5 LinkedIn Profile Tips
If you’re looking to position yourself as an expert online, you need to be on LinkedIn. A lot of people think that it’s an old-school channel that is used exclusively for job searching. I'm telling you, it’s not. It’s changed. It’s become the number one place to grow your authority and these LinkedIn profile tips will help you be seen as an expert in your space.
Here are five LinkedIn profile tips to help level-up your personal brand:
#1 Have a profile picture
Sounds obvious, but a lot of people don’t have one! Viewing people's profiles is the number one activity on LinkedIn. Basically, we stalk people on this channel. We don't really even interact as much as we just look at people’s profiles. Data shows that LinkedIn members with a profile photo receive 9x more profile views, 21x more connection requests, and 36x more InMail… just for having a photo. Load a clear, recent photo of yourself to get more engagement on your profile. Don’t have a beer in your hand. Don’t have your kids in the shot. Keep the attention on you. This is an optimal place to show your professionalism.
#2 Load a cover photo
You want to brand your cover photo, just like you would on Facebook and Twitter. The cover photo is prime real estate. A beautiful photo (or a logo or a quote) can really showcase your personal brand.
#3 Update your headline
Your headline is something that LinkedIn defaults to as your job title and company, but your job title and company probably doesn’t mean much to most people. Having “Account Executive at Blah Blah Blah Company” doesn’t really say what you do or how you can be of service. And unless you work for a huge brand, people probably have never heard of your company. Come up with a statement like “Sales and Operations Leader with Proven Track Record.” People underestimate the power of the headline. This is such an exciting little tweak to your profile that really helps you stand out and differentiate yourself.
#4 Write a compelling summary
Your summary shouldn’t be a bunch of bullet points from your resume. It should be a holistic story that you write in the first person. Too many people write their summary in the 3rd person, which sort of doesn’t make sense since everyone knows it’s your personal profile and that you wrote your summary yourself. First person is the way to go. Ideally, open it up with a provocative statement or question to get people to click “read more” so they can see the whole thing.
Tell your journey—take viewers on a ride and show them who you are. Yes, describe your expertise and what you do at your current role, definitely, put that in there, but also show your humanity. Yes, LinkedIn is a professional place to grow your business and network, but people want to work with people they like. People want to know who YOU are…anyone can perform a service for them. What makes you unique?
#5 Add media
Upload media below each of your work experiences. You can add or link to external documents, photos, sites, videos, and/or presentations. LinkedIn makes it easy to show “professional proof.” Presentations you’ve authored, videos you’ve helped create, web pages you’ve written, campaigns you’ve designed, and so much more can be added to your profile summary, as well as within each section of your work history. When adding rich media or links to your profile, take a moment to include a title and description to help the viewer understand what they’re seeing.
#6 Highlight your work experience
Let's talk about your work experience. Most people just put the job title, the company name, and a small description of their responsibilities and tasks—but there's so much more that you can do in that section! This is your opportunity to really showcase your value, what makes you different, and how you drive results.
Use the PAR method—it stands for problem, action, results. What was the problem and what actions did you take to reach positive results? Brag a little bit and talk about how awesome you are (even better if you have the data or accolades to back it up). Instead of saying “assisted in creating new processes,” say “built new processes in order to solve internal workflow, leading to better efficiency and communication.” Take a look at your work experience and make sure to lead with results.
I hope these LinkedIn profile tips were helpful! If you need one-on-one help building your personal brand, contact us.
