5 templates that will help you write the perfect LinkedIn summary

How many times have you started reading someone’s LinkedIn summary and found yourself totally bored two sentences in?

The whole thing is only a paragraph, but you’re already scrolling down to the Experience section—or even clicking away from the page.

Having a great summary (like these!) is essential. After all, it’s one of the most important areas of your entire profile: It sums up your professional history, qualifications, and personality.

Plus, it can (and should) give viewers a clear idea of what they should do next — whether that’s accepting your connection request, recruiting you for a job opening, or reaching out for networking purposes.

If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these five different summary templates — there’s one for every kind of person on LinkedIn. 

1. The mission-based summary

Every brand has stories to tell — stories that will not only engage, inform, surprise, delight, and impact their audience, but that will also deliver on measurable business goals. And I am the conduit between brand and consumer.

I help clients find the subject and medium that best fits their unique identity, and then I produce high-quality content that meets their objectives.

Currently, I am a content strategist at Alliance Media, where I’ve collaborated with companies such as Tiffany & Co., Burger King, and Netflix.

My specialties include digital media, consumer behavior, brand awareness, and omni-channel marketing campaigns.

The mission-based summary opens with a broad description of what you do, then gets more and more specific. This is a great choice if you’re using LinkedIn to engage with a variety of people. After all, someone who’s unfamiliar with the field is probably hazy on what “content strategy” means — but everyone understands “telling stories for brands.”

It also shows that you get the bigger picture. You understand why your job encompasses more than your daily to-do list. And as you can see, you don’t have to be “increasing literacy rates in third-world countries” or “building prosthetics with near-natural motor capability” to be contributing something valuable to the world.

2. The personality summary

When I was 21, I climbed Mount Everest. Not metaphorically — I literally climbed the highest mountain on Earth.

While I was hiking, I thought about quitting approximately 5,000 times. (And that’s a lowball estimate.) But despite the high winds, low altitude, mental and physical fatigue, and trail mix overdose, I kept going. I’m that person. Once I say I’ll do something, it will happen.

Now, I put that perseverance to work as a senior account manager for Polar. I don’t have to climb any mountains… but I do have to move them.

I’m well-versed in negotiations, planning and development, relationship management, operations, and logistics coordination and scheduling.

If you’re interested in grabbing coffee and talking shop (or to hear how I almost fell off the mountain at 27K feet), please send an email my way.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

If you’re really looking to hook people, begin with an anecdote that demonstrates one or two key personality traits.

Because this type of summary focuses more on soft skills than on hard skills, it’s ideal for two types of users: the networkers and the less-experienced. If you’re using LinkedIn primarily to meet new people, rather than get a job, this makes you seem like an interesting person to know. You’ll likely see an increase in the number of connections you make, as well as the number of people who accept your coffee invites.

And it’s also great if you’re still a student or relatively new to the professional world. Instead of being confined to a short, two or three sentence bio explaining what limited experience you have, you can flesh out your character traits to help people learn more about you. 

3. The short and sweet summary

I have over 15 years of experience working in data science. Currently, I work as Asana’s Senior Data Manager, improving products and services for our customers by using advanced analytics, standing up big-data analytical tools, creating and maintaining models, and onboarding compelling new data sets.

Previously, I was the Chief Data Scientist at Guru, where I analyzed data from some of the biggest enterprise and networks in the world to educate the market on long-term internet trends.

Competencies: data science, machine learning, cloud computing, Hadoop, Python/Java/R, network protocols

The short and sweet summary is a smart choice for professionals in conservative or technical industries. For example, if you’re a lawyer, you want to make it easy for people to see how long you’ve been practicing law, what your qualifications are, and the type of work you specialize in. (Plus, getting too creative might undermine your credibility.)

This also works for active job hunters. Why? It allows you to get a lot of keywords in, which will help advance you in the search results when a recruiter looks for someone who fits your profile.

Whatever the case, a short and sweet summary should include your current role, previous positions (if they’re relevant or notable), and your skills. 

