LinkedIn is a social media platform for you to build your brand and connect with other professionals, colleagues, potential employees and clients. Its not an online resume so don’t treat it as one. LinkedIn is a platform for others to see who you are and what you do and how you can help them achieve their goals. This is why it is important to keep your profile up to date and be active on LinkedIn so you can stand out from others.
Some things you can do to get a great profile:
Your Name and Headline need to be correct but catchy! Make sure your name is just your name and not a nickname or have anything “added” like a number as this will affect your profile showing when searched. Your headline needs to be bold and catchy and include keywords that relate to your job, industry and what it is that you do. When people search on LinkedIn for positions, employees, or services, these keywords become an important part of whether your profile will rank or not.
Customise your profile page URL so its’ easier for people to find you. By default, your profile url will generate with a series of letters, symbols and numbers – delete this and just use your name if possible.
Get a professional headshot for your profile photo. LinkedIn is not the place for a selfie or a cropped out photo of you taken on the weekend. Your profile photo should reflect you professionally yet still allow people to get a feel for who you are and your personality.
Complete your profile entirely as this gives you the best chance of showing up in search results – a complete profile is the number one factor of what affects LinkedIn search result rankings! Throughout your summary, skills, and experience ensure that you use the keywords that relate to your job title, industry and products/services, as again, this is a factor in how your profile will rank in the search results page when these terms are searched. And don’t forget to add your direct contact details – people will use your profile page to contact you so make sure it is easy for them to do so!
Get recommendations from colleagues and clients as this builds trust and credibility to your page. You can change your profile settings to automatically ask for recommendations based on a selected criteria or you can add this to your marketing strategy when working with prospects and clients to ask for recommendations on LinkedIn – just as you would ask for a testimonial for your website or a review on Facebook.
Create a content calendar and plan out your posts so you publish content that is of value to your connections.
Join groups and participate – the more active you are the morel likely you will get seen and grow your connections!
For the more active LinkedIn user or depending on what you want to achieve on LinkedIn, look at upgrading your account to a paid version ( note – there are various options and plans to choose from) but all with the added benefits of more features. One in particular is the ability to see everyone who has viewed your profile!
