LinkedIn is a well-known social networking website that caters to the professional crowd. It has amassed a usage of more than 330 million professionals from all over the world. Around seven million of those users are Canadians. This shows that around 20 percent Canadians are making use of this professional social networking site. Most people, however, only use LinkedIn as an online resume. But it can be very beneficial as a marketing tool as well. The site provides users with a platform to put forth information about their education, work experience as well showcase their expertise.
Using LinkedIn to Market
- You can keep your connections informed about your happenings by frequently updating your status. The updates should be brief and should involve information that will interest your connections. By posting updates on a regular basis, you will appear active on the site. Enhance your posts by including links to related content on your website.
- Through LinkedIn you can share blog posts as well. Your LinkedIn profile updates itself with the title, abstract and links to the full blog post on your website.
- You can display PowerPoint presentations posted to SlideShare or Google Docs in your LinkedIn profile.
- This social networking site makes it possible for your connections to provide you with recommendations at your request. Having recommendations from professionals is viewed favourably and helps enhance your profile.
Having a Multilingual Profile
Having a profile in another language shows your command over different languages with this unique feature. What’s more, your profile will be seen and understood by other LinkedIn members’ who first language is not English. This can give you an added advantage when recruiters are looking for multilingual professionals.
The use of keywords in different languages will make your profile turn up in greater number of searches. Most competitors will have a unilingual profile thus giving you an edge over them. So when viewers view your profile, it will be made available to them in the same language they are using the site in. However, if you haven’t created a profile in that language then they will be able to view your profile in its default language. The only caveat is that it isn’t possible to turn your secondary profile into your default profile and the section of “Additional Info” shall be the same for all language profiles. Apart from this, this feature seems to be very beneficial for users, particularly those who wish to stand apart and catch the attention of prospective employers.
Here is how to create the profile in another language. While you can't change the language of your primary profile, you can create as many secondary language profiles as there are languages available.
To create your profile in another language:
- Click Profile at the top of your homepage.
- Click the Down arrow next to the View Profile As button and select Create profile in another language.
- Choose a language from the dropdown list and update your first name and last name if they're different in the new profile's language.
- Translate your existing Professional Headline.
- Translations aren't done for you. You'll need to translate your own personal content.
- Click Create Profile to go to the Edit Profile page of your new language profile.
- Click into any fields you'd like to edit.
- Click Save and continue editing other sections.
To delete a secondary language profile:
- Move your cursor over Profile at the top of your homepage and select Edit Profile. Secondary languages will appear beneath your primary profile language, in the top right of your profile page.
- Click the 'X' next to the language in which you want to delete your profile. This will delete your profile in that secondary language.
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