The document provides best practices for using LinkedIn, including completing your profile with details about work experience, education, skills, and interests. It recommends connecting with others on LinkedIn, participating in groups, and using your personal and company pages to share updates and become an authority in your industry. Businesses should use LinkedIn to find candidates, engage followers, partner with other professionals, and drive traffic back to their company page.

1. LinkedIn Best Practices
Presented by Nicki Escudero
Content and social media strategist for
CX cloud storage solutions, www.cx.com

2. What is LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn is a professional social network for networking
within your industry, as well as finding job leads and
posting jobs
• Personal profiles include sections for current title,
professional background, endorsements and
recommendations, honors and awards, volunteer
experience, education, publications you’ve been
featured in, and professional groups you’re a part of on
the network
• LinkedIn is growing at 10-15 million users per quarter
and is a great place for both individuals and businesses
to network with other industry professionals

3. Why does LinkedIn matter?
• LinkedIn allows recruiters to search for you for
appropriate positions
• LinkedIn helps you find great candidates for open
positions at your company
• LinkedIn allows you to digitally network with other
industry professionals
• LinkedIn is an avenue for you to display your business
expertise and be a thought leader in your industry
• LinkedIn attracts more customers to your business
• LinkedIn helps more people learn about your company

4. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• A completed LinkedIn profile
causes your profile to appear
higher in search results
• Put completel information
about your current positions in
your header box. If you are
currently unemployed, write
something that describes your
strengths and what you’re
looking for, such as, “Marketer
with more than 20 years
experience currently looking
for management position”
• The most current update you
post will appear below your
header box

5. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• Your Summary best
sums up your
professional life. Include
the gist of what you’ve
done, along with goals
you have.
• I uploaded my resume
to my CX cloud storage
account at www.cx.com
and then used a share
link to include it right in
my summary for anyone
to download easily.

6. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn profile looks like
• List all professional positions
you are proud of, along with a
description of main duties.
• Ask former co-workers for
LinkedIn recommendations to
boost your profile. My best
practice is to thank the
person for the time you spent
working together, say you’d
love to write them a LinkedIn
recommendation, and ask
them if they’d return the
favor. After they say yes,
write them one. It’s all about
reciprocity.
• You can also add projects,
presentations, articles,
slideshows, etc. related to
your position to your page for
people to peruse.

7. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• I included articles
and blogs I wrote
for the newspaper
here. LinkedIn
automatically pulls
an image.

8. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• Honors, awards and
volunteer experience
are worth listing
because they might
impress future
employers.

9. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• You may also add
stellar test scores,
as well as
publications you’ve
been featured in.

10. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• List areas of skills and
expertise you have.
Others may add their
own skills they believe
you have, and your
contacts may endorse
you for these skills.
• Endorsements cause
your profile to show up
higher in search results.
Once again, it’s about
reciprocity – if someone
endorses you for
something, consider
endorsing them for
skills, as well.

11. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• LinkedIn is great for
students, too, who
can get
recommendations
from professors or
fellow students.
• If you took advanced
classes in a subject,
consider listing
those courses.

12. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• The Interests section allows
you to show employers
your personal side.
Employers love well-
roundedness, so include
interests that are
appropriate for a
professional setting.

13. Here’s what a complete LinkedIn
profile looks like
• Join groups that are
relevant to your industry,
and participate in
discussions in them to be
seen as a thought leader
and make new
connections.
• Follow news related to
your industry, so you are
seen as a lifelong learner,
and follow companies
you’re connected with or
want to be employed with
to comment on updates
and keep up with open
positions.

14. Are you an All-Star?
• On the right-hand side of your
profile, LinkedIn will assign you
a profile ranking. The more
complete your profile, the
higher you’ll appear in search
results.

15. Who has viewed your profile?
• Everyday, check who
viewed you’re
profile.
• If you’re not already
connected with the
person, click
“Connect,” and send
them a personal
message – Thanks for
checking out my
LinkedIn profile. I’d
like to connect with
you here.
• Be aware of who is
checking you out – if
it’s worth a larger
discussion, message
the person.

16. Share your knowledge
• Every day, up to twice is best practice, in my opinion, share an update. This can
consist of the following:
• News you find interesting
• A blog from your company
• An open position at a company
• What you’re looking for if you’re in search of a job

17. For your business – Optimize your
company page
• Think of your LinkedIn company
profile as an extension of your
brand, which will show up in
search results both on LinkedIn
and on search engines such as
Google. Your LinkedIn page
provides an opportunity to
optimize for those keywords you
want people to use to find you,
so make sure your page is rich
with those words. Your company
LinkedIn page is also a way to
start discussions with people on
LinkedIn on topics related to
your industry, as well as get
recommendations on products,
show off your staff and post job
listings.

18. For your business – Connect with
journalists and influential people
• LinkedIn contains many members of local and national
press – connect with them on your network, and you’ve
taken the first step to getting a story written about you.
Scan your homepage feed to see who people in your
network and connecting with and sharing content from,
and grow your network organically by asking your contacts
to offer up e-mail introductions. You can also visit other
company sites where your target consumers work and find
influential people through those networks.

19. For your business – Become an
authority in Groups
• LinkedIn has a Groups section, where members may join groups related to topics
they’re interested in both personally and professionally. Those groups have
discussions related to the topics, where you may “Like” and comment on
discussions. Think about groups your targeted consumers might be a part of, and
participate in discussions with them. Then, as you start to build those genuine
relationships with the groups, connect with people on a personal level, and let
them know about your business.

20. For your business – Engage your own
followers in discussions
• Just as you would any other
social network for your
business, use your company
LinkedIn page to connect with
followers and share valuable
information.
• Experiment with times of day
you post, days of the week,
frequency of posts, and types
of content to monitor
impressions, clicks, shares
and engagement percentage
– just as you would any other
social network for your
business.

21. For your business – Share product
updates on your personal page
• LinkedIn members may share personal updates on their individual pages, and
since the community is work-focused, sharing what’s new with your company is
totally appropriate. Use LinkedIn personal updates to share company
developments, and add a personal twist – you can share updates directly from
your company page, which will help to drive traffic back there, as well. Remember
to try to get a discussion going with your followers by asking questions related to
the content you’re sharing, not just posting marketing messages.

22. For your business – Create partnerships with like-
minded professionals
Once you’ve begun those relationships
with others on LinkedIn, treat them as
you would any other professional
relationship. Regularly check in with
your contacts, and when you identify
ways to help each other, go from there.
Once you’ve worked together, be sure
to ask for product recommendations
and personal endorsements, and be
willing to return the favor honestly.
Share content with your brand partners,
and build up those LinkedIn referrals.

23. Questions?
• Don’t forget – add me on LinkedIn!
– www.linkedin.com/in/nickiescudero
Want to learn more about how cloud storage can
benefit your business? Contact me at nicki@cx.com,
and I’ll set you up with a free CX trial.