4 Things Professionals Don’t Do on LinkedIn

May 18, 2016/0 Comments/in Communications, Human Interest, Marketing, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

It’s official! I have been on LinkedIn for more than 10 years now. Over that time I have worked with a lot of individuals and companies —more than I can remember really —to help them with their social media and their overall marketing strategies.

Unfortunately there are still some basic things that should be avoided that many people still insist on doing when using LinkedIn. These things can really affect their credibility quite frankly. The good news is, there are some very simple fixes and I have listed several below:

Unprofessional photos – Of all the places that you want to look professional, LinkedIn is it. This is “the” professional network. Your photo should reflect what your profession is, or what you want it to be. Take the time to get a professional photo.

To help, remember to keep things simple. If in doubt, wear clothing that is simple. No patterns or bold colours. It’s not that colour isn’t good. It is. In my current profile pic, I am actually wearing orange. However, not everyone feels comfortable with that choice. Keep make-up and hair clean and simple too.

2. Avoid Writing in Third Person – For the life of me I can’t imagine why someone would think that it is a good idea to write about yourself in the third person. It sounds odd and out of touch.

3. Make use of showcasing “YOUR” publications – This is a great feature…”IF” you actually have written and published material.

Make no mistake about it, this section is to showcase your writing. Never, ever use this section to repost blogs or works written by other people.

Also, this is not the section to showcase media interviews that you have done with reporters. I have recently seen a few profiles where people put links to interviews and list themselves as well as the reporters as the authors. They aren’t authors. They are interview subjects. This is both confusing and misleading. It also suggests that people don’t understand what being an author is.

4. Avoid listing your martial status – This one people might not agree with me, but I don’t feel that this is appropriate for a professional networking site. It is not a dating site. So, skip it.

There are many other tips for your LinkedIn profile to make you shine, but these are four very easy quick hits.

Want to learn more about LinkedIn? Check out my other blog posts on the topic, or reach out to me for a consultation.

3 Easy Tips to Freshen Up Your Social Media Profiles

April 6, 2015/0 Comments/in Marketing, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

When was the last time you updated your social media profiles? Has it been awhile? It has…hasn’t it? I know, I know, it can be daunting when you haven’t touched them in awhile. But relax, we have some really easy tips to freshen up your social media profiles. And, now is a perfect time to update your social profiles. After all, they are an extension of who you are – your personal brand. What do your profiles say about you? Let’s dig in:

1. Picture This!

Still have the egg avatar on Twitter? Is your LinkedIn image your company logo? It’s time to get a headshot of you! Remember, these are your personal reputation assets and they should serve as a way for people to recognize you, not your employer.

We know from research that profiles with photos get more views. Why? Well, primarily it’s about human nature. People want to connect with people. After all, social media is a means to be social, so be social. Say cheese!

2. Don’t be Bio Shy

Whether in Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and on and on, be sure to always complete your bio. Do you have to write a book about who you are? Of course not. Each channel however, does have different character limitations in terms of length. A general rule of thumb is shorter is better. If you have a longer bio, you can always put a link to your about.me page.

3. Some Simple but VERY Important LinkedIn Profile Tips:

Be sure to include a summary at the top of your profile, but please, please and please don’t speak in the third-person. That is just weird and creepy!
Update your LinkedIn url to be reflective of your name and not the default.
And be sure to turn of your auto notification setting so that every time you edit your profile, notifications aren’t sent out to your network. It’s easy to do really…just go to your Privacy and Settings click on “Manage” and then click on the “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts” as noted below. This will help ensure that you aren’t inundating people.

Of course there are many other things that you can do to improve your profiles, but these are the basics that every professional can easily implement within only a few minuts …well maybe not the photo, but everything else. Your social profiles are an extension of you, the story you tell about yourself. They are your personal brand. Take control!

Looking for help with your marketing and social media? Click here, we’ve got you covered!