Reuters/Noah Berger

4. The blended summary

I’m a talent acquisition specialist with an interest in building the most effective workforces possible. For over 20 years, I’ve been helping businesses find their perfect hires. I also do consulting on compensation and benefits, new hire processes, and company culture.

When I’m not on the job, I love hiking with my dog, working my way through every recipe in the family cookbook, and indulging my love for seeing new places.

If you’d like to learn more about how my services can help your company, please reach out via email (janedoe@gmail.com).

As the name suggests, this summary is a blend between the personality and the mission versions. It’s perfect if you want to get straight to the facts, but you also want some levity in your description. I’d suggest it for professionals in more creative industries and people whose work involves lots of other people (think sales reps, managers, or HR specialists).

To make this work, begin with your current job and a couple work accomplishments or highlights, then add some “fun facts.” However, make sure they’re not too fun — “I love karaoke (ask me about my Mariah Carey cover)” is fine. “My personal motto is ‘It’s 5 PM somewhere!’” is probably not. When in doubt, leave it out.

If you need more help nailing the perfect tone for this one, just imagine you’re talking to someone you just met at an industry event. Keep it light, fun, and professional.

LinkedIn

5. The accomplishments summary

I’m a freelance multi-disciplinary graphic designer who’s delivered creative and engaging solutions across brand identity, print, packaging, and digital media.

In 2013, my online brand campaign for the Dorsey Children’s Hospital won a GDUSA award, one of the most prestigious honors in the graphic design industry.

My work has also been featured in Creative Bloq, Compound Magazine, and on the Creative Review blog.

Skills: logo design, web design, branding and identity, typography, UI design, packaging, CSS, HTML, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator

If you have a project I can help with, please get in touch.

I love the accomplishments summary for those who are seeking work — either a full-time position or freelance gigs. It cuts to the chase and tells potential employers or clients exactly why you deserve the job, as well as the (high) caliber of work they can expect from you.

And you’re not limited to awards, speaking engagements, or positive press. Something like “I planned and implemented a new social media strategy that tripled our online engagement in six months” works too. 

It doesn’t matter which summary type you choose — having a well-written, thoughtful one will do wonders for your LinkedIn goals.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/templates-for-perfect-linkedin-summary-2015-6?r=US

People Are Flocking to a Social Network That Redistributes 90% of Ad Revenue to Users .

Songwriter Andrew Fromm hit the jackpot when his lyrics became hits for global sensations like the Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync and a few dozen other artists. But while songwriting once provided him with a more than comfortable lifestyle, the spare change streaming services pay him isn’t even enough for lunch at a Manhattan deli once a month.

While 1.5 million Spotify plays earns Mr. Fromm only $18 in royalties every three months, he’s making more than that daily on Tsu, a social network that actually pays users for their original content, Sebastian Sobczak, founder and CEO of Tsu, told The New York Observer.

On Tsu, users share any original content from artwork and Soundcloud tracks to selfies and videos of their dogs. The company then redistributes 90 percent of its advertising revenue to users in the form of royalties. The more the content is shared and the larger the users’ networks on the platform, the more money gets put into their banks on the site. And the payouts can be big; one million shares could earn a user $1,500, according to Mr. Sobczak.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

Since its launch in late October, the invite-only platform has garnered 3.5 million users who are musicians, artists and everyday social media users.

“You’re seeing a very large music community, a very large art community, and you’re seeing kids with their selfies,” Mr. Sobczak said. “We have people that came out of the woodwork and have become mini celebrities on this platform.”

One mother of four named Kimberly Hendersen began making hundreds of dollars every day when a video she posted of her signing her daughter to sleep went viral. Now, she has a record deal lined up, according to the Daily Mail.

While many everyday people are making a little extra cash from engaging in normal social media activities like sharing their photos, this opportunity to cash in on original content has musicians bringing their music to Tsu.

Independent artists like Tiffany Paige and Meresha have released their songs and EPs exclusively on the site. Today, rapper Azizi Gibson (signed to Waka Flocka’s 36Brickhouse label) is releasing his music video for “Misguided” on Tsu. And these musicians aren’t forming partnerships with Tsu; they’re simply opting for a platform more creator-friendly than the Spotifys and Pandoras of the world.

