LinkedIn is an important platform for professionals to connect with one another and showcase their career experiences and achievements. For executives, maintaining an up-to-date LinkedIn profile can be especially beneficial in attracting new business opportunities, finding potential clients or partners, and staying connected with industry peers. In this article, we will discuss various tools that can help executives manage their LinkedIn profiles effectively and efficiently.
Manually Updating Your LinkedIn profile
One of the most basic ways to manage an executive’s LinkedIn profile is by manually updating the various sections and fields within the profile. This includes:
- Adding work experience and education: Executives should be sure to list all relevant work experience, including current and past positions, job duties, and notable accomplishments. Education, including degrees and certifications, should also be included in the profile.
- Adding skills and endorsements: LinkedIn allows users to list skills and expertise, which can be endorsed by other LinkedIn users. This is a great way for executives to highlight their strengths and show credibility to potential clients or partners.
- Updating profile summary and personal information: The profile summary is a short paragraph at the top of the LinkedIn profile where executives can introduce themselves and highlight their career goals and accomplishments. Personal information such as location, industry, and current position can also be updated in the profile.
By keeping these sections of the LinkedIn profile up-to-date, executives can ensure that their profile accurately reflects their current career status and experience.
What Else Should Executives Update About Their LinkedIn Profile Manually?
In addition to adding work experience, education, skills, and endorsements, as well as updating the profile summary and personal information, there are a few other things that executives might consider updating manually on their LinkedIn profile:
- Profile picture: A professional headshot is a good idea for an executive’s LinkedIn profile. This can help create a more personal and approachable image, and can also make the profile more easily recognizable to connections and potential clients.
- LinkedIn headline: The headline is the text that appears under the executive’s name at the top of the LinkedIn profile. This is a short phrase or sentence that should summarize the executive’s professional identity and goals.
- LinkedIn URL: Executives can customize the URL of their LinkedIn profile to make it more personalized and easy to remember. This can be especially useful for executives who are looking to promote their LinkedIn profile on other platforms or in marketing materials.
- Portfolio: LinkedIn allows users to create a portfolio of work samples, which can be a great way for executives to showcase their skills and accomplishments. This can include things like presentations, reports, articles, or other professional materials.
By updating these aspects of their LinkedIn profile, executives can create a more comprehensive and professional image on the platform.
For a more complete reference guide on how you can optimize your entire LinkedIn profile, download the free eBook, “The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect LinkedIn Profile for Executives.”
Using LinkedIn’s Premium features
LinkedIn offers several Premium subscription plans that provide additional features and benefits for users. For executives, the following Premium plans may be particularly useful:
- Premium Career: This subscription plan allows executives to see who has viewed their LinkedIn profile, access additional job search features, and receive insights about companies that are interested in their profile. It also includes LinkedIn Learning, a platform with over 16,000 online courses to help executives improve their skills and advance their careers.
- Premium Business: This subscription plan includes all the features of Premium Career, as well as the ability to see more information about their LinkedIn connections, send InMail messages to people outside their network, and access additional analytics and reporting features.
These are worth considering for executives looking to gain a competitive edge and make the most out of their LinkedIn presence.
What Other Benefits & Features Are There With Premium Business?
In addition to the features that I mentioned earlier, such as the ability to see more information about LinkedIn connections and access additional analytics and reporting, Premium Business also includes:
- Unlimited InMail messages: With Premium Business, executives can send an unlimited number of InMail messages to people outside their LinkedIn network. This can be a useful way to reach out to potential clients or partners who are not already connected on LinkedIn.
- LinkedIn Learning: Premium Business includes access to LinkedIn Learning, a platform with over 16,000 online courses to help professionals learn new skills and advance their careers.
- LinkedIn Salary: This feature provides access to salary data and insights, including information on job market trends, negotiation tips, and salary comparisons for specific roles and industries.
- Company page analytics: For executives who manage a LinkedIn company page, Premium Business includes detailed analytics and insights on page performance, including data on followers, engagement, and employee participation.
- Elevate: This feature allows executives to share content with their LinkedIn network on behalf of their company, and track the performance of that content.
Overall, LinkedIn Premium Business offers a range of features and benefits that can help executives get the most out of their LinkedIn presence and grow their business.
What Other Premium Features Are There for LinkedIn?
In addition to the Premium Career and Premium Business subscription plans that I mentioned earlier, LinkedIn also offers a few other Premium subscription plans that may be of interest to executives:
- Premium Plus: This plan includes all the features of Premium Career and Premium Business, as well as additional job search and recruiting tools. It is designed for professionals who are actively looking for new job opportunities.
- Job Seeker: This plan is similar to Premium Plus, but is focused specifically on job search features such as being able to see who has viewed their LinkedIn profile and being able to apply to jobs through LinkedIn with one click.
- Sales Navigator Professional: This plan includes all the features of Sales Navigator, as well as additional sales tools such as the ability to see more information about leads and personalized news feeds.
It’s worth noting that LinkedIn’s Premium subscription plans do come at an additional cost, but they may be worth considering for executives who are looking to make the most out of their LinkedIn presence and achieve specific career or business goals.