The Sunday Brief (June 1, 2014)

June 1, 2014/0 Comments/in Human Interest, Marketing/by Heather-Anne MacLean

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Brief. The Sunday Brief is intended to be my medium to share with you a few of my top picks from the previous week in one short collection. As I write this I am enjoying a cup of flavoured coffee, which I realize is sacrilegious to many, but Spicy Mayan Chocolate is just too good to not indulge. So, I hope that you sit down with your favourite cup of coffee and enjoy:

1. Wolf Blitzer Sings Hungry Like the Wolfe

O.k. this one is completely out of the norm, but it made me smile and laugh. Wolf is typically so serious, that this just seemed to be one I had to include.

The Sunday Brief, heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com, Heather-Anne MacLean

Image courtesy of http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

2. Internet Trends 2014 Code Conference

This is a great SlideShare document with great insights and information into the industry. In fact, it is jammed packed with trends and data…lots of data. And, as a marketer this is our equivalent to porn…seriously, good marketers love data.

3. If I were 22 – Advice to Women

Last week I was asked to write a piece for LinkedIn’s series of If I were 22. How could I not. I wish someone would have given me this advice when I graduated. Love to hear your thoughts on it.

Did I miss a fav of yours from last week? If so, let me know. Also, let’s connect! Follow me at @MacLeanHeather or @TaylorMadeWorks.

If I Were 22 – Advice to Women (From LinkedIn Post)

May 30, 2014/2 Comments/in Human Interest/by Heather-Anne MacLean

Note: this post previously appeared on LinkedIn’s series, If I Were 22.

Like many, I have been asked to write for LinkedIn about my advice that I would give to the new college graduates.

Thinking back to when I was 22, which really was not “that” long ago. At least I like to think that is the case. I was full of excitement and ideals when I graduated with my first degree. So, I will share some thoughts/advice focused on women graduates.

1. Listen – learn to really listen. Women tend to be better listeners by nature, but never lose that skill. Being able to listen to people gives you the ability to hear many things. You learn a lot about people, how they communicate and what they communicate. But really, it is more than just listening, it is also observing.

When you can listen and observe with skill, you learn more about people than you would ever expect. This skill will become increasingly important as you mature and your career grows. Never forget to listen (and observe).

2. Fight your Doubts – I recently became more aware that women have more inner doubt than men. Reading The Confidence Code has been very interesting. Many thoughts I have had over my career, I thought I was alone and never really shared my inner doubts, out of fear. Turns out that I am like every other woman I know. Over the years, I have learned to squash those thoughts and move past them, thankfully. However, I am now having those conversations to help and mentor those coming behind me.

Women don’t need to doubt their experience or expertise. We should embrace it and each other.

3. Support your Female Colleagues – The more we support and nurture each other through our careers, the better it will be for all of us, and in particular new graduates. Prove the stereotype wrong. Women can work together AND we can and do make a difference.

4. Find your Voice – Along with fighting your inner doubts and supporting your female colleagues, find your own inner voice and learn to speak up and often. I am not saying to speak just for the sake of speaking, but rather share your ideas and question practices and ideas that don’t make sense. Provide your solutions and ideas. Don’t be afraid. The worse that can happen is that someone says “no”.

5. Embrace Change – This is a bit cliche, but the only constant is change. It is true. The more comfortable I became with change, the better my career was. I could bounce back quicker from setbacks, learn new skills quicker and generally be happier than those that could not. If things aren’t changing in your career I would question that. Embracing change will always help you advance.

6. Forgive – Crap happens to everyone. Sometimes things will happen that hurt you. Sometimes things will happen to you that hurt you. Learn to forgive and move on. Learn from the experience and use it as your mature.

7. Network – This is probably one of the biggest things that women need to learn to do well. It took me quite a while to learn this and to focus on doing it. I know a lot of people and don’t have trouble meeting people, but networking is an art all on its own. Many years later I still work to hone this skill. I wish I had started to learn this just out of school! Having a solid network has come in handy for my professional goals numerous times. I am both humbled and grateful that I have made the connections I have. I have learned a lot from some pretty amazing people over my career.

8. Have Fun – Always remember to have fun and enjoy what you are doing. Life is too short to not have fun. If you aren’t having fun, you need to either create your own fun, or move on to something that will make you happy. Chance are if you are not happy, you are not operating at the best you can and you might be making others unhappy.

