There are 3 elements that contribute to your LinkedIn and Social reputation.
- Your profile and brand
- Your content and education that you offer
- Your community
1. Let’s drill down into these a bit. First, your brand on LinkedIn begins with your profile. In fact, this could quite possibly be your first impression many get of you, so be sure that it represents you well. It’s a lot of the basics like a professional picture and a headline that is value proposition oriented not job title. Your headline should tell your story in 120 characters. If your profile is engaging, transparent and even educational, you will begin to build trust. In fact, if you add an educational video [5 LINKEDIN VIDEO TIPS SO YOU NEVER HAVE TO COLD CALL AGAIN] and offer your viewers great advice before they even meet with you, they will want to meet with you, and that is our goal!
2. Education comes from the content you share and it represents the way you do business. Becoming a thought leader and subject matter expert will quickly gain trust with your connections and fellow group members. The content doesn’t have to be all original, in fact, sharing other people’s content is encouraged, but be sure to add your commentary, a couple of lines about why you are sharing it and how you believe it can help. You will build trust by sharing content that matters to your network. If you can create your own content through videos or blogs, your online credibility will grow quickly!
3. Building and engaging your community is the final element in building trust. Building begins with connecting with the right people. People that you know from the real world, like-minded individuals that you meet through thoughtful engaging discussions in groups, and targeted connections of people that we would like to get to know better. The key is to connect and engage without selling. The connecting is the easy part, but engaging is critical. I don’t connect with one person without a follow up email, one that invites them to join my LinkedIn Group and share a blog post or video. And some, I will request to schedule a phone call to explore ways we might work together. They key is not to just collect connections, but to build a community that knows who you are and sees you as a thought leader and the trust will follow.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO ASK FOR INTRODUCTIONS FROM YOUR NETWORK.
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