I recently worked with an organization that was worried about its employees' LinkedIn profiles. “All profiles are written professionally, we believe that they are good and polished,” said the marketing manager. “We even took professional photos. The problem is that recruiters are now approaching the members of our team because their profiles look so great that you are trying to succeed in business quality. ”
This is a common problem for business. This particular organization wanted LinkedIn to help increase its revenues, increase its market share and achieve greater sales. However, I could see two problems. First, all the profiles of team members were written for the same purpose: to highlight the area of individual experience. This may seem problematic, but it actually undermined the organization’s desire to retain its talent, attracting the attention of recruiters.
The second problem was the lack of differences between profiles. They lacked a strategy. It is unclear who the target audience was and it was not clear what the purpose of each profile was.
LinkedIn has more than 400 million users. Twenty new profiles are created every second, and Australia’s LinkedIn membership is one of the fastest growing in the world with more than six million members. This represents a huge business opportunity. LinkedIn is primarily a search engine. This means that your organization can be found on LinkedIn, as well as on Google search - depending on the type of services and products for which you want to find an organization.
To find on LinkedIn and stand out from the crowd, it is important that your employee profiles of your organization have a clear goal. The person decides about someone within the first three to four seconds of landing on their profile, so it’s very important that your company’s profiles match your organization’s LinkedIn strategy. If the profile refers to a recruiter, then other recruiters will contact this person. If a profile connects to customers, cooperators, and industry partners, many of these types of people will want to connect to your employees and organizations. Problems arise when you want to reach more potential customers and sales through LinkedIn, but instead your recruiters turn to your employees. This indicates that the content of your personnel profiles requires shaking.
There are four levels of LinkedIn organization strategy. These:
Level 1: customer oriented profiles. These are the profiles of your sales team and members of the business development team — the people through whom your business services and products are sold. These people are not necessarily your contact centers; they are your business development professionals for business. Business to business is all about customer relationships, so the content of these profiles should be available to the customer.
Level 2: manager profiles. Managers are brand ambassadors for your organization. Content about products and services can be included to test a business for potential customers, but the main focus in the manager’s profile is in recruiting and retaining the organization’s talent. A manager's profile is especially valuable when an ad is advertised in their team. We know that 75% of applicants will check the organization through the leader’s profile, so the manager’s profile must clearly define the nature of the organization and the team, as well as what the team provides.
Level 3: Executive and senior profiles. The goal of an executive profile is not only to add credibility and proof of organization as part of the hiring process; this is the creation and development of industry partnerships. These profiles should position the organization’s vision. They must articulate the values of their team and how it contributes to the organization as a whole and its industry partners. These profiles are less about personality and more about how an organization can collaborate and help industry partners.
Level 4: CEO profile. The CEO profile is incredibly important. The problem is that CEOs generally do not like to release themselves into the public domain. However, two thirds of customers decide on an organization based on its CEO, so this profile has a huge amount of leverage.
The CEO profile has five goals:
To highlight the vision of the organization and what it wants to achieve. He must captivate the reader and inspire them to want to be part of this journey. This is regardless of whether they are potential talents, partners or customers. Focusing on what the organization is doing now is flat and not enough energy. It was Jack Welch, a retired General Electric CEO and one of the most famous and respected CEOs in the world, who said: “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate a vision, passionately own the vision and tirelessly lead it to a close. "
To provide clarity regarding the services and / or products of the organization. The profile should clearly indicate which clients are helping and how. A profile looks like a mirror and, depending on the words in it, determines what is returned; equally, if there is nothing in it, nothing will return. This will also support search engine optimization.
To inspire talent who wants to work in an organization. The content should explain why this is a great place to work and encourages potential employees to think, “Wow, look what they are trying to do. This organization. In his work on maximizing psychological capital, Jess Price-Jones, author and founder of iOpener, identified the “five Cs” that help people feel more satisfied with their work. The top contribution is a contribution. Applicants will look at the CEO's profile and ask themselves: “How can I contribute? Can I make a difference? Will I be heard? Does this organization have clarity on where it goes and how I can get involved? ”Provide evidence that your company is an isolated workplace, including feedback from team members, high-level survey results and statistics (for example, the average team member was with more than five years?). As the famous author and TED speaker Simon Sinek says, “people don't buy what you do, they buy, why you do it.”
To highlight what distinguishes the organization. Why is it so good that he does? The perception and positioning of the business will make it unforgettable. The CEO profile can include industry awards, talent survey results, and information about market share growth. Use this information to appeal to customers, industry partners, employees, suppliers and people the organization is trying to influence.
To emphasize corporate social responsibility. How can an organization make a difference to the world? Or is it purely intended for an almighty dollar? Is the practice transparent, ethical behavior? How do its decisions and actions affect society and the environment? According to Carl Jung, a restored Swiss psychiatrist, people make decisions that are based on the heart or based on work when working with other people. The profile should connect with both decision makers. These days a lot of attention is paid to corporate social responsibility and how it is related to the price of shares.
As you can see, all employees play a role in your organization’s strategy. It is vital that your marketing team clearly define the purpose of each profile during the build process. The question is, what are the next steps so that you can fully utilize the profiles of your organization?
I look forward to your thoughts.
