January 30, 2012 Musicians Guide To LinkedIn - Getting LinkedIn Like a Pro!
Harnessing the Marketing Power of LinkedIn
Why you SHOULD, and how you CAN harness the marketing power of LinkedIn to connect with industry professionals, engage and attract new fans, and build valuable contacts. This guide will empower you with the expertise to use LinkedIn like a pro. It will go a bit deeper than what you’re already familiar with, and will uncover insight into the primary social networking properties everyone must be on, where LinkedIn connects to the puzzle, and why it is so powerful. I will probably have to break this up into a two part article series because we’ll be covering so much stuff.
COOL. What am I going to Learn?
Given that you read and understand the concepts, and then (KEY PART) apply the following techniques, you will have a highly advanced knowledge of LinkedIn, and be among the small percentage of people who know what their doing and are effectively using LinkedIn.
You will Know:
1. How to optimize your LinkedIn profile to show up and be found by those looking for you through LinkedIn’s internal search engine.
2. How to use LinkedIn Groups (a very powerful, one of the most powerful social media channels) effectively.
3. How to drive free traffic from pre-qualified, interested leads to your website, music pages, and sales pages.
So let’s get going.
Why use Linked-In?
Quite simply, because LinkedIn is the most powerful business networking site on the planet. Before we start, let’s touch on something real quick. For songwriters, artists, musicians, producers, you should understand that LinkedIn is not a DIRECT fan building tool, however it is an extremely flexible and powerful relationship building platform, and a NECESSARY social media channel that you should be using for a number of reasons…
So without wasting any time, let’s get into what those reasons are, and then what you can do about it.
One of the obvious reasons why there are several PRIMARY social media channels (as opposed to hundreds) is that-ONE, no one has time to waste, if there is no point or benefit to using a new social media site, why would anyone? Thus-TWO, the sites that have carved a place in our social media hearts are those that serve a necessary function, provide value and benefit to the people using them, and then go to work to rise above the rest of the fly-by-night imitators. Conveniently condensing your professional resume and career credentials in a central standardized format, LinkedIn is the hottest social café for business networking on the interwebs.
While it is very possible that Facebook is someday replaced by a better functioning but similar site that provides a better user experience, much like the case of Myspace… It is the underlying function of this web 2.0 property that makes this one of the BIG THREE social networking sites. (And MAYBE, make that four…)
Facebook 800m users
Twitter 200m users
LinkedIn 115m users
*Google+ 50m users
While there are fads in social media i.e new tools, technologies, a constant barrage of “me-too” websites, and a boom of hopeful startups; I don’t buy into any “social media is a fad” type of discussion… Though the names of the sites may change, and some major upsets may occur, throughout our lifetime there is no question in my mind that we will only expand on and continue to find incredible benefit from instant worldwide connectivity through creative and convenient online technologies.
One last thought on fad social media site swapping Though outside the point and scope of this article, it’s worth noting that even though Facebook crushed Myspace in terms of growth, usability, and model, (despite Facebook development being sloppy, and sometimes shady, the vision remains simple and extremely powerful) Myspace is still a 50 million or so user base with a hundred million or so odd visitors a month, it’s still a social network you need to have a presence on. Therefore, of the four primary social media hubs Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Youtube, (and our late but inching along Google entry, Google+) LinkedIn is the most mature of the social media venues.
It is perhaps the best way to connect with industry professionals who are actively spreading their message, looking to network, build contacts, and engage their audience. This is the biggest difference between it and the other venue formats that construct the worldwide social main-street. People that are on LinkedIn are professionals, the attitude is professional, the central focus is on growing your career through networking, but is stripped (mostly) of all the “LOOK AT ME” ad-driven marketing that everyone easily tunes out to, (or gets frustrated by) and shameless self promotion, isn’t, well, shameless at all… GIVEN the ACTUAL information IS RELEVANT TO the communities, IS helpful and provides value, this is a welcomed way of leveraging it’s potential to convert, engage, and build an audience.
I’m talking about becoming active and involved in LinkedIn Groups here, which we’ll be going through in more detail later, but let’s wrap up how to look at it first. Look at it as the Facebook for Business PEOPLE, and people who are in business. If you are a creative professional, a musician, a songwriter, a composer, you’ve probably already got the memo that you are in business.
Casual users may just partially complete their profile, see it as an online resume, and not put much more thought or effort into it… and will likely receive very little benefit… While people who are actively using it as a relevant social media channel, AND understand how to optimize their experience, know that it’s a bunch of business people who specialize in certain areas who are connecting with their market, making unique connections, sharing valuable information and creatively leveraging its many valuable uses.
1) How to optimize your LinkedIn profile to show up and be found by those looking for you through LinkedIn’s internal search engine.
LinkedIn is the best search engine for finding business professionals. Just like with Google, optimizing your page for being found through targeted search queries can set you atop the search results over millions of potential “competitors.” It’s not all that complicated. It starts with identifying key search words or terms that would be used to find you or your services and including them in a few places throughout your page. Getting specific about these words is the only real work here, and including them on your page is only natural.
For example Business Coach & Independent Singer Songwriter
What is your niche?
Who are you trying to attract?
What are they looking for?
How would they type that in? Is it local?
So would it make sense to include a specific city, is it national international, etc.?
1. The Headline (first and most important) Put keywords in title
2. Current work experience (second most important) Put keywords in title
3. Past work experience (third most important) Put keywords in title
4. Summary (Include)
5. Specialties (You get the hang of this)
Stay Tuned For Part 2. Cheers.
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Jamie Leger is an Independent Singer Songwriter and Online Business/Marketing Coach who helps people with specialized knowledge or a message (i.e. authors, speakers, consultants, creative professionals and entrepreneurs) turn their expertise into an online BUSINESS that makes them cash, as well as build an authoritative online presence through private coaching and step by step instruction.
Reader Comments (2)
do you really think that LinkedIn is for musicians? oh, come on! For entrepreneurs, marketing professionals, majors or indie CEOs - yes. But not for hectic-creative-visual-sonic artists. LinkedIn is pretty dry and highly pro format (so far), and respected for this. No half-naked, party stuff. No jokes. Straight to business. Artists are not very fond of it.
Just personal experience.
"Do I think LinkedIn is for musicians?"
In one word... ABSOLUTELY.
It is absolutely geared for people who are squared away and are serious about their business.
This weeds out some, and makes it better for the rest of us.
I would explain my case, but I wrote an entire article series on why and how to use it. I suggest you reread it.
Cheers