“Social media is 100 percent user generated, but the platform monetizes 100 percent. No content creators make money. Not Disney, not 50 Cent,” Mr. Sobczak said.

It’s true. For example, Pharrell made only $2,700 from 43 million plays of his mega hit “Happy” on Pandora, according to Business Insider. And While Facebook generated $66,000 in only 24 hours from the latest Cinderella trailer, Disney didn’t make a dime, according to Mr. Sobczak.

http://observer.com/2015/04/people-are-flocking-to-a-social-network-that-redistributes-90-of-ad-revenue-to-users/

FOUR STEPS TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LINKEDIN ARTICLE

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for connecting with customers and potential new business. There are now 347 million active users on the social network - a number too large to ignore. 

If you are currently using LinkedIn as a marketing and networking tool, you’ll have seen many people now publishing longer posts, which is LinkedIn’s version of blogging. 

The social network has now rolled out publishing to everyone, so there is a lot more competition when it comes to getting longer articles read. 

While it is tempting to use articles to promote products and events, the ones that are most successful tend to avoid sales pitches and aim to find solutions to specific problems readers may face.

How can your contributions cut through the crowd and be seen?

1. Choose a great title

A great title is the first thing people see and will often determine whether a reader will click through to the main article or not.

Poor title examples include: 

• “New event launching”

• “New blog up”

• “'Your company name here' launches new service”

These titles won’t work as they offer no value to your reader and are over promotional.

When writing articles for LinkedIn, you should always try and provide readers with specific assistance in your area of expertise as opposed to simply discussing your business. 

Keep your titles educational. If you are an expert in your industry then flaunt your expertise by revealing a new way of approaching a subject or by teaching the audience how to do elements of your job themselves. 

This will demonstrate that you are a leader in your industry and will establish your reputation as a reliable source of information. In doing this, you'll soon see a positive effect in terms of new leads and networking opportunities.

2 - Great cover image

If your cover image is a dull stock photo that everyone else is using people will automatically associate it with other content. The key is to have eye-catching and original artwork that relates to the topic you’ll cover in your post. 

Free tools such as Canva or Pic Monkey will allow you to design your own image that reflects the originality and personality of the article. You can use elements of stock photos from places like Canva or Dollarphoto club.

You should check images are the correct size to make your posts look professional, helping your article stand out and encourage more click throughs.

3 - Great content

Once you have that perfect title and the perfect picture it is important that your content is equally attention grabbing. 

As well as being relevant, your article needs to be unique. Repeating information that can be found elsewhere will not showcase your expertise and will make for an uninspiring read. It will also dissuade readers from engaging with other articles you may write in the future and will have a long-term impact on both your personal and brand reputation. 

Make sure your content will last the test of time. News and reactive articles are good but sharing information that will provide value for weeks or even months to come will ensure you'll increase your views and shares.

By investing in creating a great article now means you’ll eventually save time, and it is preferable to write articles that get a high number of views than to write a number of sub-standard pieces on a weekly basis. 

4 - Share 

If you want those views, likes and comments, then it’s time to start promoting your content. 

You should share your post on sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram to engage with potential readers across all social media platforms.

The same applies if you have a mailing list or send newsletters on a regular basis. Sharing increases content awareness, so promoting your articles will have a significant impact on your engagement levels.  

Don't just share once. Make a schedule as to when you will share your content in the future, this way more of your audience will see your article over time.

http://www.smeweb.com/marketing/features/5230-four-steps-to-creating-a-successful-linkedin-article

How to Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile to Find Potential Customers

n his book Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Myerson introduces you to 22 innovators who have redefined the developing landscape of online marketing. Learn how to master proven strategies, avoid costly mistakes and grow your business. In this edited excerpt, contributing author and LinkedIn expert Viveka Von Rosenoffers tips on creating a LinkedIn profile, then targeting your searches, to find your target market.

