Posted on December 10, 2018 in Career, Trailhead  

15 Tips for Updating Your Profiles To Build Your Salesforce Social Network

Recently Salesforceben.com published a fantastic blog post on 6 types of Salesforce events to check out. There is also a strong online Salesforce community and some easy ways to enhance your online engagement between the many in-person events available.

This post will cover 18 tips on how to update your profiles to build your Salesforce social network, grouped into three main areas: Update Social Profiles, Engage Online,

Update Social Profiles

There are a few general tips that apply to setting up your profile on any social platform.

Tip 1: Use your name, not just your initials.

This is actually a requirement in some of the terms and conditions (ie. Salesforce Success Community Terms of Use), but more importantly, social networking is about getting to know each other online. One’s name is a great place to start!

Tip 2: Use a profile picture with your face clearly visible.

Your profile picture should help a new connection identify you out of the crowd. This doesn’t have to be a glamor shot or have professional lighting. This is the picture to pull up right before meeting someone for lunch, right before an interview, or meeting someone at Dreamforce for the first time. We are getting to know each other online, so the key is for the profile picture to look like you.

Trailhead is the #1 learning platform for Salesforce by Salesforce. There are learning paths for everyone including end users, admins, developers, and leaders. A strong profile on Trailhead is a great addition to your resume that shows your commitment to learning and your hands-on capabilities with Salesforce.

Tip 3: Scroll down to edit

I always seem to look for the edit pencil at the top before remembering to scroll down!

Tip 4: Profile Visibility

Set your Trailhead Profile to public. Your login email is not publicly visible, which can, and probably should be, a personal email that you might want to keep private.

Tip 5: Quick Bio

Update your Trailhead Profile quick bio. It will appear under your name on your profile.

Tip 6: Your Website

Add a website to extend your profile beyond the Trailhead platform.

Tip 7: Your Social Profiles

Add your Linkedin handle (no “/in”, or full URL) and Twitter handle. Twitter is a great way to engage with the community during live Salesforce events such as release previews. Skip Google plus, it will be retiring in August 2019.

The Trailblazer Community, also referred to as the Salesforce Success Community, is the #1 place to ask and answer Salesforce questions.

Tip 8: Company Name

The company name will link to the website you enter. They are not displayed separately.

Tip 9: Your Website

Create a personal website to share content!

Tip 10: About Me

Introduce yourself in the “About Me” section. You can copy this from your Trailhead “Quick Bio” for consistency. Go further and link your Trailhead account to your success profile.

Tip 11: Linkedin

Sometimes LinkedIn is seen as a “job site”. While it certainly can be a virtual career fair, a better way of seeing LinkedIn on a day to day basis is as a virtual trade show.
LinkedIn is a great place to meet new people with overlapping interests, careers, goals, etc. Listen to this podcast where Salesforce Admin Evangelist, Mike Gerholt talks about career as a narrative that can be built different ways like Lego blocks. Remember that your LinkedIn profile can tell the story of your passions, skills, interests, strengths, and experiences differently than an online resume.

 

Engaging Online

Now that you have inviting and informative social profiles, it’s time to engage with the community online and start connecting. Once you have updated your profiles, log in to the Trailblazer/Success Community, LinkedIn, and Twitter on a regular basis and engage with others asking questions, and sharing thoughts and ideas.

 

Tip 12: Celebrate Trailhead accomplishments.

Trailhead is primarily a learning tool, but there is also a strong social component. Probably once a week, I see a post on LinkedIn about a new rank achieved or super badge complete, and everyone is excited to congratulate the accomplishment.

Tip 13: Ask technical questions in the Salesforce Success Community.

The Salesforce Success Community is a great place to connect with others for anything from validation rule errors to figuring out how to solve a business need. It’s also a great place to give back after learning a new skill on Trailhead. For example, if you just learned a lot about flows, jump in and keep an eye out for questions about flows. Everyone in the community is extremely positive and appreciative, so even if you give an answer that’s not the best or right answer (which I have certainly done!), there are plenty of veterans to the community to educate and encourage.

Tip 14: Engage in stories on LinkedIn, not just resumes.

LinkedIn is centered around personal and professional development, overcoming challenges, and celebrating each other’s successes, certifications, super badges, and career progress.

Tip 15: Start a blog!

Whether you are writing on your company blog, a personal blog, or guest posting on awesome blogs like SalesforceBen.com, contributing content is a great way to reinforce something you’ve learned while giving back to the community – as an example, I recently starting my own blog and enjoying sharing my day-to-day Salesforce encounters.