So, if I were 22 again, these are the things that I wish someone would have sat me down and said: “Heather, here are 8 tips you need to know, understand and live by. They will serve you well.” If only a few new graduates take this advice, I will be happy. Of course the more the merrier.

If you like this post, feel free to connect on Twitter: @MacLeanHeather

5 Ways Sales Experts Use LinkedIn to Generate Leads

May 20, 2014/0 Comments/in Sales/by Heather-Anne MacLean

While my background is predominately marketing and PR, I have done my share of business development. I have also worked with some of the best business development professionals in the world. While at CARIS and salesforce.com, I got to work with the best of the best. And, the best part, I am going to share what I learned from working with the best with you. Here are 5 ways that sales experts use LinkedIn to Generate Leads. (Disclosure: while at CARIS, LinkedIn didn’t exist, but the sales practices did.)

1. Don’t be there just for the sale

This is the first and most important action that a person must plan for. When doing business development, regardless of what tool, forum or event you are leveraging, don’t just be there for the sale. While the terms relationship selling or relationship management has been very overused in the last few years, this is one that you can’t mess up.

When using LinkedIn, this becomes even more important as your activity is much more visible. For example, joining Groups is a great way to not only expand your knowledge of a topic or industry, but also to prospect. That being said, if you join a group and your only activity is clearly to sell “something” and then you disappear until the next time you want to sell “something”, you risk being called out and damaging not only your own creditability, but that of the organization that you represent.

Key Take-Away: LinkedIn is not a short-term “thing”. It is a structured approach to building your network and developing a give and take relationship. Successful sales people don’t just take, they find ways to give. They also don’t pitch before the relationship is formed.

2. Share, Share and Share

As a follow-up to #1, building networks and connections is about giving. Sharing is a great way to do this.

The key for LinkedIn however, is utilizing it correctly. It is not like Twitter or your personal Facebook or Google+ page. You should not be sharing continually. Instead, select one or two pieces of content to share with your network. Be sure to share no more than twice per day and some days, only once. Any more than that, and people will turn off your notifications. You can also target certain groups and/or people to make things even more specific.

If your organization has its own blog, it is great to share content that will be helpful to contacts. This can be a great source. Another great source is to share content created by your prospects. Pick really great information to share with your network.

Key Take-Away: Be sure to share, but maintain a proper balance. Understanding how to use LinkedIn is key to this.

3. Leverage SMART Methods to Prospect

Specific: Check who has viewed your profile, Group Updates, review Announcements of Companies that you are following, view Alumni Groups and conduct searches using boolean operators. An example of the latter is: CFO or Chief Financial Officer and Life Sciences. (use title variations and industry)

Measurable: One of the best ways to get measurable results is through introductions. If you have a connection, that you have built a solid relationship with that is connected to the person you want to meet, ask. Be sure to explain how you want to be introduced and why. Remember though to keep #1 in mind. Build the relationship first.

Achievable: When prospecting using a tool like LinkedIn, set realistic and achievable targets. If you are using LinkedIn properly, you won’t be able to connect with dozens of people in one day. So, it is important that you and your management team understand what is realistic and what is not.

Relevant: When reaching out to a prospect, but sure to use relevant information. For example, if you noticed that they have recently connected with someone else you know, or changed jobs, cross check their profiles. For the latter, LinkedIn will sometimes send out an update saying “congratulate” so and so, but they have really been in the job for sometime. While it might be an “in” it might also appear that you are trying to hard to find a reason to connect.

Time: Like relevancy, timing is everything. Commenting or sharing a post from weeks or months ago, can demonstrate that you are a little behind the times. Of course, should something have occurred to make it timely again, like an update or some other advice that you can add, that is a good thing.

Key Take-Away: Be prepared to understand how to use LinkedIn and leverage existing contacts when possible.

4. Leverage Other Sources

Be sure to follow relevant conversations in other channels. For example, most industries have “lists” of top performers. By following organizations/individuals on Twitter that put out these lists, you can always leverage this information to congratulate the person.

Key Take-Away: Don’t rely on one source and one source only. By judiciously following key industry people and developing Twitter Lists, you can keep up-to-date without getting bogged down in hundreds, if not thousands of Tweets or conversations. However, remember the points above, particularly the point about when to pitch.