Are you, like many professionals, still not convinced of the power of LinkedIn? Here are some stats that might change your mind:

• LinkedIn is the number-one social network for driving traffic to corporate websites.
• LinkedIn members are 50 percent more likely to engage with a company they engage with on LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn drives more traffic to B2B blogs and sites than Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ combined.
• Ninety-three percent of marketers rate LinkedIn as effective for generating leads.
• Sixty-five percent of companies acquired B2B leads through LinkedIn.

Your first step to attracting prospects on LinkedIn is to create a powerful profile. Start with your Professional Headline -- it's the area right underneath your name, the 120 characters that describe who you are and what you do. Most people just have their “Title” at “Company” (because that's LinkedIn’s default), but this is a great place for a tagline and a few keywords.

Because your picture, name and Professional Headline are usually what people see in most communications on LinkedIn, whether you're responding to a group update, sending a message, inviting someone to connect or using the introduction feature, invest the time to make it engaging.

A lot of people skip the description field of their Experience section, but I'd strongly urge you not to. You have 1,000 characters in this area to plant your keywords. As you describe what you do and what your company does, these keywords are going to naturally settle right in. And with LinkedIn’s search algorithm, the description section of your Experience is more important than ever!

In the Background section of your profile, make sure to use the most of the 2,000-character Summary field to expound on who you are and what you do. Keep the Summary section customer-facing, by being clear on how what you do benefits your prospects.

The Interests section, found at the very bottom of your profile under Additional Information, is the only section on LinkedIn into which I recommend you blatantly dump your keywords. You have 1,000 characters to add both personal interests (hiking, biking, walking, judo) as well as the list of the keywords you use for SEO. Just paste in your list, and make sure you separate each keyword or keyword phrase with a comma so the words are searchable.

If you get the right keywords in these four sections, you have a much better chance of your profile showing up when someone does a search on them. Since LinkedIn actually drives more traffic than Google+ and Bing, you need to make sure that you, not your competition, are being found by your prospects.

Now let's talk about the best ways to search and find prospects on LinkedIn.

1. Advanced search.

LinkedIn’s Advanced Search is found just to the right of the Smart Search box. (The tiny, light gray link that says “Advanced.”) The Advanced Search is available to everyone no matter what membership you have. Once you click on the link, a new page opens and you’ll now have the ability to search by:

• Keyword  
• First name
• Last name
• Title or potential title
• Company
• School
• Location

When working with LinkedIn, it's so important to know who your target market and prospects are. You must be clear on your “buyer” or “purchaser persona.” Once you’re clear on who these individuals might be, it’s an easy cut and paste into these different search fields on LinkedIn.

• What keywords would your target buyer have in their profiles?
• What would their titles be?
• Where would they work?
• Where did they go to school?
• Where would they live?

2. Boolean search.

Even with the Advanced Search, we don’t always get as accurate a result as we'd like. To more fully refine a search, consider using Boolean logic or Boolean search strings.

Boolean search uses a series of “modifiers” to help you refine your search. These modifiers include:

• + and “ ” to hold search phrases together
• OR when you're not sure of a title or keyword
• AND to definitely include a search term or phrase
• NOT to exclude a search term or phrase

+ or “ ”

If you're doing a search for a Chief Executive Officer and don’t use the little plus sign (+) between chief and executive and officer (chief+executive+officer) or you didn’t put that phrase in quotation marks, then LinkedIn will search for a bunch of “chiefs” and a bunch of “executives” and bunch of “officers.” Your result is going to be much less targeted than if you'd used the + sign or the quotation marks around the phrase: “chief executive officer.”

OR

If you're just not quite sure about whom you're looking for, then OR becomes your best search friend. Maybe you want to work with the head of a company. What does the head of the company call him or herself? Did they choose CEO OR “chief executive officer” OR founder OR owner OR partner OR co-owner OR co-founder OR... . If you didn’t use OR and put the wrong title in the title search field, then you lose the opportunity of seeing everyone who might be a good fit. You can use the OR modifier in both the keyword and Title (and company) fields on LinkedIn.

