CHRISTINE LIU: I was scrolling through LinkedIn today,
and I had to wonder, wait, why am I on this platform?
You tell me.
What is this?
What am I doing here?
It is not really fun.
I see someone is following another company.
But I'm on it every day, all the time.
There's a sponsored ad.
Why though?
If you think about it, LinkedIn is
this kind of dorky social media cousin of all the platforms.
But it's where you're professional
and you go to connect and network
and maybe find things about jobs and it's like a resume place.
I just have to ask myself, am I doing this right?
Am I using LinkedIn properly?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So when I look at my profile, there's some thoughts.
I'm not reading this super closely,
because I think I might--
[LAUGHS]
Read it out loud.
No, no.
It's too-- I can't read--
Read it out loud.
No.
OK.
"About Me.
I put all the people and pieces in place
to produce stellar content for deeply targeted audiences,
thereby growing and feeding an engaged and loyal community.
I work best in deep thinking, fast moving,
mission-driven teams."
That's the first of four paragraphs.
How many experiences do I have under my background?
OK, one, two, three, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.
There's also more that I didn't put on here.
I need help with LinkedIn.
I need to find an expert who can answer all my questions.
Because I'm on it, but clearly, I don't understand it.
MADELINE MANN: LinkedIn is a place
where you reach second and third degree connections and beyond
without having a large following.
As far as if you're comparing it to other platforms,
it is significantly easier to gain traction on LinkedIn.
CHRISTINE LIU: This is Madeline Mann.
She's a human resources leader, and she's
the host of Self Made Millennial on YouTube.
And she teaches personal brand management
and thought leadership techniques on LinkedIn.
A disclaimer, this is not sponsored in any way
by LinkedIn.
First things first, why should I even be on LinkedIn?
MADELINE MANN: LinkedIn is a place for personal branding.
So it is a place to say here is the value I add to the world.
And it makes you so discoverable and connect
to people where in times pre LinkedIn,
you would have never been able to get
in contact with that person.
CHRISTINE LIU: I think for most people,
LinkedIn is that place you go when you're looking for a job
or you're hiring.
And that's certainly the way I viewed it.
But Madeline unsurprisingly disagrees.
MADELINE MANN: There are people constantly scouring
LinkedIn wanting to give you opportunities,
wanting to have you come on their YouTube channel
or wanting to give you your next job
or wanting to have you be-- a lot of my students
have been expert witnesses in trials,
like really cool opportunities.
And because LinkedIn is a search engine,
you are missing out on sitting on your butt,
watching TV, and having opportunities come to you
without really any outbound effort.
CHRISTINE LIU: I actually had Madeline audit my profile.
How would this thing look to a pro?
Give it to me straight.
MADELINE MANN: OK, sounds good.
The photo with the headline is the true, most important parts
that you really want to first get,
because those are the things that are
going to make someone click.
The photos that perform the best on LinkedIn,
that attract the most opportunities,
are ones where you're looking directly at the camera
and smiling.
CHRISTINE LIU: Madeleine also strongly suggests
checking your privacy settings, especially the visibility
of your profile photo.
You want it to be visible to the public, not just
a subset or just your connections.
MADELINE MANN: Your headline is effective in saying
what you do currently.
But I would love to see a few additional keywords.
Some keywords you could add is the industry
you work in or maybe some--
maybe journalism would be a word or something else
that pertains to what you do.
And then what I'd like to add at the end is a unique value.
Maybe it could be that you are the creator or the lead
of this programming or something like that
that is really unique to you.
For your About section, almost every sentence,
you want it to be where it's impossible
that someone else could have written it about themselves.
So instead of saying I work best in deep thinking environments,
maybe say when I was at x place, we
had a deep thinking environment where
I was able to build out this and that.
CHRISTINE LIU: How many experiences do I
have under my background?
OK, one, two--
MADELINE MANN: Oh yeah.
You have to click several times to get all the way--
oh my gosh.
And you keep going.
What an adventure.
OK, great.
I'm with you, Christine.
I have had at least over 15 jobs in my life.
I deleted almost all of them from my profile.
You want to tell a cohesive narrative and a story.
CHRISTINE LIU: Madeline said my profile overall wasn't too bad.
But there was, if anything, just too much information.
And she told me that the profile is not
there to tell your full story but to tell your best story.
OK, I have a lot of work to do.
I've taken her advice, and I've broken it into eight steps.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
One, I replaced my photo with one
where I'm actually looking at the camera.
And I'll also add a banner image, something simple.
Two, I'll rewrite my headline.
Job title, company, keyword about my industry,
and a specialty.
Three, be super specific in the About Me section.
You want to write something that not anyone could say,
so avoid cliches, I work great in teams.
Four, you want to craft your narrative.
You want to tell your best story, not just
your full story.
Five, you want to post at least once a week.
And when you do, try to draw from your personal experiences
and maybe a little vulnerability to spark discussion and others
to share.
Six, give, don't ask for, but give recommendations.
Seven, review and update your profile quarterly,
because your goals or focus may change.
This is tough.
Being on LinkedIn is about opportunities.
And if you're not there, it's not going to hurt you,
but you may lose out on those opportunities.
I'm exhausted, no lie.
Feels really good to get this work done.
But I know I won't see the results
or the huge transformation for a while.
It's a long game.
I have a lot more knowledge about this.
Hopefully you find this helpful as well.
And maybe we can keep each other accountable,
support each other, give each other tips.
You knew this was coming.
You could follow me on the old Link--
[BEEP]
If you're still watching, one, thank you.
But two, I'm really curious, what do you want me to explore?
What problems do you have at work?
I'd love to solve them.
Please leave a comment.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And if you have any other ideas, throw them my way.
All right.
Peace out.