5. Making a Pitch Matter

Of course we all want out pitches to matter and be acted upon, but that is not always the case, as we know. Far too many people make pitches using LinkedIn using only the generic “let’s connect” message and then once you accept, they begin to inundate you with sales pitches. Alternatively, they send you a long message about how they will change your world, without even understanding if you need to have your world changed.

When making that first connection, always use a custom message and offer something that is of value to your prospect. This of course suggests that you have spent the time necessary to understand who they are and what it is that they need. For example, if you see them asking a question in a Group and you know someone that can help them with their question, offer to make the introduction. When you send a personal note to someone that shows that you put effort into the message, it makes a difference.

Key Take-Away: As human beings we naturally gravitate towards individuals who show an interest in us. Putting some effort into a pitch can make a difference between getting a meeting and not.

Want to learn more? Feel free to sign up for our newsletter at TaylorMade Solutions (insert “newsletter” into inquiry box)

6 Tips to Protect Your Personal Data, Including Your Digital Exhaust

May 6, 2014/0 Comments/in Human Interest, Marketing, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

How much thought do you give to your personal information that you share on line? With identity theft on the rise along with scammers of all sorts looking for ways to find our personal data weaknesses, we should be thinking about this a lot more than we do. We need to always be thinking about our personal data, including our digital exhaust.

6 Tips to Protect Your Personal Data, Including Your Digital Exhaust, heatherannemaclean.wordpress.com

Image courtesy of drbonnie360.com

There are many types of personal information that we leave behind, and it would seem that we do so willingly. Sometimes we give up a significant amount of information just to get something for free. Sometimes we put the information out there willingly not realizing what we are doing. For example, I once had a coworker who not only put his birthday on LinkedIn, but he put his wedding anniversary and his home mailing address. This is a lot of personal information given up completely voluntarily and is known as Digital Exhaust. Digital exhaust is the information that we willing give out and leave behind when on line and downloading information, doing online purchases, playing games, adding details to our online profiles, etc.

At best, these little tidbits about our personal life tell people we know more about us. Worse case scenario, we have left behind so much information that we have basically given a full profile of who we are, where we live, what we do and what we like to do. This is digital exhaust and many of us don’t even know that it exists. In fact, there are many less than ethical people out there who will work to aggregate our digital exhaust and use it against us. So, let’s get to the list:

1. Is Free Really Free?

Think about the offers that excite and intrigue you. Often times they offer something in return for you signing up for “something”. But, like my mother always says, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. By filling out a form and/or downloading information, you are often asked for some personal details. In and of itself, this is not a bad thing. Most reputable companies do this and they respect your data. But, if you are asked for more than your title, telephone #, email, company name and information like this, think twice. Ask yourself why they would need your birthdate for example?

2. You Want My Credit Card Why?

Ever get offered a free trial for something only to have them ask for your credit card info? This is a personal preference, but anyone that offers me something as a trial at no cost is NOT getting my credit card information. If I choose to continue using the product/service, then and only then will I give that information. Technology today is a wonderful thing and if they offer something for free for a month, they can easily cut me off at that point if I don’t pay.

3. Birthdays, Anniversaries and Marital Status

Sure it is nice to get a Happy Birthday from someone, but why do you need to put this on your LinkedIn profile? How many places is that “really” relevant. At least on Facebook you can hide it. For profiles like LinkedIn, and I love LinkedIn so don’t get me wrong, but you are already willingly giving your workplace, the names of your schools, publications you have been in and much more. Why in the world would you also give this additional information and make it public.

4. Accepting Connection Requests

Certainly people want to build out their LinkedIn connections, but there is something to be said about quantity over quality. Again, this is a case where you need to devise your own strategy to determine who you will connect with and who you won’t. I recently wrote about LinkedIn becoming the next tool for spammers. I noticed that I was receiving a significant amount of connection requests from people that had no reason to connect with me. With one google search, I realized my instincts were correct. These requests were coming from people who were not being forthright with who they are. I didn’t accept. I have since learned that their accounts have been disabled. Good job LinkedIn!

5. Public Profiles and Privacy Settings

Most social networks offer some level of privacy. Always check and know your settings. For example, to limit the exposure of my detailed information being used, my Public Profile for LinkedIn does not tell the entire story. I chose what details would be public. It is a great feature!

