 How
might having a stronger professional
presence, reputation and network benefit your work promoting employee
health? Do you want to do more
to position yourself as an influential leader in your organization and beyond?
As social media becomes more pervasive, an engaging LinkedIn profile is one
important way to gain more influence and credibility, connect with wellness resources
and make valuable connections.
Can
LinkedIn really help you promote health and build community?
- Yes! As you share
and connect online with others who share your passion for employee health,
your efforts will be amplified. You will also sharpen your social media
skills in tagging, posting “likeable” content and using hashtags.
-
Do
you find promoting health to be a lonely business at times? LinkedIn can
help you build a supportive community. A community is great for
crowdsourcing help, staying motivated, learning new skills, and discovering
opportunities such as wellness events and online tools.
- When employees know why and how
to use LinkedIn for their professional development, they are more likely
to connect to your company page, share company content, and generally be better
brand ambassadors and advocates for your organization and its wellness
efforts.
What
do LinkedIn experts suggest you do?
The
recommendations below come from a Health@Work survey of LinkedIn experts that
asked them for their best advice for worksite wellness champions.
-
Create a plan
for what you want to achieve. LinkedIn can support your wellness
program’s goals as well as your own professional goals. Do you want to
recognize the good work of others? Meet particular types of people?
Publish your own original content by publishing posts? Creating a clear
and detailed plan will make all the difference.
-
Invest the time
needed to build online relationships. As you reach out to people on
LinkedIn, look for ways to support them and avoid asking for assistance
right away (also known as spamming).
-
Dedicate
focused time to setting up your profile. Most people take the approach
of slowly building up their LinkedIn profile over time. This is a mistake.
The LinkedIn experts strongly recommend setting aside the time, possibly
with another person for accountability and help, so you make a good first
impression. The employee E-tips offers
specific instructions on how to set up your profile.
What
to avoid
-
Don’t
send LinkedIn invitations without a personal note. Customize
invitations by telling people how you know each other, why you want to
connect or what you already have in common. Taking the time to do this
makes you stand out and deepen relationships.
-
Don’t
treat LinkedIn like a professional version of Facebook or Twitter. Avoid posting
too much personal content such as puzzles or
what you had for lunch. Similarly, don’t publicly comment on low quality
or offensive posts since then these posts will be automatically shared
with your network. Instead, disconnect, block or report the poster.
-
Don’t
let relationships go stale through inactivity. Failing to
comment, share, post and publish, or lurking as it is known online, will
diminish the power of your LinkedIn profile. Similarly, keep your profile
up-to-date. Most LinkedIn experts suggest spending a minimum of five
minutes a day during the week to keep your profile active and relevant. Get started today.
Bonus:
Connect with local and global LinkedIn experts for ongoing learning
We
appreciate the LinkedIn experts who contributed to this newsletter. Find them via
their LinkedIn profiles or these links: William
Arruda, Wayne Breitbarth, JoAnne Funch, JD Gershbein, Carol Kaemmerer, Sandra Long, Mari Ruddy, Jon Ruzek, Bert Verdonck, and Sandy Zeiszler.
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