LinkedIn is a social networking website like Instagram. However, unlike Instagram, where the focus is on play, on LinkedIn, the focus is on work. Instead of being a social network in the traditional sense of the term, it is a professional network. It is important then to polish your LinkedIn profile if you want people in your industry to take notice.
Social Media Platforms
While Facebook makes it hard to find people and it is all over the place in a demographical sense, and Twitter lacks profile depth, LinkedIn standardizes the information that users have entered into predefined categories like “Summary”, “Company”, “Education”, and so on.
There are several things that you can do through your LinkedIn profile:
- Stay in touch with your colleagues
- Promote your business and raise brand awareness
- Promote your freelance work or expertise
- Access the latest industry news, inspiration, and insight and get industry updates
- Look for potential jobs or promotions and professional opportunities
- Connect with people who are in the same or similar field as you
Setting up a profile on LinkedIn is a simple thing to do, and it is easy to maintain it. You can check in on your profile as often as you would like – you can do it once a month, once a week, or once a day. You are missing out if you are not taking advantage of the largest professional networking platform in the world.
How Do I Improve My Linkedin Profile?
LinkedIn has over 770 million users currently. With that many users, it can be a bit of a hassle to distinguish yourself from other users. However, there are a few improvements that you can make that will have a significant impact on how others view you. Try out the following few steps in order to optimize your LinkedIn profile and make it more appealing.
Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile in 10 Easy Steps
So, the question is, how can you make yourself more appealing to future prospects? Here are ten easy steps you can take to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
1. Improve Your Headline
You have only 120 characters, to sum up, who you are in your professional headline. This is where you should let your creativity flow. If possible, use industry keywords and share what you’re an expert in. Don’t waste any valuable space since this is your opportunity to impress potential clients and employers.
You might not get the maximum exposure if you don’t edit your headline since it will default to your latest job title. When adding a new job, make sure that you edit your headline because it might switch back.
Most people list their current position or title, but you shouldn’t stop there. In order to stand out, you need to add some other attributes that you have to the headline.
For instance, instead of saying you’re an executive assistant, say that you’re an executive assistant with over ten years of experience supporting Directors, VPs, Presidents, CEOs, and other key leaders.
Another recommendation we have is to delete the phrase ‘Looking for Opportunities’ from your headline. Better ways to sell yourself exist, even though you might be searching for a new job at the moment.
2. Don’t Use Buzzwords
Buzzwords have become almost meaningless because they are used very often in LinkedIn summaries and headlines. Some of the buzzwords that are overly used include terms like ‘certified’, ’innovative’, ’creative’, ’passionate’, ’experienced’, ’strategic’, ’focused’, ’leadership’, and ‘specialized’.
We’re not saying that these terms don’t matter or that you can’t use them in order to describe yourself. However, you won’t convince people that you possess these qualities just by using these words.
Besides using them on your profile, you need to demonstrate that you own them. You can do this by using the profile features on LinkedIn to showcase what you’re really about.
3. Add Comments
Besides having a network of connections, you need to have an active role on the platform and appear in the feeds of your connections. One of the most efficient ways to do this is by sharing relevant content with your network.
You can share content that aligns with your worldview, content that your find interesting, or content that appears on your LinkedIn feed and resonates with you.
It’s good to share posts on your LinkedIn profile, but it’s not enough. By expressing your opinion on a particular piece of content and adding comments to your shares, you will give yourself greater prominence within the feed. However, what you’re saying will represent you, so keep this in mind when writing comments.
Socialays reads all your comments on social media in real-time and categorizes neutral, negative, and positive sentiments. It helps you understand social media comments faster and better and guides you to make more accurate decisions with only one platform.
4. Be Smart About Your Endorsed Skills
When it comes to the skills section, it needs to reinforce the story you’re telling of what you can do and who you are, and it needs to include keywords that make you more searchable. To do this, you need to take care of three things:
- Reorder your list, so the most important skills you possess are on top of the list
- See what skills are critical for someone in your role and industry and add them to your list
- Delete any meaningless skills (for instance: unless you manage professional pages and you’re trained in social media; you should delete Instagram as a skill)
5. Update Your Profile Picture
Research done by LinkedIn has concluded that having a picture on your profile makes it 14 times more likely for your profile to be viewed. This means that the profile picture is a crucial element of your profile and that it’s your first chance to make a good impression on everyone.
Your profile picture should look professional, and clear and should only include you in the picture. So, you can get a picture of the team page of your company’s site, or you can browse through your phone.
