Focus on LinkedIn to create success.
Wow, the topics spread out across social media are limitless and often not focused.
Because of the unlimited topics you can run across in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc, etc, (another etc to boot), there is no wonder our society can become so quickly unfocused.
I live by this quote; “Focus is important if you want to create success in your life, business, career and community.” Unfortunately it is so easy to lose focus, no matter what we are doing.
As I sit in my den writing this article I could become distracted by lots of things: Email alerts, all of the social media notifications and alerts, neighbors driving up the street, my wife making noise downstairs, the song playing from iTunes, the pile of mail on my desk, the new Wired Magazine cover and/or the airplane that just flew over the house.
Today I am not writing an article about how to manage your time and how to stay focused in a world filled with bright lights and distractions. Instead I am writing an article about staying focused when using social media. To be even more focused, I am going to share three powerful Focus on LinkedIn tips.
Get Focused on LinkedIn
#1 – Focus your Profile on who you are.
Many LinkedIn Profiles have three headed Headlines, Summary and Experience Sections with no focus and Skills and Certifications that are totally irrelevant to who the person is today. Despite our wide and varied career paths, our LinkedIn Profiles must be focused on who we are today.
A well crafted and Focused LinkedIn Profile clearly tells our network who we are and what we do. This enables our network to remember who to consider when they need the products and/or services we are focused on. I like to refer to this as “Declaring our Authority thru our LinkedIn Profile.”
There is an art to doing this and it includes the use of compelling stories and keywords. It’s not hard to do, but you must become Focused on this task in order to build a compelling LinkedIn Profile.
#2 – Focus on content relevant to who you are.
When you focus on content relevant to who you are, two powerful results occur.
You get to learn from others who share great content relevant to who you are.
Your network becomes more clear about who you are and learn from you and the content you share.
Conversely, when you lose Focus and begin sharing and engaging on a broad range of content that is not relevant to who you are, you become distracted and your network looses focus on who you.
Often we will want to engage on content our network shares. This is called being polite. However, if the content is not relevant to who you are, be polite without diving in all the way. I.E. – it’s ok to Like, Comment and Share good content, but don’t let this content become a distraction to what you really need to Focus on.
You can test your ability to Focus on LinkedIn by looking at your Activity on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to make sure you have not lost focus.
#3 – Focus on People, Companies & Groups relevant to who you are.
There are four types of connectors on LinkedIn:
- Connect with everyone on LinkedIn
- Connect only with people who could “buy their stuff”
- Don’t connect with anyone they have not met in real life
- Connect with people who are relevant to me in some way or another
I am a Type 4 connected. I will connect with anyone who is relevant to me in some way or another.
I will send a LinkedIn Invitation to people (who know me) who I have met or who I know have been introduced to me by another connection in my networks. These invites are focused on people who I can help or who can help me grow my business in many different ways.
I will accept a LinkedIn Invitation from people who are relevant to me in many different ways. However, I want to read about that relevance in the invite message or clearly see it through their profile. Otherwise, I will Ignore the Invite.
I like to Focus on LinkedIn Groups that are relevant to who I am and my goals in life, business, career and community. There is a lot that needs to be done every day, therefore if the LinkedIn Group is no longer relevant to my goals, I have to Leave the Group. I can’t let irrelevant LinkedIn Groups distract me.
I also like to Follow Companies that help me Focus on my goals. These companies include ones that I get to learn from as well as my client’s company pages. As interesting as Cisco Systems’ LinkedIn Company Page is, I no longer follow them.
Get Focused on LinkedIn in order to create success
The more you get Focused on LinkedIn, the more success you can create in your life, business and career as you use LinkedIn.