An international crowd attended July’s virtual Craft Marketing to learn how to amplify their personal brands and create brand awareness for their organizations. Wayne Breitbarth, a nationally-recognized Linkedin expert and popular presenter, shared his insights for engaged attendees.
More than 200 people from 26 states and seven countries signed up for the event. Many knew Wayne from previous classes and wanted to hear his updates.
At the session, Wayne reviewed some changes to the functionality and features of Linkedin’s personal profiles and company pages. He’s been teaching this platform for nearly 12 years and has published his fourth edition of “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success.”
Wayne noted that because of the pandemic, LinkedIn released some changes earlier than planned. He reviewed the most significant updates and explained how to strategically use them. Some features may not be available for every user right now. They’re released in waves.
In his comments, Wayne offered new Linkedin developments for the following:
- All Users
- Company Page
- Job Seekers
Key Changes for All Users
- The new Featured section for personal profiles provides a marketing carousel that allows users to show off their work. It will enable you to link to posts, articles, your website and more. And with this feature, you can rearrange the order. The first 2.5 selections will get the most attention. He encouraged marketers to help their sales force use this feature to highlight an organization’s products and services.
“Leverage your sales team’s featured sections,” he advised.
- Look for a pronunciation button, a new feature that may not yet be available for everyone. It allows you to record a brief message with the correct pronunciation of your name and even a short sales pitch. Visitors to your profile will get to know you.
- The profile headline has been expanded from 120 to 220 characters. That is one of three hotspots for the LinkedIn search algorithm. It allows you to tell your story or add keywords. Put your best phrases at the start of the headline to maximize exposure.
- The About section now has an additional 600 characters. Wayne encouraged attendees to put their contact information at the start of the section ad then emphasize why you’re the best choice for your prospects.
- When creating a post, users now have many options, including starting a poll. Wayne said, “It could be a good strategy if you don’t overuse it.”
Wayne encouraged attendees to plan for engagement in the first hour of their posts. That way, LinkedIn will share your post with additional people in your network. When you first publish your post, only five to ten percent of your network may see it. If it gains traction, it will go to more people.
To build engagement, add three hashtags and tag people. Avoid using links in the main message and add the in the comments section instead. Videos get the most engagement, followed by documents and polls.
Company Page Changes
Company pages can build engagement. Wayne shared how to do that using new features.
- Invite your connections to follow the company page. You can send 100 invitations each month. Assign different people as company page administrators so they can invite their connections.
- A box is available that allows administrators to notify employees of a post every 24 hours. An alternate is to send emails or use tagging to encourage engagement.
- In the analytics section, review your list of followers. Ask yourself if you should be taking additional steps to engage with key connections.
- Now, a blue activity button shows notifications to company posts. Administrators and others in your organization can engage with visitors who comment about a post.
Job Seeker Changes
As a result of today’s high unemployment rates, Linkedin released some features ahead of schedule to help people find work.
- Use the green #opentowork hashtag on your profile photo to indicate you’re seeking new opportunities. The notification stands out and quickly informs recruiters that you’re looking for employment.
- Investigate the build a resume feature on the jobs tab. It uses your profile information as a starting point. Wayne emphasized that job seekers should make sure any resume optimizes keywords for a specific job description. Check out Jobscan for more details.
- Another new feature designed to help job seekers is the video introduction with a job application. Through a video, applicants can demonstrate their personality for a potential employer.
- Prepare for a job interview with a feature that provides common interview questions. Then users received AI-powered feedback.
At the event, Wayne donated a free one-on-one virtual Linkedin consultation (personal or corporate) with a $197 value, and three signed books. Thanks, Wayne.
See You Online for August’s Craft Marketing
Thanks to Wayne Breitbarth of Power Formula LLC, attendees and volunteers. Craft Marketing also appreciates our July sponsors, SeQuel Response, Thysse and Winbound.
Craft Marketing invites you to its next virtual event at 4 p.m. on August 25 with Chris Hofmann, Vice President for Digital Services at SeQuel Response. He will present on Give Me Some Credit! The Great, Maddening World of Marketing Attribution. Brush up on or learn the nuts and bolts of marketing attribution, its problems and the various available attribution models.
Register here for the online event.
Author
Leslie Blaize, the owner of Blaize Communications, is a certified case study specialist. She crafts B2B content with a focus on the Architecture/Engineering/Construction industry.