The LinkedIn Guide For eLearning Professionals

The LinkedIn Guide For eLearning Professionals
Summary: You are almost constantly online; But are you sure that you are successfully promoting your eLearning professional identity? LinkedIn is a social network that has been used by countless employers and business professionals to connect, hire, and market. With a bit of creativity and ingenuity, eLearning professionals are now using LinkedIn to transform their eLearning courses into memorable and highly collaborative online experiences. In this article, I'll share a LinkedIn guide for eLearning that will give you invaluable tips that will help you use this professional network for the benefit of your eLearning career.

How eLearning Professionals Can Use LinkedIn For eLearning

Unlike Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, LinkedIn is not just a social network; it is strictly a professional one and thus, it can help you tremendously in building your eLearning online presence. LinkedIn not being a social network, in strict terms, doesn’t mean that you can’t use it for your social learning strategy; but, as it is primarily business focused, its main advantage is that it can really help you boost your eLearning career.

In this LinkedIn guide for eLearning professionals, I'll share 6 invaluable tips to follow in order to enhance your LinkedIn presence, 4 tips on how to build a powerful LinkedIn network and 10 additional tips on how to create and market your own LinkedIn group. Also, I'll share 4 extra tips on how to integrate LinkedIn activities into your eLearning course design. Last but not least, you are more than welcome to join eLearning Industry's Linkedin Group and discover, share, and discuss interesting and remarkable eLearning content with more than 80,000 eLearning professionals!

6 Tips To Enhance Your LinkedIn Presence As An eLearning Professional

  1. Make sure your profile is perfect.
    Always proofread everything you post online in order to eliminate grammar and spelling mistakes and never leave your profile unfinished. Make sure that your profile is complete and that it includes all the necessary information; industry, current work position, professional background, at least 5 skills, at least 50 connections, summary, and, of course, contact details. In addition, choose an appropriate photo; a professional headshot should be your #1 choice. Last, but not least, keep your profile updated; People who may want to introduce you to someone will hesitate doing so, if your profile is out of date.
  2. Make your professional headline stand out
    Whether you set up as headline your current position or you create a new one on your own, your professional headline must reflect your work. In the second case, make sure that you use the right keywords. Furthermore, you can customize your profile URL, so it will make it easier for search engines to identify you.
  3. Create an attention grabbing summary.
    Make your summary memorable by beginning with a strong statement or a question. Blend your content to make it more interesting, and provide your readers with not only additional information about you via links to your company website or blog, but also reasons why they should contact you. In addition, be industry specific; otherwise, it will be difficult for the right people to find you.
  4. Get at least two recommendations.
    Having people taking the time to write something positive about you, your skills and expertise sends the message that working with you is a privilege.
  5. Join the best LinkedIn eLearning groups and follow the top eLearning companies.
    Show the other LinkedIn members that you are an expert in your field by joining the best LinkedIn groups about eLearning and participating in their online discussions. Follow the top eLearning companies, so that you can make sure that you are up-to-date with the most valuable potential business and job opportunities.
  6. Be Active. 
    There is little use of setting up a LinkedIn account if you are not active on the network. Make sure that you upload posts, participate in online discussions or comment on other people’s eLearning articles at least twice a week. Also, make it a habit to search and connect with at least 8 people daily. There are also several LinkedIn prospecting tools that make this job easy.

 4 Tips On How To Build A Powerful LinkedIn Network 

The truth is that it's quite easy to build a big network on LinkedIn as this professional platform allows you to easily find people via basic search, while it often suggests new connections itself. However, a big network doesn’t necessarily mean a powerful network. As it happens with most things, quantity does not always equal quality, and having more than 500 connections not directly related to you or your eLearning professional identity, will not help you expand your eLearning career opportunities. This LinkedIn guide will offer you 4 ways to build a powerful eLearning network on LinkedIn and make the most out of your LinkedIn networking experience.

  1. Realize your worth. 
    The more you appreciate your knowledge and skills, the more selective you become about whom you are connecting with.
  2. Foster strong professional relationships. 
    Invest time and attention in building relationships with LinkedIn members with whom you share the same standards and goals. Take every opportunity to reach out and stay connected, but always make sure that you stay interested in your well chosen connections.
  3. Learn how to pitch. 
    This is not about pitching uncontrollably every person you meet online, but rather to help you describe successfully what you do. If people don’t understand exactly what you do, it will be as difficult for them to help you, as it will be for you to ask them for help.
  4. Be generous. 
    Offer your help as often as possible. Make sure that you show genuine interest in other people’s work, ask questions and offer your assistance when needed. It will be appreciated and, most importantly, it is something your connections will remember.

