LinkedIn Should Be Your Best Friend
It is crazy how time flies. It feels like just yesterday I was walking into my first day of 9th grade at Fox Chapel Area High School in Pittsburgh, PA. Fast-forward to now where I just celebrated my 10-year high school reunion over the past Thanksgiving weekend. It was great to see some former classmates that I had not seen since I walked at graduation, while also connecting in-person with some of those I have kept in touch with over time.
Going in to these sorts of events, you never know what to expect. I was fully prepared for many of the generic, “how are you?” & “what have you been up to?” conversations where we already know you planned out the answers to these questions before getting to the venue. It genuinely was great to hear what many of my former classmates and friends have been up to all over the world. After getting through the basics, I was proud & surprised at how often the topic came up about how I started my own business and many well wishes towards Andrew Exler Consulting. It’s nice to know hard work is being recognized. It had me thinking about how powerful the social media world is. Some of these people who I have had zero contact with over the last 10 years and some people I know I am not even connected with online managed to know about my business endeavors. Thanks, algorithms!
One conversation in particular that stuck out to me is what led me to write about this topic. I was talking with a friend of mine from childhood, Andrew Zinn, who I had not seen in years and as our conversation continued another friend of ours, Harry Goldberg, walked up to us and we all started talking about life and our careers. After a few minutes reminiscing, Andrew told Harry and I, “you two are the most active people on LinkedIn that I know.”
I have always tried to be active on LinkedIn, especially after I began more and more consulting work on the side. My network is so important to me and every time I meet someone new, I usually look them up on LinkedIn to learn more about them. I search to see what mutual connections we have and who knows, maybe we will need each other in the future for something. After hearing Andrew tell me that he notices my online presence, it confirmed a few things for me:
If someone isn’t necessarily interacting with the content you post on social media, people ARE watching and seeing it
Don’t worry so much about how many times your photo or comment get “liked” to a point where you are so down on yourself that you stop creating content, your time will come
For those of you who worry too much or are told you “post too much”, listen to one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Gary Vaynerchuk, who always says, “Who gives a f*** what people think!? KEEP CREATING GREAT CONTENT!”
I love LinkedIn and I believe it is the most under-utilized social media tool we have in our society. I have been on LinkedIn since my junior year of college in 2011 and I have always tried to be active and create as many genuine connections as possible. Your professional network is the most valuable asset you have besides your health & your family.
My first job out of college in 2013 was as an Inside Sales Representative with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. It was a great job for someone just getting into the working world. I started in May 2013, shortly after graduating from Ohio University (Go Bobcats! Best 4 years of my life!). I was fortunate to have a great boss named Drew Ribarchak when I started my career and one of the first tasks he had us complete was a full update of our LinkedIn profiles and a professional headshot provided by the Blue Jackets. This was when I realized how much power lies within LinkedIn and how much I wish I knew what I know now. I learned how important it is to present yourself professionally in-person and online. Selling tickets was a GRIND! My best clients were those I kept in touch with on LinkedIn, with the most gratifying parts of that job being when I would see my clients post about their amazing experiences I helped to provide for them and tag me. I am still in touch with a handful of them 7 years later - thanks to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is not Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Snapchat or anything else. While it has its similarities to many platforms with similar functions, LinkedIn is a professional tool that could be used in a variety of ways. It is wonderful for growing your business, finding a job, assisting others in a professional setting and what I find most important is the network that LinkedIn will help you create & maintain. If you have followed along to my past blogs, you know that I PREACH how important it is to value your network. Thanks to LinkedIn, I am able to follow along with friends and former colleagues near and far, while also re-connecting with someone who I may have met over coffee. You don’t realize how far a simple “congratulations” message to someone who just posted about their promotion could take you. I will often get a message or text from someone within my network who may be applying for a job somewhere or working with another company on a project and that person will see I am a mutual connection with someone they are trying to connect with. Without LinkedIn and keeping a strong presence online, YOU might be that missing link to help your best friend get a job. YOU might be one connection away from someone messaging you wanting to learn more about your current role and get offered a great job. YOU might even be the one to arrange a conversation for your own business to positively impact you somewhere down the road.
This post isn’t one to get too deep into the details and excellent tools that LinkedIn provides for you. LinkedIn has been one of the most helpful tools in my professional life, assisting me with jobs, philanthropy and much more.
To those who do not use LinkedIn or are not active on your profile — If you are a high school senior or above, I would strongly recommend to create your profile and start connecting with your friends, teachers, coaches, your parents friends, part-time bosses and more. Start listing your accomplishments, honors and awards and detail them. Most important - KEEP YOUR PAGE UPDATED! One of my biggest turn-offs when I have assisted in hiring for different roles in the past is when I have gone to search someone on LinkedIn, only to find a page without a profile picture and limited, outdated information. If you are going to take the time to create an account, put some effort in. Whether you think it is worth your time or not, I can promise you that employers search this platform and I have seen many who have personally benefited from their activity on LinkedIn. If you have any questions on how to improve or create your profile, contact me and I will help you!
To those who I am connected with and those who are already active on LinkedIn and “get it” — I hope our connection continues and I would love to grab some coffee at any point. Message me! I am always intrigued to hear everyones story about how they got to where they are. Maybe you could be an asset to me and vice-versa. Give this post a like and comment with your thoughts & experiences on LinkedIn (feel free to share it as well!). Let’s chat.
Whether you have come across this blog thanks to algorithms, it was shared by a friend of yours or you have no idea how you got here but you’ve been compelled to read through this post in its entirety, send me a message and connect with me. I would highly value your connection and would love to learn more about you.
Social media gets A LOT of negative publicity and that is fair. The internet can unfortunately be a dark, scary place. On the flip side, the internet could hold the key to your future employment, friendships, relationships and more. Step up your LinkedIn game now and thank me later. You don’t know who you’ll connect with and how they could shape your life. The world is much smaller than you think. You never know.
-Andrew
