LinkedIn, the professionals networking site, continues to connect professionals who are seeking to build a strong network. LinkedIn has come a long way from being just a job seekers platform and is now where connections are made and businesses are built. Your profile is no longer a copy-paste of your resume.

Your LinkedIn profile is your online voice as it describes your professional experience, tells why you are there and what you can offer to the community. This is the one platform where you as an individual are the focus and self promotion is expected. Two of the most important aspects of your profile are your photo as people want to see who they are connecting with and also your summary.

Writing a Killer Summary

Your summary is what is searched and also skimmed. Yes, skimmed. People take a quick once over and will continue on unless they find something in your summary that compels them to want to connect and learn more.

Tip: Write in the first person. It is you, your profile so avoid speaking in any other person than first.

1. Opening Paragraph. Your first is what is skimmed first. Make it powerful. Your first paragraph needs to tell why you are there. Are you seeking employment? Are you a  consultant who can help small businesses or are you there just to network and learn from others? Say that.

Ex: I am seeking a full time position in Social Media, specifically as a Social Media Manager or Director of Community, with a small to mid-sized company who is looking to increase their online presence through a comprehensive social media marketing strategy.

There is no question as to why you are active on LinkedIn. Connections and Employers will have a clear understanding what you are looking for and how they can help you.

2. Middle Paragraph(s).The middle paragraphs are where you delve into what you currently are doing as well as your previous positions and how they relate to your current skills and what you are seeking now. Be sure to use keywords and core industry phrases as these will appear in search results. If you education is relevant to what you are seeking, add that (if not, skip it as it is prominently placed above the summary in the blue box).

If you are a consultant here is where you would discuss what type of work you do most (ie SM consultant broken down further to blog consultant, community builder, etc), what types of clients you would be looking for (ie small businesses) and be clear as to where you want to go. Be precise and to the point and avoid long paragraphs. Break them up into smaller more inviting paragraphs.

Ex: As (position – president, consultant, etc) for (company name), my role is to build and execute strategies for companies seeking to engage their community via the social web. I focus primarily on four core areas: listening, content marketing, community management, and outreach.

I have worked in both the advertising and marketing industry for the past 12 years. During this time I worked closely with clients in various industries which afforded me the opportunity to learn about management, fostering successful client relationships, professionalism and team work. Through my experience I have learned that I am especially skilled at creating a winning strategy that set forth goals, objectives, strategies, tactics and the proper measurement tools.

I understand that social media is about building relationships with people through offering a unique and valuable experience. I have built a network that of influential people which has provided an opportunity to contribute on highly authoritative blogs as a guest.

3. Closing Paragraph. This is the where you have to shine. Your 3rd paragraph is all about the self promotion. Answer why you. Why should a potential employer consider picking up the phone or sending an email to discuss a position with you? Why should a potential client do the same? What makes you better than me?

Ex:I want to make the Marketing Communications industry with emphasis on driving user interaction and education my career. As a fast learner, I can grow beyond my current entry level experience quickly, offering your company a great asset as an employee. I thrive in both independent and team-oriented work environments and can effectively represent the company in professional settings.

4. Specialities. Your specialities are the industry specific buzz words. Be honest of course and do research on terms. Be sure that you are in-line with the terminology that is being used within the industry. These also appear in search results. The closer you match to search terms, the more your profile will appear in search queries.

5. Contact. This is one place where we see people leaving blank. If you are a job seeker how do you think the potential employer will get in touch with you? Send you a request to connect so that they can send you an email? Seriously? Be sure to have at least a direct email and/or phone number so that it is easy to contact you.

The examples above show how you can create a killer LinkedIn Summary. Whether you are a job seeker, someone who is looking to grow your business or just there to network, the key is to let people know.

Does your summary need a bit of work?

LinkedIn is a professional network where professionals connect with others who are valuable to their network. Whether this be an old friend, a previous co-worker, an employee at a company you are hoping someday to be employed by or a people that will help grow your business. The reasons may be different but the intent is the same. To grow a network of professionals that add value to the network. Finding the right people from 70 million users on LinkedIn is a challenge. Where do you start? How do you find them?