10 Tips To Create And Promote Your Own LinkedIn eLearning Group

LinkedIn eLearning groups is the best place to ask for advice, share eLearning content and look for job opportunities. Make sure that you join the most powerful eLearning groups on LinkedIn, but also consider creating and marketing your own, following the useful tips this LinkedIn guide for eLearning describes below:

  1. Choose your group’s name wisely.
    Make sure that you use the keywords your target audience would search for.
  2. Create a group for the eLearning industry, not your eLearning company.
    Simply put, it will be more likely for people to join your group if it is related to things they already care about.
  3. Design an effective group logo.
    Keep in mind that the display size of LinkedIn eLearning group logos is usually quite small, so make sure that your logo can be easily viewed and your text is legible.
  4. Make your LinkedIn eLearning group interesting.
    Create online discussions and add eLearning news and jobs to your group, so that you can encourage its members to interact with each other as much as possible.
  5. Highlight the content you want to be noticed.
    Hopefully, at some point your group discussions will be so many that it will become difficult to get your own threads noticed. However, as group owner, you can mark your discussions and get them at the top of the discussion board.
  6. Create a webpage for your LinkedIn eLearning group.
    No matter how much information you decide to put on it, an additional webpage of your LinkedIn eLearning group will not only help your audience engage more in its content, but will also help your group gain more visibility.
  7. Invite your eLearning connections to join your LinkedIn eLearning group.
    Take advantage of your existing network to activate your LinkedIn eLearning group. The more members you attract, the higher the chances for your group to be successful.
  8. Promote your eLearning group outside LinkedIn.
    Make your LinkedIn eLearning group known by sending newsletters and posting relevant information on your company's website, as well as on your Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus accounts.
  9. Connect your LinkedIn eLearning group with your Facebook eLearning group or page.
    Create a similar eLearning group or page on Facebook and link it to your LinkedIn eLearning group, by inviting all of your connections to join both.
  10. Track down key eLearning experts and invite them to join your LinkedIn eLearning group.
    Apart from being connected with the most influential eLearning professionals on LinkedIn, encouraging them to engage in your community would not only boost your group’s potential, but also would facilitate invaluable information exchange about eLearning.

4 Tips To Integrate LinkedIn Activities Into Your eLearning Course Design

LinkedIn gives you the rare opportunity to integrate social learning, collaboration and communication skills into your eLearning course. Learners can achieve their eLearning objectives and get the most out of their eLearning experience by networking with peers and professionals who share their passion, opening up a world of possibilities.

  1. Ask learners to create their own online presence via LinkedIn.
    An online presence is essential in today’s tech-centric world. So, why not integrate online reputation management into your eLearning course design by encouraging your learners to create and expand an online presence on LinkedIn. Give them basic instructions regarding what they need to include, tips that can help them manage their profiles and any other pertinent information that can help them successfully complete this assignment. They can then maintain their profile long after they’ve finished the eLearning course, giving them a head-start in the real world. Be sure to stress the importance of staying in touch with contacts and creating a professional profile that effectively showcases their skills and talents.
  2. Encourage learners to find mentors in their field.
    Thanks to the immense popularity of LinkedIn, there are now experts and professionals in virtually every field and niche. Create an online course exercise that centers on interviews with LinkedIn professionals, wherein your learners must reach out to subject matter experts in order to learn more about a concept or topic. Ask them to create a site or video presentation that focuses on the information they learned and their research experience. This may even give your learners the opportunity to find a mentor in their field who becomes part of their network for years to come.
  3. Create LinkedIn research-based assignments.
    Aside from interviewing mentors and business professionals in the eLearning industry, learners can also conduct research for upcoming assignments and online group projects on social media. Teach them how to effectively use LinkedIn to carry out basic searches and contact groups. Then encourage them to join groups or even start one on their own, in order to learn more about a topic or to benefit from the experience of their peers. For example, learners enrolled in a hotel management course can join a group that centers around the hospitality industry, where they can learn from hotel managers, staff, and other professionals who have knowledge about running hotels and serving guests.
  4. Create groups to share the latest news and trends with your learners.
    You can also create a group specifically for your learners on LinkedIn, where you can all virtually congregate to discuss subject matter, keep each other updated on industry related news, and send out notifications about upcoming learning events and webinars. LinkedIn is a powerful feedback and support tool that you can use to answer learner questions, offer them constructive feedback about their assignments or learning behaviors, and enable them to reach out to their peers to discuss important topics and address concerns without having to worry about their comments being posted in a public forum.

Given that LinkedIn is a global forum, your learners even have the opportunity to communicate with peers and professionals all over the world by forming groups and joining those that cater to their interests and hobbies. As such, LinkedIn is not only a learning tool that can be used in the virtual classroom, but a social learning experience that can be utilized in every aspect of their lives.

Now that this LinkedIn guide for eLearning showed you how to use this professional network for the benefit of your eLearning career, you may be wondering if there are any LinkedIn traps you should also keep in mind. Read the article 10 LinkedIn Mistakes That eLearning Professionals Should Avoid and learn how you can perfectly promote yourself as a highly skilled eLearning professional on LinkedIn.