30 LinkedIn Secrets Linkedin Won't Tell You

Copyright 2015. William Arruda/Reach. All Rights Reserved.
30 LinkedIn
Secrets
LinkedIn
Won’t
Tell You
William Arruda
Reach Personal Branding
www.reachpersonalbranding.com

Make the Most of LinkedIn
• It’s your digital first impression.
• It’s where people go when they
want to learn about you.
• It’s your opportunity to expand
and nurture your network.
• It helps you do your job better!

My Top Tips
• I published 22 of my favorite LinkedIn tips
(with fun, counterintuitive titles) in my
Forbes column:
• It has become my most-read Forbes post
with nearly half a million views.
• In this presentation, I share those 22 tips
with 8 bonus tips so you can make the most
of this powerful personal branding platform.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/

1 ‣ When updating your LinkedIn
profile, don’t alert your contacts
to every little change.
‣ In edit mode, turn off activity
broadcasts and change: “select
who can see your activity feed”
to “only you.”
‣ Also, on the right side of your
profile page, change “Notify your
network?” to “No.”
Be Secretive.

2 ‣ Join groups that will let you
connect with members of your
target audience but aren’t
contacts.
‣ Being a group member gives
you permission to reach out
and invite them to join your
network.
Be Opportunistic.*
*NOTE: LinkedIn changes this feature from time to time.

3 ‣ Know the top 5 strengths for
which you want to be
recognized and use them
repeatedly.
‣ If your top skill is QA describe
your proficiency in your
summary as well as in multiple
experience descriptions. This
helps the right people find you.
Be Redundant.

4 ‣ Ask your contacts to endorse
you for only your top skills.
‣ Having the highest number of
endorsements for your
signature strengths will
influence those who are looking
at your profile.
‣ Be brave: delete or reject the
endorsements that aren’t core
to how you want to be known.
Be Ungrateful.

5 ‣ Only give recommendations and
endorsements to those whom
you genuinely admire.
‣ When you recommend other
people, their reputation is seen
an extension of your values.
Be Stingy.

6 ‣ Reuse and repurpose the
content you already have
available.
‣ Sharing different forms of the
same content in distinctive
ways helps reinforce your
messages.
‣ Convert Blogs posts into activity
updates and embed articles in
your profile…
Be Lazy. One of my
favorites!

7 ‣ Don’t follow the LinkedIn formula of
creating one experience entry for
each job title you have held.
‣ Take the space you need to
communicate your accomplishments
by creating multiple entries for every
role you have performed within each
job title.
‣ It’s OK to have overlapping dates.
See how I did it in my profile:
https://linkedin.com/in/williamarruda
Be Greedy. One of my
favorites!

8 ‣ Don’t limit the groups you join.
‣ Join groups related to your area of
expertise, industry, alumni, social
causes, passions, etc.
‣ This gives you access to more
people who matter to your brand.
‣ When others look at your profile,
they can learn about your brand by
looking at your groups.
‣ Always select groups that are highly
active and have a lot of members.
Be a Groupie.

9 ‣ Ignore LinkedIn’s advice to only
accept connection requests from
people you know.
‣ You’ll show up in more searches
and be visible to more people.
‣ Just be careful not to accept
connection requests from scammers
(they are easy to spot!).
Be Promiscuous.

10‣ Don’t assume others know how you
spell your name or know that you’ve
changed your name.
‣ Include all known misspellings,
previous names, nicknames and
aliases in your summary.
‣ I include this: AKA/Common
misspellings: Bill Arruda, Will Arruda,
William Aruda.
Be a Chameleon. One of my
favorites!

11‣ Fly under the radar when you’re
using LinkedIn to check out your
employees or poach talent.
‣ To keep your agenda hidden,
change your viewing setting to
“anonymous” in “Select what others
see when you’ve viewed their
profile.”
Be Invisible.

12‣ Know the character limit for each
section.
‣ Use as much space as you need to
tell your story!
‣ This gives you the opportunity to
repeat keywords that are critical to
being found.
Be Verbose.

13‣ Strong brands have a point of view.
‣ Integrate yours into your summary
and experience where appropriate.
‣ Join groups where you can share
your POV as it relates to your area
of expertise.
‣ It’s a great way to distinguish
yourself from peers/competitors.
Be Opinionated.

14‣ Reorder the content in your profile
(yes, LinkedIn made this possible).
‣ This enables you to lead with what’s
important and choose which
strengths to focus on.
‣ Bonus: It will make your profile
stand out from the crowd of others
who do what you do.
Be Disorganized.

15‣ Don’t feel you need to include every
detail of every job you have had –
especially if it dilutes your brand
message.
‣ Omit the jobs you had early in your
career if they don’t offer insights into
how you deliver value today.
‣ Or, group those older listings under
one heading, such as “My Training
Ground” or “Apprenticeships.”
Be Selective.

16‣ Direct people to your LinkedIn
profile with a QR code on your
business card.
‣ The next time you’re at a networking
function, the people you meet can
scan your QR code and instantly
read your profile and connect with
you.
‣ It makes it easy and enhances your
brand attribute of “Innovative.”
Be Square.

