Are You Really #LinkedIn?

I have been a huge fan of the social-professional network known as LinkedIn. In this Digital Age, it is extremely crucial that the professional adult has a strong web presence and the overall service LinkedIn provides is phenomenal. With that being said, I have realized that I don't spend a lot of time on the site. A LinkedIn can pretty much run itself - if you take the the right steps to set it up that way.

Your LinkedIn profile can virtually do the job for you, letting your name, skills, and expertise be known to everyone in your network, as well as new potential new connections who might be interested in finding people like you.

Here are five tips to make sure you are really #LinkedIn on LinkedIn:

1. Use a Professional-Looking Headshot
One of the most important aspects of a LinkedIn profile is the picture. The profile picture really separates a LinkenIn profile from a typical, run-of-the-mill resume site. As is true for any online profile, the picture is crucial. The headshot should feature you from the shoulders upwards and be a good quality image. Nothing is worse than a pixelated profile picture of someone's whole body. PRowl PR's in-house photographer takes professional headshots once a year which has been very beneficial for our members. 

2. Think in Keywords
Load up your profile with straightforward search term. If you're unsure of which words to use, look through the jobs section of LinkedIn to find ads for open positions that are similar to your own job. What keywords turn up there? Reuse the relevant words and phrases in your own profile.

3. Add Videos, Images, and Links
Earlier this year, LinkedIn introduced a new multimedia feature in which its users can add graphics, slideshows (using Slideshare), documents, and links to other online content, such as your online portfolio. Providing visuals to break up the text goes a long way toward improving a profile. I recently just added a few YouTube videos I was featured in and I truly believe having multimedia content makes my profile stand out.

4. Utilize the Who's Viewed Your Profile Feature 
One of my favorite features on LinkedIn is that the site tells you when someone else has looked at your profile. Make sure to turn on the notifications for this feature. It's a great way to get a heads-up about people or organization who are interested in you for some reason. If the person checking out your profile is in some way valuable to you, you might take some steps to facilitate their ability to contact you, such as following them on Twitter.

5. Get Recommendations
I love the fact that LinkedIn encourages its users to reach out to past employers and/or colleagues to provide recommendations. What better way to prove your credibility than to have a recommendation that anyone who views your profile has access to reading. I make sure at the end of every internship that I reach out to my supervisor for a LinkedIn recommendation.

Do you have any other LinkedIn tips? We want to know!

Know Your Digital Identity

It's very comforting to hide behind clever Twitter handles and privacy settings, but how comfortable can you be online? Potential employers want to know more about you than a few well written paragraphs in a cover letter and a distinguished resume. They want to know more about the recreational you. While it can be argued that some employers take the practice of digging into our online profiles too far, one has to consider the fact that with every new hire, a company risks its image and reputation. So before you send off your resume in hopes of landing the perfect job, be sure to know these facts about your digital identity:

1. If they want it, they can get it: Companies budget to have third parties gain access to your online profiles. While you may think you have the Fort Knox of Facebook privacy settings, there will always be someone who can hack their way through. Do not fall victim to the false security of social media privacy settings.

2. Once you post it, they own it: When we all signed up for the many social media sites we network on, I'm sure we all ignored (but agreed) to the terms of service. One thing we neglected to mull over in those terms was that once we post something to a social networking site, like Facebook, we agree to give them control over that content. That means that even after you delete those embarrassing frat party pictures from freshman year, it is still sitting on a Facebook server somewhere. You can write to Facebook (and other networking sites) and ask that content be permanently removed, but that is a process and does not guarantee positive results. Remember this the next time you update your online profile.

3. Think before you post: Anything a potential employer finds online can be used against you. It's perfectly find to take photos that capture memories, but be careful about which memories you decide to make public. Create online profiles that you would be comfortable viewing if you were looking to employ someone, place yourself in their shoes before you post.

It is never too late to alter your digital identity. Take the time to go through your profiles and updates, remove things that you think were posted out of haste and bad judgement. After you clean up your act, be sure to push positive content - because at the end of the day, it is better to have good out weighing bad than just a profile full of bad decisions.