so!). You will find the chapters short and divided into even shorter sections. So, you can pick it up and put it down as and when you want to make changes to your profile and step up your LinkedIn activity.

Let’s talk LinkedIn first…

Have you ever googled yourself? Random question I know; but try it. You will find that Google will rank your LinkedIn profile usually in the top four places. You want to make the best impression possible when anyone finds and then looks you up on LinkedIn.

In the few seconds it takes someone to view your LinkedIn profile he or she will have formed an impression of you. Are you professionally presented, do you show value?

Or, as it happens in many cases, is your profile all about you and how fantastic you are? Or, even worse, have you hardly any information on display so no one knows what you do?

This book will help you polish the impression you make, be it first or throughout your LinkedIn profile. You can use any part of the book as stand-alone chapters, yet I would urge you to begin building a fabulous LinkedIn profile first as it is the best place to start if you want to use LinkedIn to a devastating effect. Here’s why.

LinkedIn is here to stay and if you are a professional, and by this I mean, if you are a business owner, director, employer, employee, an entrepreneur or someone who wants to get ahead in life, you need to have a presence on LinkedIn. Unless, of course, you don’t want to:

• Be part of the world’s largest online Business Directory
• Get noticed online (and offline, as a result)
• Have a viable business looking for new clients and markets
• Build exposure in your industry
• Handle more sales coming your way

I know you are busy running a business or a team, generating sales or marketing products and services, and if I were to train you I would ask you many, many questions. Here are some of the…

Questions not many LinkedIn members think about

Why are you on LinkedIn? What do you want to get out of it? Who is your ideal client? What methods of marketing do you use? Why would one want to connect to you, or be interested in checking on your profile and so on? You get the idea.

In return, ask me this: Why would I spend thousands of hours writing a book on how to use LinkedIn? What for? Here’s why.

After training thousands of people just like you on how to crack LinkedIn (I have to use it day in and day out), imparting good quality information gradually became easy for and came naturally to me. But not to those I teach. That’s why they come to me, so I can share my experience to enable them can crack LinkedIn like a pro. If you use LinkedIn, this time I would like to come to you so you don’t have to come to me.

LinkedIn users vary dramatically. The more confident ones just get stuck in and start making new connections, setting up calls and sharing material. There are also people who need time to think about what they want to say and how; they plan their connection strategy carefully and like to stay a little more under the radar.

Let’s talk about You and Your business…

It doesn’t matter what type of user you are, LinkedIn can play a huge part in your sales and marketing strategy. Imagine if you could have a resource you could refer to at any time of the day or night. You can now in this book have that resource to crack LinkedIn like a pro, too.

It’ll help you maximize the time spent using LinkedIn and the beauty of it is you can move at your own pace. With short snappy “to do” sections, you won’t get bogged down and can dip in and out at your own pace.

You are in control of the information you display, you’ll make the decisions on how and when to spend your time using LinkedIn as a powerful sales and marketing force.

But there are a few things you have to do before jumping into the sales activity, such as laying strong foundations for your LinkedIn profile. And one of the elements of it, for example, is not to accept every connection request you get before checking if it is good for you.

Once you get started strengthening your LinkedIn profile and you won’t stop and would want to do more. Here are some of the many ways this book will help you:

Boost Income with Less Time and Effort: You’ll learn simple tips and hints to maximize the time you spend on LinkedIn. For example, you can create a document in Slideshare and share it across three social media platforms all at the touch of a button; it is powerful stuff!

Stand Tall and Be Noticed: Your profile is like a jigsaw puzzle; you will stand out from your competition once you complete it with keywords and value statements. Remember, try not to make your profile all about you, make it resonate with the viewer on how you help them.

Get New Clients: Once you complete your profile you can start using the advanced search to create a fabulous prospect list. For example, you can search for a person by name, by title and by Company Page, it’s one of the many ways to search and connect to new people.

Widen Your Client Base: You can start making new connections and engage with the wider online community. For example, by starting conversations with new connections you’ll grow your opportunities to do business. There are many templates in the book you can use.

Grab the Job You Deserve: You will fast track the system and move you towards your next new role in the shortest time possible. It’s crucial that you know the type of job you want. Did you know that by connecting to Recruitment companies or following their pages you can see the jobs they are promoting?

