How to Get More From Your LinkedIn Profile

When you think about professional social networking, you immediately think about LinkedIn.
Today it is the favoured hunting ground for recruiters, so how can you make sure your profile makes you stand out from the crowd?
It all comes down to maximising your profile so you get noticed - and here's how.

7 Simple Steps to Boost Your LinkedIn Profile
To get the most of your profile it's essential the following 7 elements are maximised.

1. Headline
You already know how important the headline is when it comes to putting together your own sales literature, well, the headline of your profile is just as important.
It must clearly and concisely show:

• Who you are
• Who you can help
• How you can help them

That will give the reader everything they need to know when making the decision about whether to continue reading or not.

2. Don't be fake
Business doesn't mean boring.
Some would argue that frippery should be left for other social media sites, but if you are naturally flamboyant, out going and generally a fun-loving kind of guy or girl, let that side of your personality shine through.
It's important they get to know the real you, so in your summary tell them about your goals, what you enjoy doing etc. These personal insights help make a connection at a personal level and make you more memorable.

3. Spelling
Proofreading your profile is essential. One miss spelt word could make a world of difference, so check and double-check your spelling and grammar before publishing.

4. Call to action
Is a call to action really necessary on your LinkedIn profile?
Yes it is. It's something that you automatically place in your marketing copy, so why not add one here too?
That way, once they've read your profile you can direct them to your website, phone number or email address so they can get in touch with you.

5. Proof
Although your profile is the place to shout about what you have done and can do, it's important that all your claims are backed up.
Make sure the section on education, awards won and recommendations is completed and kept up to date.

6. SEO
Search engine optimisation gets everywhere, even in your LinkedIn profile.
Make sure your keywords (i.e. terms associated with your profession) are in your:

• Headline
• Current work experience
• Past work experience
• Summary
• Specialities

7. Stand out
The last thing you should do is read through the profiles of other people in your field.
You want your profile to be unique so don't stick to the normal conventions, just write and make yourself come across in a memorable way.
LinkedIn is a powerful, but often under used tool. By following these simple steps you'll make yourself stand out from the crowd.
Review your profile today and make yourself memorable.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7816754

Facebook Is Reportedly Working On A News Reader App

Facebook is reportedly working on a smartphone and tablet friendly news aggregation service, not based on RSS, in an effort to keep mobile users on the site for longer. Both TechCrunch and The Wall Street Journal have been informed by sources that the development of the product, codenamed “Reader”, will not be rushed.

Reader will reportedly be more similar to Flipboard, a social media feed aggregation app with 50 million users, than the soon to be defunct Google Reader. Presumably, the app will collate posts and stories that a user’s friends have already engaged with, as well as those from pages that the user has liked, and arrange them in a tablet or smartphone screen-friendly format.

Currently, most mobile users are spending minute amounts of time of Facebook’s app, checking updates and sending quick messages rather than browsing through the news feed for any decent length of time. Facebook are hoping that by investing time in creating an attractive, intuitive and accessible interface, users will be persuaded to spend more time on the app, hence being more susceptible to advertising.

However, according to some sources, Facebook views news reader apps as niche products, not suitable for the majority of Facebook’s socially-concerned users. It is suggested that Facebook are putting time into the project in order to minimise the risk involved.

Two of Facebook’s competitors, LinkedIn and Twitter, are investing heavily in similar software. LinkedIn, for example, bought Pulse, a mobile-friendly news aggregator app, for $90 million earlier this year. Facebook will have to bring something new to the table if they hope to compete with Pulse and Flipboard, as well as everything else that’s already out their, but a focus on the engagement of friends may help the company do just that.

In related news, some Facebook users are being prompted to start group chats with friends who have liked their posts. A “Start Group Chat” button has appeared at the bottom of the “People who like this” box. Facebook has also begun asking users to invite their friends to like pages even if they are not the page’s administrators.

Do you think a Facebook Reader is a good idea?

Facebook Updates Page Insights, Allows Image Posting In Comments

After listening to feedback, Facebook has updated the Page Insights tool, adding new metrics and improving the insights that were already available. A select group of Page admins have been invited to preview the updates. Facebook has also started rolling out the ability to attach images in the comment section of posts.

People Talking About This, or PTAT, has been separated into elements, so admins can now see Page Likes, Page tags and mentions, and Page checkins individually, as well as general engagement overall. The Virality metric has been renamed ‘engagement rate’, which now includes clicks.

Each post’s performance, engagement and reach can be seen on a post-specific scorecard (such as the one seen above), which collates negative and positive feedback so that the impact of each post can be more easily measured. Page admins can then identify what content garners the most interaction, helping them to develop strategies to improve page performance.

Also, insights now breaks down not only who a post has reached by age, gender, location etc., but also who has engaged with the post.

The updates were announced on Wednesday, to roll out gradually. However, Facebook has assured admins that:

The existing Page Insights will still be available for all other Page admins until later this summer, at which point we'll make the updates to Page Insights available to all marketers. At this time, we will not make changes to the Page Insights export or API. 

Facebook are also currently rolling out the ability to post images in comments. A tiny camera icon will appear on the right-hand side of the comment box, allowing users to attach a photo or picture from their device.

What do you think about the updates to the Page Insight Tool? Are you pleased that you can post images in the comments section?