Let’s Look More Closely At LinkedIn Sales Navigator
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a tool specifically designed to help sales professionals find and connect with potential leads and customers on LinkedIn. In addition to its core features, such as lead recommendations and the ability to send InMail messages to people outside the user’s network, there are a few other ways that executives can use Sales Navigator to benefit their business:
- Targeted search: Sales Navigator includes advanced search filters that allow executives to find leads based on specific criteria, such as industry, company size, job title, and location. This can be a powerful tool for executives looking to find potential customers or partners who are a good fit for their business.
- Account targeting: Sales Navigator allows users to create lists of target accounts, and provides alerts when key decision makers at those accounts become active on LinkedIn. This can help executives stay up-to-date on the activity of their key accounts and identify opportunities to engage with them.
- Team collaboration: Sales Navigator includes a team edition, which allows multiple users to share leads and accounts and collaborate on sales efforts. This can be a useful feature for executives who are part of a sales team and want to coordinate their efforts on LinkedIn.
- Sponsored content: Sales Navigator includes the ability to create and run sponsored content campaigns on LinkedIn. This can be a good way for executives to reach a larger audience and promote their business to potential leads.
Overall, Sales Navigator can be a valuable tool for executives looking to find and connect with potential customers and partners on LinkedIn.
Using LinkedIn Profile Management Tools
In addition to the options for manually updating a LinkedIn profile and using LinkedIn’s Premium features, there are also a number of third-party tools that can help executives manage their LinkedIn presence more efficiently. Some popular options include:
- Dux-Soup: This Chrome extension allows executives to automate LinkedIn actions such as sending connection requests and messages, and scheduling posts. It also provides analytics on profile views and engagement.
- Agorapulse: This social media management platform includes a LinkedIn scheduler and analytics, making it easy for executives to plan and track the performance of their LinkedIn posts.
- BrandYourself: This company provides a range of tools to help individuals improve their online presence, including on LinkedIn. Features include the ability to optimize LinkedIn profiles for search engines, track profile views, and receive alerts for mentions of their name online.
Using these LinkedIn profile management tools can save executives time and effort in maintaining and promoting their LinkedIn profiles.
Let’s Look More Closely At Agorapulse
Agorapulse is a social media management platform that can be used to effectively manage LinkedIn profiles and pages. Some key features of Agorapulse that are particularly useful for LinkedIn include:
- Scheduling and publishing posts: Agorapulse allows users to schedule and publish LinkedIn posts in advance, which can be a useful time-saving feature for busy executives. The platform also includes a post calendar, so users can see an overview of all their scheduled posts in one place.
- Analyzing performance: Agorapulse provides analytics and reporting features for LinkedIn company pages, including the ability to track the reach and engagement of posts and the performance of sponsored content. This can help executives understand which types of content are most effective on LinkedIn and make informed decisions about their brand’s social media strategy.
- Demonstrating ROI: For executives who are sharing links to their company’s website, blog posts, and products, Agorapulse can track how each individual post, comment and message, with a link, drives traffic, leads and conversions. Agorapulse integrates with Google Analytics and turns every link into a fully-tracked link with custom UTM parameters that tie to whatever goals the executive and her team have set up within Google Analytics.
- Listening and engagement: Agorapulse includes a “social inbox” feature that aggregates all the mentions and comments on a LinkedIn profile or page in one place, making it easier for executives to track and respond to social media activity. The platform also includes tools for tracking and managing LinkedIn reviews and recommendations.
Overall, Agorapulse is a powerful tool for managing LinkedIn profiles and pages, and can help executives save time and streamline their social media efforts.
What Other Third-Party Tools Are There For LinkedIn?
There are a number of other third-party tools that can be useful for managing LinkedIn profiles, in addition to the ones I mentioned earlier. Some other options include:
- LinkedIn Recruiter: This tool is designed for recruiters and staffing professionals, but it can also be useful for executives looking to find new job opportunities or attract top talent to their organization. LinkedIn Recruiter allows users to search for and reach out to potential candidates, as well as track and manage the recruitment process.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: This tool is geared towards sales professionals, but can also be useful for executives looking to grow their business. It includes features such as lead recommendations, personalized news feeds, and the ability to send InMail messages to people outside the user’s network.
- LinkedIn Learning: This platform offers over 16,000 online courses to help professionals learn new skills and advance their careers. It is included in LinkedIn’s Premium Career subscription plan, but can also be purchased separately. (You’ll also find additional LinkedIn articles here.)
- Linked Helper: This tool automates LinkedIn actions such as sending connection requests and messages, and allows users to schedule posts and track analytics.
These are just a few examples of the many third-party tools that are available for LinkedIn. It’s worth doing some research and finding the tools that best fit an executive’s specific needs and goals.
In conclusion, LinkedIn is an important platform for executives to connect with potential clients, partners, and job opportunities. Maintaining an up-to-date LinkedIn profile is crucial for making a good impression and showcasing an executive’s career experiences and achievements. There are a number of tools available to help executives manage their LinkedIn profiles, including manually updating the profile, using LinkedIn’s Premium features, and utilizing third-party tools such as Dux-Soup, Agorapulse, and BrandYourself. By using these tools effectively, executives can efficiently manage their LinkedIn presence and make the most out of this valuable professional networking platform.