AND

Use AND when you want to clarify an audience or a niche. If you were looking for a CEO OR owner OR founder OR partner AND you wanted to make sure to only search for people in the legal industry, you would simply add AND legal AND law AND lawyer AND law firm to your search. If you're not sure what keywords you want to add, you can always use parentheses to hold options together. Your search might look like this: CEO OR chief+executive OR founder AND (legal OR lawyer OR law).

NOT

I think the most important modifier is NOT. When you get your search results, you might see a lot of competitors show up (or employees or job seekers or consultants). If you're not interested in any of those folks as prospects, you can erase them from your list by using NOT. You might want to add: NOT consultant NOT jobseeker NOT . The use of NOT will definitely target and clarify your results.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243709

An Insider’s Guide To LinkedIn In 2015

In an interview with LinkedIn communications guru Crystal Braswell, we discuss what you should be doing to use the site to its fullest potential, and how LinkedIn is evolving to better meet the needs of today’s professionals.

i

LinkedIn has become an integral part of our professional lives. I hear a lot about the site from career advisers, but when I really want to learn what’s going on, I turn to the folks making things happen at LinkedIn’s Bay Area headquarters. This week, I chatted with Crystal Braswell, a manager of corporate communications and also a member of DeVry University’s Career Advisory Board. Here’s what she had to tell us.

What are the biggest mistakes you see people making on LinkedIn?

The biggest mistake would be not completing your profile. Simple changes like adding a profile photo or summary section can make a huge difference. We know that profiles with a photo are 14 times more likely to be viewed than those without one, and a complete summary and experience section that includes relevant keywords will make it easier for other professionals to find you.

Sometimes the best opportunities – from a dream job to speaking, mentorship and skilled volunteer positions — appear when you aren’t even looking. In fact, only 20 percent of jobs come from submitting an application for a job posting. The rest come through networking. [Read later: 5 Networking Tips You Haven’t Heard.]

Now, if you’ve taken the time to complete your profile, make sure you’re also giving people a sense of what you do AND who you are. What have you accomplished? Are there any hobbies that are relevant to your profession? Have you volunteered with any nonprofits in your community? Make sure it’s all on your profile. This stuff matters, and it’s what elevates your profile, transforming it into a rich portfolio that paints a complete picture of you as a professional. You never know what little tidbit might push you out in front.

Hmm, now I think I need to revise my headline. What’s yours?

I say I’m a “tech geek and PR pro leading LinkedIn’s higher education and content initiatives.” It’s more interesting than just using my job title and lets my personality show through at the start.

What’s the most interesting use of LinkedIn you’ve heard about recently?

One of my favorite recent stories came from someone who found her dream job at a media outlet. After finding and applying for the job, she took to LinkedIn to find the recruiter hiring for the role, and then used “Whose Viewed Your Profile?” to get that recruiter’s attention and land an interview. She then turned the online networking opportunity into an in-person one, connecting with a senior producer at the outlet and locking in 30 minutes to talk to her. She used LinkedIn in all the right ways, and it paid off for her!

What do you think she did particularly well to make that happen?

She used LinkedIn thoughtfully. She nailed her profile first and then used a little elbow grease to find the right connections and reach out to them appropriately. The initial communication is often an overlooked nuance of networking. It should be personalized, specific, to the point. Are there commonalities you see in their experience or educational background? Use those tidbits to establish a good rapport with the individual. And always make it reciprocal. If you’re asking something of them, don’t be afraid to offer your help in return.

What’s a good maintenance plan for LinkedIn? Meaning, you aren’t looking for a job but still want to be out there.

Think of your network like a garden. If you only go out and tend to it once a year, it’s not going to flourish. Spend some time each week watering it, engaging with your connections, sharing interesting content with your network, etc. When you come out of a meeting with someone interesting, send a connection request while the meeting is fresh in both of your minds. Pay attention to people’s birthdays, work anniversaries, and promotions and give them a nice shout out on LinkedIn. And finally, if you want to position yourself as an expert in a particular field, take advantage of the publishing platform to showcase your knowledge and opinions.

What are the most important things to keep in mind for a company or team presence on LinkedIn?

