Personal Branding for Archaeologists, Part II: LinkedIn 2

(This is the second post in a multi-part series on personal branding for archaeologist. In case you missed it, check out Part I to see why it’s important to control your online professional persona)

Part II: LinkedIn

I hear this a lot whenever I talk with other archaeologists about LinkedIn: “LinkedIn? Yeah, I’ve got an account but I barely use it.” Or, “What’s the use? All the jobs are posted on Shovelbums.org or archaeologyfieldwork.com” Or, “There’s never anything interesting happening on there. It’s all just a bunch of field school advertisements and conference calls.”

LinkedIn is probably one of the best kept secrets in social media. It’s an excellent way to connect with peers and mentors. It’s also a way you can do the unthinkable: create a job for yourself by finding cultural resource management archaeology clients.

This post is the second in a series based on the webinar “How to Build Your Personal Brand” that was presented by Christine Hoekenga and Jaynelle Ramon at the University of Arizona. They discussed four avenues archaeologists can use to promote themselves and control their online persona through personal branding. I’ve summarized their discussion and added my own take on each of these online branding tools.

LinkedIn was the first tool mentioned in their webinar.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the second most commonly used social media website in the world and has over 300 million members. It is dedicated specifically to networking among professionals and businesses. This means there are fewer stupid cat pictures and political rants than the other social media venues. LinkedIn members are there to network— they’re there for business, which means it can be a particularly fruitful place to be if you’re looking for a job or potential clients. Hoekenga and Ramon note that LinkedIn has an extremely low barrier to entry. It’s free, although you can get a paid subscription if you want to dig deeper and do better analytics. Because it’s designed for professional networking, recruiters oftentimes use LinkedIn to match companies that need employees with profiles for people that can do the job. Employers sometimes use it to find employees so they don’t have to create job postings.

Perhaps the most useful attribute to LinkedIn is its excellent search engine optimization (SEO) that makes it easier for your professional LinkedIn profile to result high in search engine rankings when employers Google your name. This is huge because the essence of online branding is making your professional skills, experience, and message visible to the rest of the world— including future employers.

Personal Branding on LinkedIn

I wouldn’t call myself a LinkedIn guru, but in the last couple years I’ve spent a lot of time reading up and figuring out how to use this social media platform to my benefit. LinkedIn was the topic of my #SAA2014 presentation, the results of which were published in the book “Blogging Archaeology” that was joint-published through Landward Research, LTD, Succinct Research, and DIGTECH, LLC. (You can grab a free copy here) My book chapter focused on the ways archaeologists were using LinkedIn to network and further their careers. Guess what? Archaeologists are pretty much neglecting this website even though they are (probably) aware of its potential.

Hoekenga and Ramon had several suggestions for how you can use LinkedIn to add to your personal brand. I’ve simply added to what they said in the webinar:

1)  Claim your own personal URL— LinkedIn allows you to personalize your account link. It’s best to claim something that has a variation of your name in it (For instance, my URL is www.linkedin.com/in/williamwhite3rd/).

2)  Keep your profile updated— Resumes are important, but, these days, many employers want verification of what you can do. LinkedIn allows you to go further than a resume because potential employers can see your previous jobs, personal interest groups, publications, organizations, previous projects and more. They can also see some of your professional connections, which is very important in a small field like archaeology.

3)  Use a photo that conveys your brand— It’s true that a picture can say a thousand words. Photos are crucial for social media because they provide information that, oftentimes, goes unmentioned. You really need to have a picture of yourself on your LinkedIn profile, but Hoekenga and Ramon suggest using a photo that conveys your brand. If you’re a field archaeologist, there should be some element of the outdoors or “fieldwork” in your picture. The same is true if you’re a lab manager or lab tech. Most of the photos on LI are stodgy headshots that are glamorized driver’s license photos.

Remember, everything in your personal brand need to come together to help craft the professional image you want the world to see. Pictures are as important as words. Use a good photo of yourself that conveys a message. A dimly lit selfie of you at your favorite Chinese buffet or a nondescript picture of a Hohokam pot doesn’t do the trick. Leaving this section blank is unacceptable. If you’re an archaeologist, play into the popular conception of archaeology a little bit so employers and clients see what you’re all about.

4)  Write an interesting and informative headline— Who are you and what do you do? Your headline needs to answer that question. As with all of the content in your headline and personal summary, make sure to use keywords that can be picked up by search engines.

5)  Create a summary that shows who you are— Here’s where you insert a brief summary of who you are (experiences), what you do (skills), and why you do it (ethos). This can be a longer version of the personal summary statement you use on your resume or it can be a more dialogued version. Feel free to tell a story, but keep it professional. People love stories, even hiring managers, but you don’t want to go stand-up comedian with your profile. This the place where you can let a bit of your personality shine while also highlighting your accomplishments.

6)  Include your other digital presences— You can also provide links to your other social media accounts, personal website, and blog (if you have them). Make sure you don’t cross-pollinate personal social media accounts with your professional ones. For instance, my Facebook is the place where I connect with friends and family and vent about the frustrations of life. Much of the stuff I post on Facebook would detract from my professional brand, so I use a different name on Facebook than I do on my other accounts and I don’t link the professional ones to my Facebook (Although, my Facebook is linked to my Klout account in order to boost my overall Klout score).