17‣ If you want to reach out to someone
and you can’t reach them any other
way, sign up for Premium by the
month.
‣ Then, do all the outreach you need
to do to connect with those super-
exclusive contacts.
‣ Mission accomplished? Cancel your
Premium subscription.
Be Frugal.

18‣ Repurpose the great content in your
LinkedIn profile for other social
media sites.
‣ You’ll increase your digital footprint
while ensuring consistency.
‣ Use tools like: VisualizeMe.com,
Re.vu, branded.me and
ResumUp.com
Be a Thief.

19‣ Your profile is not a resume or CV.
‣ Write as if you are having a
conversation with someone. I
recommend using the 1st person.
‣ Inject your personality.
‣ Let people know your values and
passions.
‣ In your summary, discuss what you
do outside of work. You want people
to want to know you.
Be Personal. One of my
favorites!

20‣ Use a headshot of high quality, with
good lighting and ultra-sharp focus.
‣ Your face should take up 70-80% of
the frame.
‣ LinkedIn is not the place for a selfie.
‣ Face forward or turn toward your left
shoulder, in the direction of your
content. If you’re looking to your
right, you’re saying “I don’t believe
what I say in my own profile.”
Be in Their Face.

22‣ Don’t reach out to contacts until you
are thrilled with your profile.
‣ When you reach out the others, they
will likely view your profile before
deciding if they want to connect with
you.
Be a Procrastinator.

23‣ One of the best ways to grow your
network is to reach out to LinkedIn
Open Networkers (LIONs).
‣ As the name implies, they accept
most requests.
‣ You can search for LIONs and add
keywords to find those who are
relevant for your network.
Be a LION Chaser.

24‣ To get all your contacts in one place
- LinkedIn - take a trip down
memory lane.
‣ Reach out to all past contacts,
former colleagues, friends, etc. to
get your network up-to-date.
‣ You can manage all your contacts
from LinkedIn.
Be a Pastist.

25‣ Reinforce your text with similar
messages using multimedia.
‣ You can integrate images, white
papers, videos, presentations, etc.
to the summary and experience
sections of your profile.
‣ When you do, you help bolster your
brand and differentiate your profile
from the myriad others who do what
you do.
Be Flashy.

26‣ Choose groups with large numbers
of members so you can reach the
most people.
‣ LinkedIn shows you how active
each group is, too.
‣ Join the groups that are “very
active” so you engage with people
who are motivated and interactive.
Be a Glutton.

27‣ You can build your brand with the
content created by others.
‣ When you are at your favorite media
sites (Forbes, Fast Company, etc),
identify articles that would be
valuable to your contacts.
‣ Share via an update and directly to
groups.
‣ Remember to add your POV. Don’t
just share the article without adding
your thoughts.
Be a Shoplifter. One of my
favorites!

28‣ Keep all your contacts in one place.
‣ Upload contacts from your phone
and email addresses so you can
use LinkedIn as your single source
of people in your network.
Be Singleminded.

29‣ LinkedIn let’s you add notes to your
connection’s profiles.
‣ From their profile (under
relationship), there is a Note tab
where you can document important
things about that person that you
want to remember.
‣ You can also add reminders and
info about how you met, etc.
Be a Note-taker. One of my
favorites!

30‣ Create tags for your various
contacts - like Friend, Colleague,
Client, Former employer, etc.
‣ Then go through your contacts,
assigning then the appropriate
tag(s).
‣ You will be able to sort contacts by
tag when you are reaching out to
send messages, etc.
Be a Name-caller.

Want to Write the Perfect LinkedIn Summary?
‣ Join me for a complimentary live
session where I take you through the
process
‣ Sign up here:
http://www.williamarruda.com/linkedinsummary

William Arruda
Motivational Speaker. Author. Entrepreneur.
William Arruda has been credited with turning the
concept of personal branding into a global industry.
More than a decade ago he combined his 20 years’
corporate branding experience with his passion for people, and
founded Reach, the global leader in personal branding. Since then
he's trained nearly 1,000 personal branding strategists around the
world and authored two seminal books on personal branding:
Career Distinction, and Ditch. Dare. Do! It's no wonder
Entrepreneur called him "the personal branding guru.” Speaking at
Microsoft, Disney, American Express, Harvard, and hundreds more
companies and organizations (including 20% of the Fortune 100),
William regularly traverses five continents, and has delivered more
personal branding keynotes to more people in more places than
anyone else on earth.

At Reach, We Help You Make
‣We:
‣Consult and build custom LinkedIn programs
‣Work one-on-one with execs on their profiles
‣Deliver keynotes & workshops
Comprehensive Linked Programs for Innovative Organizations
from the Global Leader in Personal Branding
At Reach, We Help You Make the
Most of LinkedIn

Contact Me:
williamarruda@reachcc.com
@williamarruda
www.personalbranding.tv
www.williamarruda.com
www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda

https://linkedin.com/in/williamarruda
Or Link with Me on LinkedIn!

30 LinkedIn Secrets Linkedin Won't Tell You

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to 30 LinkedIn Secrets Linkedin Won't Tell You

Similar to 30 LinkedIn Secrets Linkedin Won't Tell You (20)

More from William Arruda

More from William Arruda (15)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

30 LinkedIn Secrets Linkedin Won't Tell You