Look at LinkedIn as an opportunity to put your best food forward. Your employees are your brand ambassadors. I think at one time there was the assumption that if you were on LinkedIn it had to mean you were looking for a job. But that’s not the case anymore. Companies should want their employees on LinkedIn. They are more likely to share exciting news about the company, give potential candidates a peek into company culture and bring the company front and center to an expanded, professionally-oriented audience. As an extension of that, company pages should share timely, relevant information, and be complete and well-maintained.

Okay, Crystal, give us the insider scoop. What’s next for LinkedIn?

You’ll continue to see us look for new ways to simplify the LinkedIn experience. We want to make it easier for our members to use our job hunting tools, find content that might help them be better at their current jobs and more prepared for meetings, and leverage opportunities to build brands as thought-leaders and subject matter experts.

http://www.business2community.com/expert-interviews/insiders-guide-linkedin-2015-01196487

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn offer new ways for advertisers to reach users

The world’s biggest social media platforms have expanded their advertising offerings beyond their own platforms to third-party websites and apps, monetising their data at scale in an effort to compete with Google. Their approach is primarily two-fold: improving audience profiling; and providing advertisers with access to an individual’s anonymised social media profile ID to track them across devices and across channels outside of the social platform.

Twitter

Twitter recently introduced a new offering that allows advertisers to select from more than 1,000 partner audiences provided by service providers Acxiom and Datalogix, in the Twitter ads user interface. This allows advertisers to target specific Twitter audiences, as the company clarified in a 5 March blog post:

“By using a partner to provide the desired audience, an auto brand can connect with audiences that are in-market for a new car. A CPG company can reach customers that have previously purchased products in their category. And luxury brands can limit campaigns to shoppers who earn a household income above a certain threshold.”

This offering comes on the back of the micro-blogging platform’s 2014 launch of Fabric, a suite of products that allows mobile developers to integrate Twitter feeds into their apps and sites so that advertisers’ promoted tweets appear across apps and websites while still feeling native to the particular app or website. In other words, social advertising is no longer confined to the Twitter platform.

Facebook

Late last year, Facebook re-launched Atlas after buying it from Microsoft in 2013. Atlas allows advertisers to target Facebook users across devices and channels, on apps and websites outside of the Facebook ecosystem. Atlas tracks a full customer journey, from initial ad impression to final purchase, across multiple devices. This is an important development for advertisers, as a significant proportion of online purchases are made on a different device from the one on which the relevant advert was first viewed.

Rather than use cookies, Atlas uses Facebook’s persistent ID, which enables the tracking of a user across mobile and desktop and enables advertisers to use Facebook’s data and knowledge of individuals in order to target consumers across third party websites and apps.

In February, Facebook expanded Atlas and announced new partnerships with customer relationship management agency Merkle and software company Mediaocean, which join Havas, Omnicom and Publicis’ tech arm VivaKi. Between them, these five companies control tens of billions of pounds in ad spend.

Alongside Atlas, the Facebook Audience Network (similar to Twitter’s new partner audiences) allows advertisers to target audiences based on demographic and behavioural data, primarily on Facebook itself.

LinkedIn

On the heels of Facebook is LinkedIn, which launched its Lead Accelerator and new Network Display in February. With more than 300 million professionals registered, LinkedIn is well placed in the business-to-business marketing industry, which is reported to be valued at $1bn.

Lead Accelerator, similar to Facebook’s Audience Network and Twitter’s partner audiences, allows businesses advertising on LinkedIn to divide their audiences into segmented groups and find out more about visitors to their LinkedIn pages based on login data.

Network Display, similar to Facebook’s Atlas, uses both user login data and other profile identifiers to target LinkedIn users outside of the platform. Thanks to its partnership with AppNexus, LinkedIn has access to a vast number of third party publisher sites on which it can target LinkedIn users.

Expanding advertising offerings beyond the boundaries of social media’s own ecosystems

In the last six months, a general trend has emerged among leading social media platforms to expand their advertising offerings beyond the boundaries of their own ecosystems by using their unique relationships with end-users and their data to deliver targeted advertising to third-party website and apps which is effective across multiple devices and channels, allowing advertisers to follow the full consumer journey from start to finish.

