Your LinkedIn profile is a fantastic tool for establishing yourself in your field and building potential clients’ trust in you. Here are 5 top tips to effectively raise it in your network.
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Keep your profile basics updated!
Many people forget to keep their LinkedIn profiles updated. Whether you’re a total newbie, just starting a new job, or starting to explore new opportunities, there’s no excuse to have outdated information on LinkedIn. It will reflect badly on you.
Here are two quick and easy areas you must check are up to date:
- Professional Headline: The job of any headline is to entice people to click through to your LinkedIn profile. As a minimum, you can use your headline to highlight your current position and company (e.g., “Marketing Manager”). However, you should go further. Highlight your expertise (e.g., “Content Marketing Strategist and Copywriter”) or awards. You can showcase skills you want to turn up in searches (e.g., “Speaker, Trainer, Author, Consultant, Evangelist”). Tell everyone on LinkedIn who you are, what you do, and why you’re someone they need to connect with.
- Location and Industry: Are your location and industry still accurate? People will often search within their city so it’s important to give locals an easy way to track you down.
Doing these two simple things will help more people find you and help you find more relevant potential contacts.
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Only use professional photos
LinkedIn profiles that have a picture are 11 times more likely to be viewed. So if you’re still showing a silhouette, it’s time to make a change and reveal yourself.
Your LinkedIn photo should be up to date. It shouldn’t look like it belongs on a dating site, stock photo site, or social network (e.g., Facebook or Instagram). And don’t feature your pet or significant other!
LinkedIn is for professionals so your profile needs to reflect that.
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Brand your profile with a background photo
Does your LinkedIn profile look boring and average?
Give your profile page a bit more personality, or branding, with a visually appealing cover image.
LinkedIn advises users to use an image (PNG, JPG, or GIF) with a resolution of 1400x425px.
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Write a compelling summary
This is where you really sell yourself to potential connections. Your summary should expand on what appears in your headline. You can also highlight your specialities, career experience, noteworthy accolades, and thought leadership.
There has been much discussion about whether it’s best to write in first-person versus third-person narrative here. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter either way – just stay consistent with whichever you choose. Don’t go back and forth between first-person and third person as it’s confusing and signals a lack of attention to detail.
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Terminate Those Typos
Poor grammar, typos, and misspellings are a no-no. Proof-read before hitting publish.
Avoid typos at all costs.
We provide clients across Yorkshire with expert social media support including training and management services. If you need support with your LinkedIn please get in touch with the team at Pick & Mix Marketing on – info@pickandmixms.co.uk
Find out more about our LinkedIn training sessions here.