We have become accustomed to search via search engines so this is a natural place to start on LinkedIn. When we start our search, we think of core keywords that we would associate with the individual(s) that we are trying to connect with. This is of course if you do not have their name. The results are matched to the keywords in the the headline as well as the summary. However as this is an permission based connection platform, the headline is what will be featured in the search results along with y0ur name and photo and not your summary.

How to Write Compelling LinkedIn Headlines

1. What do you do? Start here and jot down terms as they relate to what your current position is. This will more than likely not be your headline however it is a starting point to see how you define yourself.

2. What do you have to offer? If you are an employee of a big company, what makes you irreplaceable? Why should a consultant connect with you? What do you have to offer to a connection other than a wave?

EX: Gardening Consultant. Finding the right vegetables to plant for your soil & climate.

3. What makes you unique? Thinking in these terms you are identifying what differentiates you from the rest of the field and why it is worth noting.

EX: Social Media Consulting. Free profile analysis to leverage brand maximize your exposure.

4. What value do you bring? Great you are a CEO but what does that mean to me? How does you being a CEO relate to where you would fit into my network?

EX: Forging business relationships internationally; supply chain management consulting.

5. What problem to you solve? A descriptive problem solving headline is beign there before they know they have a problem and when in panic and need the problem solved. We know that when we need something, we need it done right away and being able to be there already is the perfect position.

EX: Blog Consultant. Advising & educating new bloggers how to write and promote a blog to build an online community and generate sales.

We connect with people that we feel that we should get to know by either having been exposed to them in a group, exposed to their employer or find something that is unique about them whether it be from others that are connected to them or from what we read about them. What we read about them on LinkedIn is limited to their headline. You can see where the 120 character headline must be enticing and impressionable so that people will want to connect.

Looking at your current  headline, would you connect and do business with you? If not, take some time and create a headline that reflects the heart of what you are about and how you can be a strong member of a network.

LinkedIn, launched in 2003 as a professional network with under 500 users, is now connecting over  70 million people in 200 countries and territories.  Initially associated with the popular MySpace, but for adults, users quickly learned that this platform was a whole lot more. It was opportunity. Opportunity to showcase your knowledge and experience to connect with other professionals to further your career. As an online resume of sorts, LinkedIn profiles built authority through not only being shared on their site but as a high ranking personal brand throughout the web.

LinkedIn has grown from that a job seeker billboard to a connection based referral source. The days of only connecting with friends, family, previous co-workers are gone and connecting with people we need to know to jump start our career or build a business have stepped in. But, there are still many who are neglecting their LinkedIn profiles and focusing on the the flashier, sexier and fast paced platforms like Twitter and Facebook. I love Twitter and with over 12,000 tweets I suppose I should but I am here to let you in on a little secret: neglecting LinkedIn and its offerings is simply handing over business and job opportunities to someone else.

Getting Reacquainted with LinkedIn

If it has been a while since you lasted visited your LinkedIn, you are not alone. Creating and maintaining an authoritative profile starts with some basic additions. The more robust your profile as well as the more you engage and interact, the more opportunities will be presented.

LinkedIn Basics

1. Profile Photo. A photo of you to associate with the name. This is not a photo of your children (as adorable as they are), your pet, you wife/husband, your company logo. A photo of you as people do business with, interact with and connect with other people. To upload a photo, click settings and Profile photo. 
2. Vanity URL. A vanity URL  maximizes your chance of being found and increases connections and opportunities. Since their inception in 2007, most have claimed their URL (www.linkedin.com/in/yourname and not www.linkedin.com/pub/your-name/seriesofnumbersandcharacters) however if it has been that long since your last visit to LinkedIn or if something has changed, you can change your current URL by clicking on Edit Public Profile Settings on the right or edit next to the Public Profile in your blue profile box.

3. Email Settings. Invitations and opportunity preferences sent to your LinkedIn can be forwarded to an email that you designate as your primary email by clicking settings, personal information and then email addresses. Once you have designed the email return to settings, email notifications, contact settings you opt in to receive notifications.

4. Profile and Status Updates. In settings, allow significant profile and status updates to be sent to your connections so they are notified of such changes. Update your status frequently by sharing new articles, events, happenings for your company or yourself.

5. Public Profile. Your profile is not only searchable on LinkedIn but also on the search engines. LinkedIn profiles generally rank in the top 5 when a search is performed for your name. To set your profile to public and have it indexed, click on Settings, Public Profile and select Full View Recommended. You can select which items are viewable by the public from the menu list.