Outsmart Competition: You will learn how to combine using Groups, Slideshare or the Home Page, just to name a few, to start getting noticed. Joining up the online dots saves so much time. For example, connect your Twitter account to your LinkedIn profile and you can tweet directly from LinkedIn.

Build Your Network: You will learn how to build up a solid database of real people you can engage, share material with and showcase your product and services.  Having a LinkedIn profile but no activity rarely works. For example, making two new connections a day would be 40 new connections a month; it only takes a few minutes each day.

Create a LinkedIn Profile Bursting with Life: You will learn how to create and send out marketing material directly from your profile to showcase your services. For example, you can upload your company video directly to your profile and bring your world to life.

Proving You Are the Expert to Turn to: You can share your expertise with your connections and the wider online community and position yourself as an expert in your field. For example, you can start conversations in groups you belong to and share tips and advice.

Establish a Solid Brand: From setting up a Company page to cross-selling all your products and services you will establish a presence for your business. For example, in your Company page you can add Showcase pages for all your products and services.

Cement Foundations of a Bright Future: You can create your own personal prospecting plan, generate new clients and in turn establish an income stream that is steady and long term.  For example, weaving LinkedIn into your working day means you spend regular time working “on” your business and not “in” it, something we all need to do to generate more sales.

There are many benefits when it comes to learning how to use LinkedIn successfully. I am still learning! But if I were to pick up one, my absolute favourite (I hope the book can help make it yours, too) is the ability LinkedIn gives to…

Get to Know and Help Others Succeed

I have had the privilege of being part of a global networking organization (BNI) for over a decade now. A face to face networking based on the philosophy of ‘Givers Gain’; the more you give, the more you gain. This dovetails with LinkedIn.

Try asking your new and existing connections, “How can I help you?” and you’ll be amazed at the responses you get. The more you give, the more you gain. It needs to be a genuine offer though or people see through it. 

Help as many people as possible on LinkedIn (the online world) which will lead you help them in the real face to face world. If you spend time only on LinkedIn and never engage with your connections in having real conversations together, they will only ever stay on LinkedIn. Be the first to start the real conversation and you’ll see the magic unfold.

But the magic is not going to happen overnight, because this is not how success comes your way. I have worked with some fabulous people, witnessed and shared their success along the way as they did it bit by bit.

Keep at it and it’ll happen. I know and I guarantee you’ll do it. What’s more, you’ll do it your way because that is what being successful is about; putting your mark on it.

This book will help you release the magic on LinkedIn; benefitting you, your business and ultimately your bottom line. But don’t leave it for too long, the sooner the better. And if the book doesn’t deliver what I promise, you will get the money back.

I hope you enjoy the book and I would love to hear the difference it has made to your business once you get going.

Professional LinkedIn Profile: How to Gain the Recognition You Deserve is available in eBook and paperback. Get it now using the links below and I will see you on the other side!

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2zSaom5
Amazon US:  https://amzn.to/2UyFKHi

My publisher has promised to donate 100% of his royalties to a good cause for each review posted. Let’s make a difference together and enjoy the book!”

That was Dawn’s story about her book and what it can do for you and your business.

And a promise is a promise: Please leave a review and I will donate all publisher royalties to a good cause, no questions asked. Find at the bottom details how to do it. Here are the links again:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2zSaom5
Amazon US:  https://amzn.to/2UyFKHi

Paul

PS. 1: Who do you know who would benefit from this article? Please refer this piece to your friends or colleagues.

PS. 2 Other LinkedIn Success series
How to Become a LinkedIn Top-Drawer: https://bit.ly/3bgal3L
Do You Make These Blunders in Your LinkedIn Profile: https://bit.ly/2xupwYM
Confessions of a LinkedIn Loser Who Discovered the Damn Thing Actually Works (not ready yet)

About Paulin Prifti
Paulin publishes fiction and non-fiction books via Paul Smith Publishing London. He deals with manuscript evaluation, finalising publishing agreements, editing and publishing. A crucial part of his job is making sure every stage in the book publishing chain runs smoothly.

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