By Office D.SHARP

Clean up your Linkedin profile, grow your network, and take the first steps towards figuring out your thought leadership niche.

Decisions required.

• What is a niche or topic that you’re genuinely knowledgeable or passionate about, and truly interested in?
• How often should you post on Linkedin?
• What will your network be interested in seeing from you?
• How should you describe yourself in the about section of your profile?
• Are there any companies, organisations, government bodies or locations you are interested in establishing connections with?

If your firm serves B2B, government or remote markets, then Linkedin will be invaluable for expanding your professional network. You can use People Search to find potential clients, or referral sources, at relevant companies. This is the most targeted approach. But, you can also search for people by keyword, then filter by job title, industry, and degrees of connection.

Action items.

• [ ] Create a Linkedin profile if you don’t have one already.
• [ ] Upload your best quality profile picture, or book a shoot using a photography service like Snappr.
• [ ] Complete your CV, skills and biography.
• [ ] Connect Linkedin to your address book and begin sending connection requests to known first degree connections to build your initial network.
• [ ] Setup a Buffer account and connect to your Linkedin personal account.
• [ ] Install the Buffer smartphone app and browser plugin.
• [ ] Begin bookmarking interesting content using Buffer.
• [ ] Visit Buffer and queue posts for the week or month.
• [ ] Add a description for context, opinion and point of view.