These are the basics to get you started reacquainting yourself with LinkedIn. Next week we will delve into headlines as your name, photo and headline are what people see when they are searching for new connections. There will be providing examples of strong headlines in various industries as people searching are not searching “Founder”, “Owner” or “CEO.”

As an open networker on LinkedIn, I welcome all connections, so let’s get connected! www.linkedin.com/in/suzannevara; email: suzanne@kherize5.com.

Have you noticed that everyone has an opinion? Not just an opinion, but an opinion on how “you” should do something. I won’t go into everything, but relating to Social Media, I won’t ever tell people what they “should” or “shouldn’t” do. I do offer my advice, you can take it or leave it.

What are the “rules” anyway, and who wrote them? I am not talking about common sense, and some people don’t have any, but I am talking about these unwritten Social Media rules that people seem to think you must follow.

Examples:

• Auto DM’s – Who said that sending out auto DM’s is against some rule? I don’t personally do that, and have never recommended it, and honestly I do get a little annoyed by it. But have you ever noticed how many people are doing it? Maybe it works for them. Maybe it drives a ton of traffic, or creates sales. I don’t know, like I said I never tried it. But who am I to tell someone else what to do?
• Self Promotion – Who said you can’t self promote? Who writes these rules that say you should have more “conversation” than you do self promotion? Maybe it works for some to use SM that way! Who am I to say?
• Advertising – Who said you can’t try to profit from your own accounts? I didn’t! I actually use a few services, and while it isn’t money to write home about, it is more than most people make off Adsense! If people are using it, and are successful at it, then who am I to say any different?

That is just a few of the more popular “rules” everyone seems to be claiming you have to follow. I actually am guilty of this same offense. I say “Who writes these rules, and why must we follow them?”

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should do these things. I am saying that we should all stop being so damned judgmental! Who are we to stick our noses into the air like we are sitting at the country club and others are at the city park? Who are we to make these unwritten rules?

I say if it works for you, then DO IT!!!! What say you?

During our #xtremesocial Twitter Chat on Thursday night, I asked a question about what you expect out of your social media efforts. It’s a simple question, but I think the response is more complicated. Most of you said you are “building relationships”. Personally, I think that is a bunch of bull!

Let me be clear, I am not here to say that “building relationships” is wrong, what I am asking is that you be honest and tell me what your real intentions are. When people respond like that, it almost sounds like they are using Twitter (or other SM sites) to make friends. I don’t believe that is true.

What I do believe, is that the “relationships” we are trying to build is more on a networking/sales level. Are you trying to build trust and authority? Are you trying to win eyeballs on your site? Are you trying to simply sell products/services?

Why is it so taboo to admit that you are trying to make sales? I just don’t understand that….

Response From Tee:

While I think Keith might be right on a portion of that, but building relationships, whether they are business or friendship is an integral part of using social media. That is why so many people have jumped on Facebook and Twitter.

Who says customers can’t still be your friends? Is there something wrong with being friends with someone that visits your blog, or buys your product?

I believe building a friendly relationship with your audience can be a key element to your social media and sales strategies. Sure, your end goal is to sell products and make money, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be approachable.

I say build lasting relationships using social media, build your audiences trust and you will find your business being more profitable. You will also meet some pretty darn interesting people, too!

Discussion:

What is your approach to building relationships using social media? Are you afraid to admit you are trying to sell something while building relationships? Let us know where you stand in the comments, and if you like the post please Re-Tweet and/or Share it on Facebook.

This week Twitter announced that 3rd party advertising apps would no longer have access to the API to send paid tweets out. I have read several articles an these changes, and have yet to find Twitter’s official statement on it.

I did, however, find an article on Sponsored Tweets blog talking about the changes and how it will affect users:

We are going to make some changes to the way Sponsored Tweets works. We will no longer be publishing directly to your account through the Twitter API. Instead you will have to write the tweet yourself in whatever Twitter client you see fit.

I was interested in what Sponsored Tweets had to say because I have an account there, and you have to reach a certain dollar amount to get paid (which I haven’t reached yet). In the 3 months I have been using Sponsored Tweets, I have only sent about 25 paid tweets out to my followers, mainly because I am a little picky on the ads I am willing to send, and I don’t want to affect my followers. But, as an internet marketer, I am always testing different ways to make extra money.

