The following guide has been produced to help Planon employees get more from their LinkedIn profile, benefiting individuals and the company.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with more than 350 million members(1). More than just your online CV, it enables you to network with your peers and industry leaders, stay up-to-date with industry news and trends, and establish your position as an expert in your field.

Why use LinkedIn?

The Planon Guide to Makingthe Most of your LinkedIn Profile

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If you’ve already got a professional picture, helpful headline and snappy summary then feel free to skip this section, otherwise here’s some useful tips: • Profiles with a picture are 14 times

more likely to get viewed(2). Make sure yours is a professional looking picture, meaning well presented rather than airbrushed and photoshopped, and save the holiday and family pictures for your Facebook profile.

• According to LinkedIn a great headline should say WHAT you are, WHO you help, HOW you help, and provide PROOF that you’re credible. Easy? Here’s some examples:

- http://bit.ly/planon1 - http://bit.ly/planon2• Your summary should expand upon

your headline, and have more than 40 words to help you appear in people’s search results(2). Use keywords that your contacts (or desired contacts) are likely to search for, but avoid generic buzzwords(3) as they don’t add any value. Here’s some good examples of LinkedIn summaries from sales professionals: http://bit.ly/planon3

If you would like to add a description of Planon to your summary, feel free to use the company’s current boilerplate as inspiration.Email paul.raybould@planonsoftware.com to receive a copy in your preferred language:

With over 30 years of CAFM experience, Planon is the leading global provider of software that supports organisations in optimising their real estate and facilities management processes. Planon’s software has been completely designed in-house and is fully integrated to deliver reliable management information. Gartner - the leading independent technology research organisation - has consistently rated Planon as a global leader in their Magic Quadrant for Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS). Planon has implemented its comprehensive solutions for over 2,000 clients, supported by offices around the world. To learn more about Planon’s IWMS software visit http://planonsoftware.com

Making sure the basics are covered

Adding links to your profile is a great way of showcasing your work, enabling people to find out more about you and the company you work for. To add links to your profile simply choose ‘Edit Profile’ from the ‘Profile’ dropdown menu, then click on the ‘Contact Info’ box. Instead of using the default e.g. ‘Personal Website’ text to describe the link you’ve added, make it more descriptive and appealing to people who view your profile.

For example: • Instead of ‘Company Website’ you can

choose ‘Other:’ and add your own text, such as ‘CAFM Software’ to describe a link to http://planonsoftware.com

• Or instead of ‘Blog’ you can choose ‘Other:’ and add ‘Facility Management Blog’ to describe a link to http://planonsoftware.com/uk/resources/blog/

adding links to add value

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Use the ‘Share an update’ or ‘Publish a post’ options to share your knowledge and expertise with your connections. Alternatively most websites contain LinkedIn share buttons that enable you to quickly and easily share great content with your network.

Too busy being an expert to find time to share your expertise? Don’t worry, there are some great tools online that enable you to automatically share content from your favourite sources of information.

Many Planon employees automatically share Planon’s blog posts via their LinkedIn profile. To join them (it takes less than five minutes) simply:• Register for a free account at https://ifttt.com/join • Visit http://bit.ly/planonifttt• Click on the ‘Activate’ button to link with your LinkedIn account• In the ‘Feed URL’ field, copy and paste the web address below depending upon

which version of Planon’s blog you’d like to share with your connections: Dutch http://planonsoftware.com/nl/downloads/blog/feed.rss French http://planonsoftware.com/fr/ressources/blog/feed.rss German http://planonsoftware.com/de/wissenswertes/blog/feed.rss UK English http://planonsoftware.com/uk/resources/blog/feed.rss US English http://planonsoftware.com/us/resources/blog/feed.rss • In the ‘Link URL’ field make sure it says: {{EntryUrl}}• In the ‘Comment’ field you can change the message that accompanies each post.

For example you could say something like: Read the new Planon blog post: {{EntryTitle}} (FYI you should include the {{EntryTitle}} tag in your message so it adds the title of the

blog post in your message)• Click the ‘Add recipe’ button and then any time a new blog post is created it will

automatically be shared as a LinkedIn update on your profile.

sharing knowledge and content to establish your ‘expert’ status3

“Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.” Dalai Lama

(1357-1419, high lama of Tibetan Buddhism)

“The basic economic resource – the means of production – is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor labor. It is and will be knowledge.”Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005, Austrian-born

American management consultant)

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Follow your local planon office

for twitter updates:

http://twitter.com/planon_asia

http://twitter.com/planon_be

http://twitter.com/planon_de

http://twitter.com/planon_fr

http://twitter.com/planon_nl

http://twitter.com/planon_uk

http://twitter.com/planon_us

Pulse is a section of LinkedIn that helps you find popular articles and trending topics relevant to your interests. You can find it by choosing ‘Pulse’ from the dropdown menu ‘Interest’.

Then use the ‘Discover’ tab to find industry influencers, channels and publishers that you can follow, helping you stay up-to-date.

keeping your Finger on the pulse with linkedin’s pulse5

If you have more hints and tips to help Planon employees benefit from LinkedIn feel free to email them topaul.raybould@planonsoftware.com so we can include them in future publications. References:1 http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-few-important-linkedin-stats/2 http://uk.businessinsider.com/guide-to-perfect-linkedin-profile-2015-1?r=US3 http://blog.linkedin.com/2015/01/21/brand-you-year-how-to-brand-yourself-without-sounding-like-everyone-else/

LinkedIn groups are a great way to connect with like-minded individuals. They can also give you lots of insight in to what prospects, customers and competitors are saying. And as an added bonus you can view the profiles of other group members, even if you’re not connected. be warned though, groups are intended for discussions rather than sales or marketing messages.

When you join a group you automatically receive a daily update from that group. Change it to weekly or switch off that function if you want to avoid receiving too many emails. Here’s some tips to help you get more from LinkedIn groups http://bit.ly/planon4

Joining groups to grow your network

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