LinkedIn is changing… So do you have a strategy prepared?

From the 14^th April, LinkedIn will be changing company pages and taking away a feature most of us have been avidly using.

The products and services tab will no longer exist and from right now you aren’t able to add new content to the pages.

While this may be sad news to us digital marketers don’t stress too much! There are still a couple of ways you can share content highlighting the products and services your company provides…

Firstly, you can still use company updates to broadcast information on your services and activity. This feature is a keeper as it allows you to share information with all of your company followers. It appears in their news feeds and it will be a static post on your company profile.

Secondly, you can start to use the showcase pages feature that not many people know about. Showcase pages create an entire page that focuses on one product line or service. It’s great if you have something unique and you want to share it. They’re simple to create as long as you’re the company page administrator.

So, be aware of the LinkedIn updates and make sure you have a strategy ready to implement as soon as April 14^th comes around.

 

 

Social Media… You don’t know when it will sneak up on you!

This week, a supreme court in Brisbane restricted the insurance payout to a 23 year old woman as her claims were contradictory to her social media posts. 

When the young woman was 17 she was in a car accident and last year she lodged a claim against her insurance company deeming that she had been unable to work and enjoy life due to ongoing physical, emotional and mental injuries sustained in the accident. 

While she was still awarded over A$100,000 in damages from the insurance company, she could have received much more if the court hadn’t found her social media posts to contradict these claims. 

Over the five years she had posted photos and status updates referring to parties, weddings, holidays, music festivals and varying employment. When she made the claim against the insurance company, they uncovered her social media history and successfully used it against her in the legal battle. 

This serves as a poignant lesson for us all. Don’t lie, or conversely, don’t make your whole life open to the public using social media… Discretion is advised! 

Do you think people over share on social media? Tell us in the comments below… 

LinkedIn: Catching the Eye of your Future Employer

In 2012, LinkedIn’s highest demographic sector was aged between 24 and 54 years at 67.7%. Basically, in our simple terms, holla at your potential future employer!

This statistic suggests that most of the people we want to know us, are hanging out on LinkedIn, so that’s where we need to be. But the difficult thing for our generation, is adjusting to the professional nature of this social networking platform.

Everything on LinkedIn is related to your professional life and success, so it’s crucial to make sure you don’t mix it up with your personal (away from potential employer) platforms such as Facebook.

Below are 5 tips on how to create a LinkedIn profile that is sure to catch the eyes of your top potential employers.

1. Complete Your Profile

Fill out all of the information you have for each section; experience, volunteering or charity work, skills and expertise, education, contact information and projects. Make sure the information you put down is accurate.

2. Write Status Updates

You want your connections to see you, not too much but enough to remember you so make sure you have something interesting to say. Use articles pulled from your favourite blogs or websites. My favourites are PR Daily and HBR Blogs. Make comments about them expressing your related opinion, but please, I beg of you, DO NOT get on your high horse and use it as a platform to voice your rants – this is not the right place.

3. Schedule your Updates

Think about a combination of a) what times you are able to go on LinkedIn and b) what time your target audience is on LinkedIn. Pick times that cross over both and use that as your regular posting time. Example: PR People jump online most mornings to make sure they haven’t missed anything while they were sleeping. I have time while I wait for my morning coffee, so that is my bi-daily posting time!

4. Join Groups and Communities

The best way to connect with likeminded people and to gain access to a huge network of information sharing is to join groups. Find similar business interests or use location as the point of similarity and join in the group discussions to get your name out there and make new connections.

5. Have an appropriate Profile Picture

LinkedIn is not where you want to advertise your 2am in the bathroom of a club, smokey eyed, bandage dressed, duckface mirror shot. Period. Use a professional headshot with appropriate, conservative makeup and hair. If you don’t have a professional photo to use, find a photo of yourself that fits the description and professional or not, you will be respected for your appearance.

 

Sources: PR Daily, 20013 & LinkedIn Ad Platform