Digital marketing which is social is no longer just about advertising on the social platforms themselves but about using data and expanding the reach of social into other areas of an end user’s online experience.

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/olswang-partner-zone/2015/mar/23/twitter-facebook-linkedin-advertisers-reach-users

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The Tories are winning - on LinkedIn

The Tories are winning!...Online

If this were, indeed, the social media election, the Tories would get 158 seats in the next election, with Labour close behind with 130. That's the findings from research by recruitment company EMR, at least.

They added up the likes and fans of the main four social media channels used today: Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn. The Conservative party fared well overall but who was most popular where?

The Tories do well on business network LinkedIn

The Tories are, unsurprisingly, most popular on LinkedIn, the online professional network.

Looking at the YouGov profiler, it isn't hard to see why. The pollster's profiler says LinkedIn users tend to be young, right-wing men in management consulting with an interest in business and finance. They follow the Queen, Rupert Murdoch and The Economist on Twitter and have £1,000 spare each month.

Liberal Democrats cling to a dying network like a dying party

The Liberal Democrats do well on Google Plus, a social network seen to be slowly dying with a core of rigid supporters. Much like the party.

Google Plus users are, according to YouGov , likely to be men in their 30s and 40s, describe themselves as "geeky" and be really into science and technology, computers and coding. They read the Guardian and New Scientist and like Newsnight and The Big Bang Theory.

Labour wins on Twitter - but only just

According to the profiler, users of Twitter are more likely to be young females who are interested in New York, culture, and sex and relationships. They like Instagram, and follow Owen Jones, Mary Beard, and Team GB on Twitter. They read the Guardian and NME and they don't spend a lot of time watching TV. However, they do lean slightly to the right.

And finally... The Tories JUST about pip Ukip to the post on Facebook

The Conservatives have 26% of the 'share' of likes on Facebook, with Ukip almost neck-and-neck at 25%. Then it's Labour, the SNP and the Greens. But none of them are likely to be any match for Britain First, which has a massive 680,000 likes and fans on Facebook.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/ampp3d/tories-winning---linkedin-5355407

So how much money do bloggers actually make?

Lifestyle blogs have existed in some shape or form for more than a decade. In the early 2000s, many started as ways for young women to keep in touch with family living far away—a virtual diary of their exploits in a new city. Most never intended to make money from them. Their sites were rudimentary, hosted on early blogging platforms like Live Journal or Blogger, with low-quality photos.

But with the rise of more sophisticated software and social media platforms, blogging has morphed into an online equivalent of Conde Nast magazines. The most prominent bloggers present highly polished personas across multiple online channels and publishprofessional-quality photographs. As their reach grows, they're increasingly referred to as “tastemakers” or “influencers.”

They've also started creating new revenue streams, such as affiliate links. (These are links to e-commerce sites that sell whatever leather jacket, stiletto bootie or crossbody bag the blogger is sporting in that day's blog photo. Whenever someone clicks through and buys the item, the blogger receives a commission.) Other opportunities for revenue come from “brand ambassadorships” that generally involve multiple posts about a company or even helping to create new products for a well-established brand and taking a cut of the sales.

Related:
• Turning a blog into a business

Most Chicago bloggers don't have the reach of the top fashion and lifestyle bloggers on the coasts, whose ubiquity and social media followings lend them near-celebrity status.

In Los Angeles, Chiara Ferragni, a 27-year-old who pens fashion blog TheBlondeSalad.com, boasts 3.4 million Instagram followers. (Vogue magazine, by comparison, has about 3.6 million.) She commands $30,000 to $50,000 to host an event, will rake in an estimated $9 million this year thanks to product collaborations with brands such as Steve Madden—and recently earned the distinction of becoming the first lifestyle blogger to receive her ownHarvard Business School case study.

In general, someone must have tens of thousands of social media followers to command rates that would allow her to blog full time, according to several local bloggers.