6. Apps

You know the saying: “there’s an app for that” and there probably is. I would caution people on Facebook for example when playing games and using various apps. While not all are like this, there are apps that require you to give up access to all your personal information, your connections, email and contact information, etc. While you might choose to give up “your” personal information, your friends will appreciate you more if you don’t introduce them to risks!

These are just a few ways to help keep you safe while online. In this case you are in the drivers’ seat and you can ultimately decide what you do and don’t release. Anything that you would add to this list that I haven’t?

Want to learn even more? Sign up for our newsletter at TaylorMade Solutions (insert “newsletter” into inquiry box)

11 Reasons to Celebrate LinkedIn’s 11 Years

May 5, 2014/1 Comment/in Human Resources, Influence, Marketing, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

First off, Happy Birthday LinkedIn! As a Tween, you have a lot to be proud of! So, let’s take a look at 11 Reasons to Celebrate LinkedIn’s 11 Years.

After starting out in Reid Hoffman’s living room in 2002 and officially launched on May 5th, 2003, the results are not too shabby. Let’s take a look at the highlights:

After one month, LinkedIn had a membership network of 4,500.
LinkedIn operates the world’s largest online professional network on the with more than 300 million members.
LinkedIn is used in over 200 countries and territories.
67% of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States.
Professionals are signing up to join LinkedIn at a rate of more than two new members per second.
The fast growing demographic is students with over 39 million (students and recent college graduate.
LinkedIn is currently available in 22 languages:

English
Simplified Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
French
German,
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Malay
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Spanish
Swedish,
Tagalog
Thai
Turkish

8. LinkedIn has continued to evolve to offer products/services that professionals seek – for example a publishing forum for all users.

9. If you include a photo with your profile, you are 11 times more likely to have your profile viewed.
Executives from ALL Fortune 500 Companies are on LinkedIn.

10. There are more than 1.5 million unique publishers actively using the LinkedIn Share button on their sites to send content into the LinkedIn platform.

11. More than 3 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages.

With the increase in use and importance of LinkedIn for your personal brand, your corporate brand, have you thought about what your LinkedIn Profile looks like? If you haven’t, you should and we can help. For more information on LinkedIn Audits, contact us.

Is LinkedIn the Next Tool for Super Spam?

April 29, 2014/1 Comment/in Influence, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

Remember the email from a certain part of the world that offered us millions of dollars if we helped some widow or bank employee get unclaimed money out of the country? Or, more recently how about those super annoying calls from people that claim to be calling from California because they somehow know that our computers are either not working properly or have been hacked? Of course the best part of the call is that if we give them control of our computers they can fix it for us…ya, you know what I am talking about. I found it ironic that some of these crafty souls moved from email to telephone, but now I fear that they have found a new medium: LinkedIn. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if LinkedIn is the next tool for super spam.

I really hope not. I love LinkedIn. I think that it is a very well done social network for professionals. It has been a very effective tool for networking and engaging with industry experts for me, as well as countless others. Let’s hope that what I am noticing is just an anomaly, and that the spammers haven’t found a way to ruin it. That being said, there are some ways that you can be on the look out for potential spammers; and some best practices that I adhere to, which will also help to deter spammers:

1. Make Strategic Connections – It’s Not A Numbers Game

A sample of a request I received. This LinkedIn profile no longer exists. I would say that the spammers were shut down.

While some argue that you should connect with everyone who asks, I am not one who prescribes to this. LinkedIn is an important networking tool and like in real-life, you don’t invite everyone into your private or semi-private life. You want to build a relationship.

When I make connection requests, I do so carefully. Equally as important is who I accept connection requests from. I don’t automatically press “accept”. To the contrary! I check out each person. If I have met the person, that is one criteria for acceptance. If I have not actually met the person, but I am in the same geographic region or industry, I will likely accept. The probability is increased when we have mutual connections.

If however, I have never met the person, we are not in the same geographic location in the world, we are not in the same industry and we have no mutual connections, there is a very good chance that I won’t accept.

Key Take-Away: Focusing on your industry and mutual connections is a great way to help get the spammers at bay.