There is more to this story than just paid Tweets, developers are upset that Twitter chooses to change the rules after many have spend time and money to make apps. If it can happen to 3rd Party ad apps, who will be next?

Mashable reported some interesting opinions from developers, and it seems they are not happy with the changes.

How Does This Affect You:

Most of you probably don’t use 3rd Party ad apps, so it won’t directly affect you at all. But, what will be next? Will Twitter ban all 3rd Party mobile apps? What about other apps you may use with Twitter, are they safe?

Tee and I have been working hard behind the scenes to get everything done for the new ExtremeEzine website, and have created some new social services for you to stay up to date with us. The latest edition is a Facebook Page and Networked Blog on Facebook.

You can check out the Facebook Page here:

And the Networked Blog here:

Follow this blog

We hope you will engage with us on either of these channels if you are on Facebook.

Blackbirdpie is a plugin that allows you to use shortcode to insert individual tweets into an article or page on your blog.

Instead of just pasting the conversation into a “quoted” area, why not add some styling to it using Blackbird Pie? This tool/plugin brings the styling of the persons tweet along with it, so it adds a flare to the tweets.

As you can see, the plugin brings the styling of whoever tweet you are posting and the links are clickable too.

There are basically 2 shortcodes you can use:

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/kbloemendaal/status/14545728882"]

or

[blackbirdpie id="14490658695"]

As you can see, the second shortcode only pulls the actual id of the post on Twitter and is a little easier to insert. You will need the BlackbirdPie plugin to do this. If you don’t want to use a plugin, you can go to the online tool and just enter the url to the tweet and get a complete html code back to insert into the article.

I can think of a bunch of reasons for using this, but the most obvious to me would be to show a Twitter conversation in an article…. What about you?

As most of you know, Brian decided to destroy the newsletter list he had set up with Aweber. I think that was best for all concerned since we took over and have changed the overall topic here, the newsletter has changed.

So, this post is to let you know that if you wish to continue getting the newsletter (which of course we hope you will!), you will have to re-subscribe in the box at the right. We use Aweber for sending out newsletters (and we recommend you do the same for your site).

Mostly our newsletters will be updates from the site, but we will also occasionally send exclusive content out to the subscribers that you won’t find on the blog.

Spam:

We never spam, sell, or give away your information for ANY purpose. Your email will ONLY be used to send the newsletter.

Double Opt In:

There is a double opt in for our newsletter, for privacy reasons. So, you have to click the link in the confirmation email you will get after you sign up to get the emails. Occasionally the emails will get filtered to a “junk” folder in your inbox, so be sure to check for it there and whitelist our email address ( newsletter@extremeezine.com) so the emails will get to you.This step is really important, I noticed that only half of the subscribers we have gotten this week have confirmed the email.

If you have any questions or comments about the newsletters you get, just simply reply to the email and we will get back to you ASAP.

Keith and I are very excited to announce a new Twitter chat we have started called #xtremesocial. #xtremesocial will be every Thursday night at 9 P.M. EST and will feature some killer topics dealing with social media. This will be a great avenue for anyone that is interested in growing their business or brand using social media.

What Is A Twitter Chat?

For those that might be unfamiliar with a Twitter chat, it is simply a pre-arranged discussion through the use of Twitter that includes a predetermined hashtag. The tweets containing the hashtag are linked together to form a chat.

Participating in a Twitter chat is perfect for like-minded Tweeps to network, build relationships and authority in their respectful market.

Sounds Great! But How Do I Participate?

There are several platforms you can use to participate in #xtremesocial. The easiest way to join in on the conversation is to use Twubs. Twubs collects all tweets with the #xtremesocial hashtag and scrolls them as they come in to form a chatroom- style atmosphere.

Using Twubs, you also have the ability to share images, Youtube and Vimeo videos and links. There is also a feature that allows you to join the Twub, which we encourage you to join.

Join Us For #xtremesocial

We hope you will join us this coming Thursday for our very first #xtremesocial Twitter chat and look forward to discussing social media with you.

Please take a minute to connect with Keith or myself on Twitter and DM us with any questions or topic suggestions you may have for the chat.

So take your social media to the extreme with us every Thursday night at 9 P.M. EST!