So what's in your LinkedIn profile?

I have a couple of clients who are excellent business executives with great web sites and powerful marketing materials.  Still, they have the most Godawful Linkedin profiles.    To paraphrase that credit company, "They don't know what's in their LinkedIn profile."


Here's why have a good Linkedin profile is important.  First, a lot of people check the web to get information about you and LinkedIn can direct them to information about you, your work and your company. Unlike most other web sites, the folks at this California networking site allow you to control how the whole world perceives you.   While my profile isn't perfect, I have spent some time and effort updating it.    And, just like any web document, a Linkedin profile is a work in progress.

So, here are a couple of points for those who have the Steve Martin version of what I would term as the "I was born a poor black child" LinkedIn profile.  In other words, you  may have entered a name and the the dates they started their duties with a new company   There is nothing else to it, and it leaves the reader wondering about you and your qualifications.  If you are in any form of community outreach, sales or marketing, having this abbreviated form of a LinkedIn profile is like wearing Bermuda plaid shorts and a dirty T-shirt to a job interview.

To overcome this poor effort in your marketing effort with your LinkedIn profile, I would suggest the following:

1)  Take a pad of paper and outline your key points for every job you ever held.  Then, write it up into your Linkedin profile.
2)  Ask a trusted advisor or friend like my good friend and colleague, Jay Fraser, to serve as your grammar enforcer.  Allow them to nitpick it for errors and suggestions on how to improve it.
3)  Reach out to others within your industry.   LinkedIn allows you to share with others in your industry.  Looking for a way to improve a process.  Your colleagues will share their input with you, especially if you reside in San Antonio, and their base of operations is Baltimore.
4)  Ask your friends, former bosses and other colleagues to comment on your work.  These third party endorsements allow you to convince others that you truly are the best in your business.

Finally, here are some great Linkedin profiles that should give you some inspiration for how to make it better:

Brian Massey: One of the best Linkedin profiles on the web because it gives you a sense of what the Conversion Scientist does for a living.
David Smith:   Another great profile because it chronicles the CEO of HBMG's achievements for the past 30 years.
Michael Kelly:  My friend Mike Kelly's LinkedIn profile shows how endorsements legitimize his efforts and acchievements throughout his military and civilian career.

A LinkedIn profile like these allow you to take advantage of the changes in today's marketing channels.  There is no cost for setting one up, but with a little time and effort it can help open your doors to new opportunities and connections.

Dinfos Trained Killers now up to 300

Somehow, I missed the fact that the DINFOS Trained Killers has now reached 300 members this week in our LinkedIn tribe. In the six months I started this group, I have found two to three old colleagues and connected with a lot of people I never would have met. I have to thank Kevin Koym, the founder of the Enterprise Tribe, for showing me six months ago the value of using online colloboration tools.

For me, the number 300 is signfiicant as it represents the number of Spartans who battled the Persians. If you have ever worked in military public affairs, you can appreciate the fact that it seems like we're a small bunch of warriors fighting a lot of issues. Start with all the experts who think your job is easy, and then add the fact that you often have to do the job without the technology and personality resources. That's why reaching 300 members is significant.

But, I won't rest on our laurels. We still have to engage other former and current PAOs to share techniques and tactics to do our job. And of course, we still have to enroll some of the more famed DTK alums like Al Gore and Dan Quayle into the group.

A FAQ on the value of hosting the Dinfos Trained Killers tribe

When I first started the group, the DINFOS Trained Killers nearly six months ago, I never thought it would grow as quickly as it did. However, today, the group has 279 qualified members with eight joining in the past week. When I mention that I am a manager of the DTKs to those people who don't get the value of using LinkedIn, I often hear negative responses to them getting a profile or creating a group.

So I thought I would use this blog as a forum for discussing why LinkedIn is worth a few minutes of their time. So, here is my first attempt at a FAQ for LinkedIn on the value of hosting the DINFOS Trained Killers.

1) If I join a group, my rivals will see all of my contacts.

No. By joining a group, you can share comments or email people, but for a rival to see your contacts, you have to allow them to link directly to you.

2) It's a waste of time. I'll never find a contact that is worth my time.

Thanks to this group, I reconnected with my former boss and colleague, Mike Kelly, the military marketing manager at USAA. Having Mike back into my circle of friends allows me to reconnect with him as needed.

3) My friend belongs to a group that gets a lot of spam from other members. What is different about your group?

First, we qualify every member. We have had those "bot" types who join every group under the sun. And, when I or Mike Kelly, my alternate DTK tribe manager, get a request from those folks, we send a nice note to them saying that they had to attend the Defense Information School to join our group.

4) Is it true that Dan Quayle and Al Gore could qualify for the DTKs?

Yes. Still awaiting for both of them to send requests to join our group. I suspect that since Vice President Gore invented the Internet that he is too busy with other groups to join ours or hasn't heard about us yet. As for Vice President Quayle, I am not sure what his reason would be for not joining the DTKs.