It’s easy to blur the lines with social media, so be careful.

7)  Fill out your entire profile— This is absolutely essential. Make sure you put information in as many modules of your profile that you can. Don’t forget to highlight your languages and previous projects. If you’re a student, impressive test scores and courses can also be noted. Your LinkedIn can add color to your resume so use it to its fullest.

Other LinkedIn Necessities

Once you’ve built a killer profile and connected with some folks, you’re going to need to do some other things to really stand out:

Recommendations and Endorsements— You can say you know how to write a CRM report, but does anyone really believe you until you’ve demonstrated that skill? LinkedIn allows people in your network to give endorsements and write recommendations for you. Endorsements are simply things that your colleagues can quickly confirm that you know what you’re doing. They’re like check boxes that provide a little social proof.

If you want some serious social proof, ask for a written endorsement from some of your previous employers and clients. These carry much more weight. They’re like a letter of recommendation that people can vouch for your skills. You can get recommendations by politely requesting them via email from people you’ve worked with in the past that know you relatively well. Co-workers’ recommendations are nice, but recommendations from former supervisors and clients beef up your profile even more.

Max out the “Projects” Module— LinkedIn allows you to write a summary of previous projects you’ve accomplished. Here is a chance to increase the SEO of your profile by adding a bunch of relevant keywords and links to other online resources and websites. LI doesn’t really allow you to fill this with graphics or PDFs of reports, but you can easily host these on a website elsewhere and link to it through the projects module.

Add a PDF, PowerPoint, or Video to your profile— I haven’t done this yet (mainly because I have a website and blog), but you can insert a PDF, PowerPoint, or video to the Summary or Experience sections of your profile. This may help increase your visibility and improve your online branding efforts, especially if you’re linking to a YouTube video because YouTube can really help your SEO efforts. As long as you’re not breaking copyright laws or jeopardizing site locations, adding an academic article, CRM report, or conference presentation/poster can serve as a sample of your work for any potential employers.

This video will show you how and where to insert these files on LinkedIn:

Just make sure you’re adding things that won’t get you in trouble and are targeted to your branding efforts. You don’t want to add a college essay about early 20^th century socialist filmmaking in the Ukraine when you’re branding focuses on your experience as an archaeologist.

Act like a LinkedIn Open Networker (L.I.O.N)— LinkedIn doesn’t really like its members linking with individuals they don’t know. I can see why. Imagine you were at a party and somebody came up to you and started acting like they knew you and you guys were best friends. That feels pretty awkward and LinkedIn prides itself on getting members to make meaningful contact. They’re not Twitter or Facebook, so they frown upon cold calls and random hook-ups. Plus, this vigilance makes it harder to spam LinkedIn profiles.

Nevertheless, it behooves anyone interested in building their network on LinkedIn to reject others simply because you don’t know them personally. The point of online networking is to meet people you probably wouldn’t meet in person because they live hundreds of miles away. Why would you reject an invitation to someone with similar interests because you don’t already know them? I’ve chosen to act like a L.I.O.N.– I accept almost any invitation– but I don’t include that keyword in my profile. This is one piece of advice you don’t have to follow. It’s simply one of my personal preferences.

I accept almost everyone because I’m trying to build my network as large as possible. I may not work with these folks, but I’m not afraid to add them to my online network because you never know. That being said, I’m always on the lookout for spam profiles. People that don’t have any connections is a sure sign of a spam profile.

LinkedIn Master Tips: Job Seekers

The aforementioned advice is really a primer that you can use to get your feet in the water. But, LinkedIn can do so much more for you than simply build your brand. I’ve read up on LI quite a bit and most of the following information comes from my own experiences (which are highlighted in my Blogging Archaeology chapter “Calling All Archaeology Careerists: Discussing Archaeology Careers Online” (2014:60—76) and the following books:

Asher, Donald

2010       Cracking the Hidden Job Market: How to Find Opportunity in Any Economy. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley.

Breitbarth, Wayne

2013       The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start your Business, Brand, and Job Search. Second Edition. Greenleaf Book Group Press, Austin.

Carter, Brian

2013       LinkedIn for Business: How Advertisers, Marketers and Salespeople Get Leads, Sales, and Profits from LinkedIn. Que Publishing, Indianapolis.

Prodromou, Ted

2012       The Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business: How to Get Connected with 150 Million Customers in 10 Minutes. Entrepreneur Media, Irvine.

Schepp, Brad and Debra Schepp

2012       How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Second Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Schaffer, Neil

2009       The Windmill Networking approach to understanding, leveraging & maximizing LinkedIn : an unofficial, step-by-step guide to creating & implementing your LinkedIn brand : social networking in a Web 2.0 world. Booksurge Publishing, United States.

I also read dozens of blog posts and articles about strategies you can use on LinkedIn in order to connect with clients and potential employers. There is almost no end to the amount of advice out there about LinkedIn, but these books are among the best resources I’ve found thus far (The Donald Asher book isn’t about LinkedIn, but it does give timely advice that is easily adaptable to job prospecting on LinkedIn. I’ve summarized portions of this book here).