Most, from fledgling to well-established sites, create media kits similar to those circulated by mainstream publications that describe their editorial tone and audience reach in order to connect with brands. A fairly new blogger with perhaps 5,000 unique monthly visitors might charge $100 for a post sponsored by a company. He also might offer to bundle content and create several posts (and complementary Instagrams and tweets) for about $1,000.

FOLLOWERS AS FRIENDS

But most bloggers, many of whom slowly built their following through years of personal writing, consider their followers to be almost friends. They're wary of publishing too much sponsored content. Many strive for a 1-to-1 ratio of sponsored to unsponsored posts, meaning they only earn money on half of their output at best.

Affiliate link programs like RewardStyle have received a lot of attention for helping to monetize blogging. But many bloggers say it's hard to make much money that way because, while readers might click through to see what jacket a fashion blogger is wearing, they rarely complete the purchase. The payment threshold for most affiliate link programs is $100 a month; if a blogger earns less than that in commission, she receives no income. But if a blogger has a large following and dozens of people purchase a dress or pair of shoes she posts about, she stands to take as much as a 20 percent slice of each sale.

Bloggers can more reliably earn money through hosting advertising on their site and agreeing to host an event on behalf of a brand, though those payments also vary widely.

"We're not raking in cash,” says Graham Kostic, a former Modern Luxury art director. He says he can run beauty and fashion blog GlossedAndFound.com full time only because of his husband's salary. “With blogging, it's not the same advertising model. It's really hard to tell what's going on behind the scenes and to know what the industry standards are."

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150314/NEWS07/150319897/so-how-much-money-do-bloggers-actually-make

Share Your Ideas | LinkedIn Celebrates Success

LinkedIn Marketing: 5 Steps to Growing Your Business on LinkedIn

LinkedIn changes include new pricing policy: but will businesses now have to pay?

Johnny Ross Points the changes in LinkedIn policy  …2015 is the year of paying for our Networks...

LinkedIn rolled out some important changes to the world’s biggest professional social media platform last month. The changes will affect all businesses and professionals who are actively using the platform, especially those who utilise its powerful search functionality. Is your business ready for the changes and do you know and understand how to adapt your usage in response?

One major change is around LinkedIn pricing plans. The old flat rate £40 fee has been replaced with a new range of packages starting from a more accessible £19.99. But savvy users can still undertake key LinkedIn activities with a free account.

LinkedIn has introduced a cap on the number of monthly searches that can be done for free, presumably to incentivise paid sign-ups. The cap resets on the 1st of each month. But by logging out of LinkedIn and searching for profiles through Google instead, more detailed information is visible than from within LinkedIn itself for people outside of the searcher’s network. For example, a search for all HR Managers in Leeds can be carried out by typing the phrase into Google: “hr manager” leeds site:https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/ - This search tells Google to find all LinkedIn profiles that have the phrase “HR Manager” and Leeds in their description.

LinkedIn also restricts Inmails to people within a user’s own network. But a direct message to an unknown contact is essentially a cold call, and there are other ways to make a warm and therefore more effective approach, such as connecting via a mutual contact or through a mutual interest group. Both of these are more likely to result in a stronger long-term relationship.

Company pages have had a revamp, too. Until recently, company pages appeared as a rollover image pop-up box when viewed through individual profile pages. LinkedIn has now redesigned this “pop up” to include a ‘follow’ button and banner image. Descriptions have also been shortened from 200 characters to around 85, so concise, well structured content is now vital: brevity is key. The full 200 characters will still appear on the full company page.

Another welcome change is that published posts will now be highlighted in individual search results. This means that the creation and publication of high quality content such as blogs and news articles is more important now than ever before for professionals who want to position themselves as experts in their field.

So in summary, most professionals can utilise LinkedIn effectively without having to pay. And those who invest time into developing an effective content strategy will reap the most rewards.

https://bdaily.co.uk/opinion/04-03-2015/linkedin-changes-include-new-pricing-policy-but-will-businesses-now-have-to-pay/?utm_content=top10_10&utm_keyword=/opinion/04-03-2015/linkedin-changes-include-new-pricing-policy-but-will-businesses-now-have-to-pay/&utm_campaign=internal_tracking