2. Play Investigator

If your goal is to increase your numbers, or if you don’t feel comfortable pressing the “ignore” button, do play investigator. Take a look at the person connecting with you. Does the avatar look real? Or, does the quality seem a bit off. While this can’t be a guarantee that someone has set up a fake profile, potentially using someone else’s photograph, it is a symptom. Google the person and the company that he or she claims to work for. Can you find the company? Better yet, can you find any reference for that person connected to the company?

What is the message that is being sent? Is it one offering you a financial deal and/or benefit? Like the phoney email sent offering you huge sums of money, this is yet another scam.

Is the person asking you to contact him or her via email to act upon this deal? What is the email being used. Is it a company email? Is it a gmail? Is it a hotmail account?

Depending on how you answer these questions, you should also have a good indication about the validity of the request.

Key take-away: don’t be afraid to check out the person requesting to connect. After all, this is your professional network and you want quality connections – and no spam.

3. Take Your Time

Again, if you are not comfortable pressing ignore, but are suspect, wait a few days. I recently got a request that not only offered me a financial deal, but the avatar was a bit wonky and I couldn’t find any reference to the company and/or the person when I did a search. I did hit ignore and ultimately the spam feature, but kept the request for use in the blog post that I was going to do. As I was writing this post, I thought that I would do one more check. Sure enough, the profile is no longer available. Enough people saw the request for what it was and answered like I did. The person or persons was shut down.

Key take-away: being timely is important as it speaks to your personal brand; however, if you are uncertain about a particular request, waiting a day or two might result in action already occurring to fix the issue.

With a bit of due diligence we can keep the spammers at bay.

Want to learn even more? Sign up for our newsletter at TaylorMade Solutions (insert “newsletter” into inquiry box)

Easy Tips to Help You Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

March 28, 2014/0 Comments/in Marketing/by Heather-Anne MacLean

These are some basic tips for your LinkedIn profile. We can help you make your profile stand out.

3 Quick & Easy Tips to Freshen Your Social Media Profiles for Spring

March 24, 2014/0 Comments/in Influence, Marketing, Social Media/by Heather-Anne MacLean

Think Spring cleaning is just for your home? Think again. Our social media profiles, whether personal or for our brands can also use a freshening. Here are 3 tips to freshen up your social media profiles:

Updating Your Social Media Profiles – Image of TaylorMade Solutions

1. Update Your Avatars (Profile Pics)

This should be the most obvious on the list. When was the last time that you updated your social media profiles pics? If you still are using the “egg” for your profile pic on Twitter, it is time to crack that habit and lay the groundwork for a professional pic that enables people to recognize you.

The same goes for outdated pics across all channels. If you are using a picture for LinkedIn from your first day on the job and that was five years ago, it’s time to update! If people can’t recognize you by your avatar, then your impacting your personal brand.

For corporate brands, has your logo changed? Are you using an image that is now outdated? Shake it up and update asap!

2. Update Your Bio

Like your photo, a lot can change over a year or a few years. It’s time to wipe the cobwebs off of your outdated profile. Hobbies changed? New job? New blog? Remember to add the appropriate keywords for what you now do.

The same goes for corporate “About” pages, etc. While your core business may not have changed, business terms and keywords do change. Make sure that you are putting your best foot forward by freshening up your corporate information and reflecting current business strategies and tactics.

3. Create or Eliminate

Equally important for personal and corporate brands, if you are not listening and engaging with your audience in the right channels, then find out what channels you need to be a part of and carefully determine if it makes sense for you to be in that space as well. If you find that your audience (customers, prospects and competitors) are all in that space and you are not, then you are likely loosing out.

The same goes for channels that no longer work for your audience. If you have found that you are spending time and money in a channel that is getting zero engagement due to the fact that your audience is longer present, it’s time to re-evaluate. If it is no longer working, exercise judgement and eliminate this time waster. Focus on channels that net results: leads, conversions and sales.

Looking for some additional tips for setting up your profiles in order to meet best practices? Check out these resource for LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

Want to learn more? Sign up for our newsletter at TaylorMade Solutions (insert “newsletter” into inquiry box)

Tag Archive for: LinkedIn