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for leveraging LinkedIn for your job search, but here are some of the ways I’ve used LinkedIn to further my career and helped others connect with hiring managers:

Step 1: Create a Bad-Ass profile—This goes without saying. Follow the advice I already mentioned above.

Step 2: Start connecting with other archaeologists—The true power is to use LinkedIn to connect with other professionals. You should start by connecting with archaeos that you already know and then work from there. Use commonalities in order to connect with people you might not know well or have never met. Search for archaeologists that went to the same universities as you, live in your town/state, are members of the same professional organizations, or have the same specialty as you (ex. dendrochronology, historical archaeology, geomorphology, ect.). Join archaeology groups and participate in the conversations there (FYI: I have my own LinkedIn group called the Archaeology Careerist’s Network. It’s open to any and all archaeos around the world.)

Once you’re up and running on LI, you can start moving in different directions. You can use LI to conduct some market research, such as searching for companies that hire archaeologists, look for industry problems that you can solve, and researching the skills, education, and experience you need to amass in order to attain your dream job in archaeology. The key is to stay current and active. Comment on group forums. Give endorsements for people you know. Continue connecting with others in and outside your industry.

You can even try to create a job for yourself by connecting with people working at companies that hire archaeologists. If you’re a freelance archaeologist or have reached the project manager level, you can try and connect with companies that need CRM consulting. You never know when a blog post or forum comment might reel in a client for your company. CRM companies love employees that can bring in money, so, if you can land a contract or two, your job may just be that much more stable.

A word of caution: Make sure you’re not stepping on anyone’s toes at your current company. It may seem harmless to link with engineers and architects that have worked with CRM companies in the past, but you never know if you’re mucking up a deal that someone in your company has been working on for months. Check with your boss/co-workers before you start schmoozing for clients that might hire your company.

LinkedIn Master Tips: Finding CRM Archaeology Clients

Most CRM work is landed through RFPs and personal connections, but I have a close friend that has landed the majority of his contracts through LinkedIn. How? He uses the platform to its fullest and always strives to make meaningful contact with potential clients. Once again, there is no specific formula for connecting with potential clients but LI makes it really easy to identify companies that may buy your services and figure out who you need to talk to in order to market yourself or your company.

In a nutshell, here’s how it works:

1) Make yourself findable— LinkedIn allows companies to make profiles, but company profiles are different than personal ones. First, company profiles on LI are more like blogs that show viewers what you’ve been up to and usually link back to the company’s website. But they give important information to job seekers, recruiters, and potential clients because LinkedIn profiles are another way to advertise your expertise, size, and location. It’s also another way people can search for employees you can connect with.

Searching for potential clients through LinkedIn is much easier for individuals with targeted, rich profiles because the platform is designed for interaction on a person-to-person level.

2) Connect with targeted prospects— Use the search function on LI to identify individuals that work at companies that hire archaeologists and figure out a way to connect with them. You can check and see if there’s anyone in their network that you’re already connected to and ask that person to introduce you two. This may not work for a number of reasons, usually because the person that knows you both isn’t really active on LI and fails to introduce you, or the common connection really doesn’t know you well enough to give you a personal introduction.

You can also join groups that have individuals that hire archaeologists. LinkedIn has multiple groups for almost every profession and interest. Some potential CRM clients may be found in mining, telecommunications, city planning, architectural, and engineering groups. Once you’ve been accepted to the group, you can link with group members by stating that you know each other from the group (LinkedIn makes it hard to “cold call” people you don’t already know).

Stay on the lookout for people that are particularly active on LinkedIn groups (i.e. folks that make a lot of comments) that may be potential clients. These folks are probably doing the same thing you are: trying to make mutually beneficial connections that will help further their careers.

3) Interact with these prospects in a meaningful way— It’s not good enough to put blog posts and advertise yourself in LinkedIn groups. You need to use the groups as a means of making meaningful contact with potential clients. Your comments and posts should demonstrate your expertise while also striving to address problems/conundrums that other group members may have. Try to be of service to others. Give, give, give, give, give, give, give, and give before you make a sales pitch or offer your professional services.

4) Use group members to introduce you to potential clients— It’s best if you join groups that are likely to need your services, but don’t be afraid to join groups that are in adjacent niches. For instance, you may join a group for environmental consulting professionals but don’t be afraid to join the conversations of environmental law groups. Lawyers don’t always need an archaeologist, but they may have clients that do need CRMers.

The key is to put yourself out there, demonstrate expertise and knowledge, and make sincere connections with potential clients.

This is just the tip of the iceberg

After over 3,200 words, I’ve barely even cracked the tip of the iceberg with LinkedIn. It truly is the best resource CRMers have for forging fruitful careers and building valuable businesses. Perhaps I’ll teach a seminar on the platform in the near future.

What do you think? What else would you like to know about LinkedIn that I didn’t cover today? Would you be interested in a “LinkedIn for Archaeologist’s” webinar?

Write a comment below or send me an email if you want to know more about how to leverage LinkedIn or if you just have something to say.

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