If you don’t have any pictures that you like, ask a friend with an excellent camera to take a picture of you. Don’t rely on photos from your phone, except if the camera is of good quality. In order to look like your picture and for interviewers to be able to recognize you, make sure that you update your image from time to time.
The profile picture is just a small part of your business profile, but nevertheless, it’s an important one. The ideal profile photo size is 400×400, according to LinkedIn. There are several different styles for the profile picture you can choose from.
For instance, you can choose a high-quality close-up headshot picture of you smiling that focuses on warmth or friendliness. Another route you can choose is to pick a picture of you talking at a conference or in a working environment. This picture will show your authority.
6. Add All of Your Experience
Some people only have the current position they are working at listed on their LinkedIn profile. However, instead of just making your profile look complete, listing your jobs allows LinkedIn to find people for you to connect with. Ensure that you’ve added all of your experience that’s relevant to your profile.
You can increase your connections by having your jobs listen. Include any job that has a company on LinkedIn and can help you in growing your professional network. You can skip the jobs that you had in high schools, like working at a fast-food joint.
When listing your work experience, mention any noteworthy accomplishments and achievements. Don’t include unnecessary descriptions, keep to one sentence per subject, and write concisely and clearly with specific details.
7. Add A Cover Image
A cover image sometimes referred to as a background image, will really help your profile look complete. Even though a cover image doesn’t have as strong of an impact as a summary or headline does, when people land on your profile and you have a cover image, your profile will look more complete.
You can choose free stock images of your building, office, or city skyline. However, we strongly recommend using a custom cover photo if you want to stand out. If you aren’t skilled in graphic design, you can create a custom banner by hiring a designer from Fiverr and Upwork.
In the cover photo, you can include:
- A picture of yourself
- Brands or testimonials you’ve worked with
- Why prospects should connect with you
- What makes you different
- Results of working with you
- Your Unique Selling Proposition or your solution
The LinkedIn editor allows you to zoom, adjust, and crop your cover photo. Make sure that your background photo and your text are fully visible.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t just save the first picture that comes up on your Google search, but instead, use free images. If an image has a copyright and you have used it, you might run into some issues.
8. Write an Excellent Summary
Your tagline describes what you do, while your summary describes what you’ve accomplished and who you are. In this section, you should tell a story of what sets you apart and who you are.
In the summary section, you should include the following things:
- Something that will grab the attention of the reader and make them want to continue reading
- Who you are
- Your Unique Selling Proposition – what sets you apart from the others
- What you’ve accomplished
- Background
- Personal value
- Benefits of working with you
- Call to action
9. Keep Your Education Section Neat
The education section might be an essential part of your LinkedIn profile, depending on what industry you’re in.
In this section, include what’s relevant. Add the name of your university, the education program name (for instance, Master of Criminal law), and add accomplishments and achievements that are relevant (for example, organizing events, participating in relevant tournaments, member of a specific department, and so on).
Even if the education you have doesn’t really align with what you’re doing right now, it’s best that you add some information about it since it shows transferable experience and skills.
10. Follow People and Join Groups
Follow influences or join groups to learn from others that are outside your network, don’t just connect with people you already know.
By joining groups, you can interact and engage with the members and make more connections. If you want to take your activity on LinkedIn to an even higher level, you can start your own group and show everyone you’re an expert in a particular field.
Following relevant influences will allow exciting content to show up on your feed which you can later share with others. This will demonstrate your passion for what you do and will give context to your LinkedIn profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
* Why LinkedIn Is Important for Students?
One of the most significant advantages LinkedIn offers to students is that they can check out the pages of the employers they target. You can conduct research on a company, what people are saying about it, and how the hiring process goes by visiting the company pages.
* Why Is LinkedIn Important for Business?
LinkedIn is an excellent way for businesses to build relations and establish connections and promote themselves. Once your LinkedIn company page has been set up, it is vital that you constantly update it and use it to drive traffic to your site by sharing news and blogs on your site.
* How did LinkedIn Start?
The beginning of LinkedIn happened in 2002 in the living room of its co-founder, Reid Hoffman. The site was officially launched in 2003. Nowadays, LinkedIn is a diversified business with incomes from recruitment solutions, advertising sales, and membership subscriptions under the leadership of Ryan Roslansky.
* Can LinkedIn Get You A Job?
If you’re a professional looking for a job, then LinkedIn is, by all means, the social network for you. However, many people looking for a job don’t maximize LinkedIn to help them in their quest.
Instead, they copy and paste their resume and hope that the employer will find them. To find a job, you need to make your profile memorable and make yourself accessible.
