You apply and follow best practices within your firm and as you practice law, so is there any reason you do not on Linkedin? I’ve been experiencing plenty of LI ‘breaches’ from attorneys these last few months and want to make sure we cover these. Sure, most of the best practices I’ll cover seem like common sense, but amazingly, some attorneys seem to drop their common sense off at the office….
Essentially, understanding and employing good etiquette, on LinkedIn or in any situation, helps you to stand out, build relationships, and increase your success and business results. So just what does good etiquette on LinkedIn look like?
Here are the top 10 LinkedIn etiquette rules for starters…
Let’s just dive right in with 10 of the top etiquette and best practices tips to help you be more successful with our LinkedIn lead generation and activities…
- PERSONALIZE this is not optional! If you wish to connect in a meaningful way with new prospects, you must personalize your message – you don’t walk up to people at a networking or dinner event and offer the exact same introductory wording to each right?!
- SEND A WELCOME MESSAGE after your connection request is accepted. This is the difference between simply playing a numbers game where you are adding as many names to your network as possible and building real relationships.
- SENDING IRRELEVANT MESSAGES is spam. Make sure you know enough about the person you are connecting with to offer something that is of value somehow to them, their profession/industry – or run the risk of a spam markup.
- RESPOND PROMPTLY – If you are genuine about sending connection requests to build meaningful relationships, then don’t leave them hanging – be sure to respond within a reasonable period of time by checking your inbox regularly.
- WHO HAS VIEWED YOUR PROFILE? If you’re not keeping an eye on this, you are certainly missing out on possible prospects that are luke warm – they already have an interest in you, reach out to them!
- PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT – We are visual animals, so keep it pleasing, look straight into the camera, no dinner party pictures, no vacation pictures, and no you and your pet pictures. This is a professional platform so you’ll have to save your cute cat pictures for Facebook.
- DOES YOUR PROFILE HEADLINE AND SUMMARY PASS THE WIIFM FILTER? In other words, is your profile assembled in such a way that speaks to and provides benefit to your target audience?
- HEADLINE – make sure your title includes something more than the default name and title because everyone does this, and don’t you want to stand out (in a good way). NOW, that said, your actual name field should reflect your name only and adding anything other than your name is a direct violation of LinkedIn’s TOS (terms of service.)
- STAY ACTIVE – if you aren’t posting or sharing news, updates, or insight that is somehow relevant to your audience on a regular basis, you aren’t staying top of mind to them, and if you aren’t present how can you build engaging conversations and meaningful relationships?
- Finally, BE THE CONNECTOR – support and nurture your connections, and introduce people to each other when it makes sense
WEEKLY TIP, TOOL, EASY-TO-IMPLEMENT STRATEGY
Keep your profile basics up to date is one of the most basic best practices! Many people forget to maintain their LinkedIn profiles updates. Whether or not you’re a total novice, just beginning a new process, or starting to explore new opportunities, there is no excuse to have outdated data on your LinkedIn profile! It mirrors badly on you, and your reputation.
Here are two quick and easy areas you need to check are updated:
- Professional headline: the main task of any headline is to entice a viewer to click further, “see more.” At the very least, you may use your headline to spotlight your modern role and enterprise. Also highlight your know-how awards or showcase capabilities/skills that you know could significantly benefit your audience. Tell everyone on LinkedIn who you are, what you do, and why you’re someone they need to connect with.
- Location and enterprise: are your place and enterprise still accurate? If not, restore now!
Doing just these two things is an easy fix that makes a difference. This tells viewers you care about how you show up, that you are current and conscientious. Most importantly, this speaks volumes about how you will show up for them if and when they need your services.
IN MY NEXT POST
Next week I’m going to uncover some of LinkedIn’s latest layout updates that can make a big difference in how people experience your practice, expertise and authority, as well as how to best use LI’s new native video on your company page for wide visibility and reach!