A Manager’s guide to

We are the UK’s best job site for the motor industry. We’ve created this guide for automotive managers to use LinkedIn as a personal branding tool, with the help of our Social Media Executive. LinkedIn has become an essential personal branding tool. It has never been more important to build and maintain a stellar LinkedIn profile. The virtual professional network has morphed from an online resume and networking site to a comprehensive personal branding resource.

Why spend valuable time on LinkedIn?

1 . LinkedIn has millions of members, thousands who are managers. Today, it’s assumed in the professional world that you have a LinkedIn page. If you don’t, can you be taken seriously in your line of work? As a leader of a team, you should be a brand ambassador that others aspire to be like.

2 . If you have a LinkedIn profile, it will likely appear in the top search results for your name on Google. We don’t need to tell you why that’s a big deal...

3 . Looking for a new job? LinkedIn is probably the first place a potential employer will look to gauge your managerial experience, and your ability to network.

Welcome!4 . You could miss out on valuable opportunities. While you’re reading this, someone could be searching for the services you offer. Having a complete profile that resembles the right keywords is essential if you are making yourself available to potential business online.

5 . If networking isn’t your strong point, LinkedIn is by far the most efficient way to do it. Add contacts from school, your first job, similar industries, and engage with them regularly. You no longer need to worry about lost connections as you move jobs.

Looking to build up your personal brand?

Creating a LinkedIn profile is the perfect way to do it. With more than 500 million members, LinkedIn is fast becoming the platform for online branding. Whether you’re job-hunting, gathering leads, or networking in your industry, having a professional, eye-catching LinkedIn profile can open up a number of opportunities for your career.

Do you want to build your visibility on LinkedIn? Wondering which LinkedIn features will help? Read our guide on how to build a professional presence that showcases your work to the people you most want to connect with.

Choose the right profile picture

As a manager, your profile picture should be

professional, approachable and clear. Steer away

from selfies and pictures from a night out - they

don’t send the right message.

Choose a picture with a smile, perhaps from an

event or a professionally taken photograph from

work.

Add a background picture

The background photo is the second most

important visual on your profile, so it should be

equally as eye-catching as your profile picture.

A number of individuals using LinkedIn change

their background photos to reflect their current

workplace, but you might have a different idea.

Whatever it is, it should reflect professionally on

you and your company.

Your picture could involve anything related to

your role, e.g an event you’ve attended/organised,

or just a simple, smart photo will suffice. Ask

someone to use a high quality camera to take the

picture - blurry or badly taken pictures could be

the reason why someone won’t click on to your

profile.

Getting Started

Hot tip! Did you know that if you change your headline via your smartphone, you can add emojis? Again,

the concept should still be professional, but think of how much more your profile would stand out in

a list of other people if you include a visual.

Be creative with your headline

If you try searching for someone specific on

LinkedIn, their name, profile picture, and a headline

will be the first thing you see. Many people use the

headline section to show their job title, but think

carefully about this. If you really want to stand

out, this headline could be used advantageously.

Perhaps a strapline for your company, or a more

insightful statement about your role, or years of

experience as a manager? One way to make it

stand out could be to include how you can help

other people.

If you are looking for a new role, bear in mind

that the headline will be one of the first things a

recruiter sees, so you should think about outlining

your experience and new goals. You only have 120

characters, so keep it short and sweet.

Build your presence (I)

Form an exceptional summary

Too many people leave this section blank, but this is the perfect opportunity to share your expertise. Don’t settle with a list of skills or job titles - there are other areas on your profile for that.

Point out why these skills matter and how they can make a difference to the people you work with. This is a work of art, and the first big chunk of written content people will see on your profile.

Here you can outline your managerial skills, but to be sure to highlight how you’ve put them in to practice.

For example: What have you achieved with your skills? Tell an employer the difference you and your skills could make to their business, whether it’s negotiation, customer service or leading a team to success.

Promote experience We expect that you will have a good few years of career experience under your belt - use this section to build up to where you are today. You have 2,000 characters, so you can bullet point your skill set, but for the more crucial, relevant parts, use the room to elaborate.

4 GOLDEN RULES for your status update • Use plain, well-spaced text

• Aim for 218 characters

• Avoid links to other websites

• Avoid generic stock photos

Build your presence (II)Boast your skillset

The Skills and Endorsements section allows you to

showcase your managerial expertise. The audience

you are looking to target should be kept in mind

for this. Stay relevant and make sure the skills

represent what you’re doing now.

You can list up to 50 skills. When listing them, keep

in mind how a recruiter might search for someone

in your role. Instead of just listing ‘’Manager”, dig

a little deeper (parts management, diagnostic

procedures, client relationships, employee

management, product knowledge, customer

service) as a recruiter may be more likely to search

for specific keywords.

Hot tip!

Get your friends, employees and fellow connections to endorse your skills. They can do this by heading to your profile and clicking the + sign on the relevant skill.

More people endorsing your skills shows to others that you are credible. Don’t forget to endorse their skills too, it would be rude not to!

Be proactive

Setting up a LinkedIn profile is all well and good... but if you don’t contribute to it on a regular basis, you won’t see the results you want. Take part in relevant discussions, and showcase the work you’re proud of. Have you spoken at a conference recently? Write an article about the topic you discussed. Remember to think ahead - could someone take a picture of you presenting? You can then post it with a summary of the event on your profile.

Engage

We’ve touched on this point throughout this guide, but we can’t stress enough how important it is for you to engage with others in your industry. It is, after all, a social network.

Discussions around the automotive industry are common on LinkedIn - and there are manager

Request recommendations

While the skills section gives a quick overview of the skills you have, recommendations from a third party prove that you are actually capable of them. As a manager, you will have worked with many people during your career. Ask past employers, or people you know in your industry to provide you with a recommendation on your page. These are powerful in cementing your professional reputation. Think carefully, whose comments are more valuable, to your profile - a friend or a CEO?

Make an impact (I)

Hot tip!

Did you know that if you get 13+ likes on your LinkedIn post within the first hour, you gain increased visibility on your post? Ask your colleagues/team to like your post and you can get added traction.

focused groups available for you to join too (see page 8). Get involved, and post your thoughts. This will help you to present yourself as an industry expert. Whatever you use LinkedIn for, the main goals are to populate your profile, and be proactive. Following these tips will help to establish you as a leader within your industry, network with the relevant individuals and/or create more potential business.

Hot tip! Click the search bar, and you can search for people by their name, location and job title. Game changer? We think so!

Make an impact (II)Groups

Ask to join groups on LinkedIn so you can be a

part of the conversations that interest you. In

the search section, you can search for groups by

name. Alternatively, you can click the Work icon in

the top right of your LinkedIn homepage and select

Groups from the menu that appears. Click Discover

at the top of the page to view suggested groups.

You can then request membership by clicking the

Ask to join button under the group description.

Connections

If you would like to be seen as a committed

LinkedIn user, aim to gain more than 500

connections. Once you reach 500, it simply shows

‘500+ connections’.

Anything lower, it shows the exact number of

people you’re connected with, which could give the

impression that you don’t use LinkedIn much.

• Automotive Management Professionals (165,621 members)

• Automotive Service Lane & Management Professionals (10,054 members)

• Automotive Inventory Management (2,023 members)

• Automotive Dealership Management Training (2003 members)

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