When it comes to using LinkedIn for sales, your profile is definitely your most important asset. By having an optimised LinkedIn profile, you’ll increase visibility whilst also making a strong first impression with prospects and connections. In this article you’ll discover the best practices and tips to do just that.
Complete The Basics
Regardless of the reason for you using LinkedIn, an incomplete profile doesn’t give off a good impression. So getting the basics right is a necessity.
Your profile & background picture
Your profile is 14 times more likely to be viewed if you have a profile picture compared to not having one at all. A professional headshot is recommended but not essential. Just make sure it shows a true representation of yourself. By including a background picture this allows you to display your creativity and also show your company’s brand.
Profile Size : 400 x 400px
Background Size : 1584 x 396px
Headline & summary
In your headline, you can describe what you do in 120 characters or less. Here you should be creative but also clear and informative. Most professionals will list just their job title, however you shouldn’t just stop there. You should add another attribute that will make you stand out.
Standard Headline : Business Development Executive
Optimised Headline : Business Development Executive – With 9+ Years Experience In Helping Companies Grow Through Social Media Marketing
In your summary you can add extra elements such as images, videos, website links, demo links & calendar invites. So it’s a good idea to take advantage of this area to showcase your work to other professionals. One trend at the moment on LinkedIn is to focus on your future aspirations and goals in your summary, rather than just listing your past accomplishments, as people are starting to overlook those.
Experience & Education
This area is pretty self explanatory, however if you have stacks of past jobs, just focus on the work experience that is more relevant to your current situation (nobody cares if you had a paper round when you were 15!). However it’s good practice under your past job roles to list your achievements & a brief job description so that people understand your role and areas of expertise.
It’s also worth noting that people will focus on your Education, whether you went to University/College, or if you dropped out at a young age. So make sure you list any relevant qualifications to prove your academic level.
Skills/Endorsements
For content, LinkedIn allows you to add up to 50 skills to your profile, people in your current network can then add some validation to those skills by ‘endorsing’ you. So you should add skills that are relevant to your current job role/s and industry. People who list at least 5 skills can receive up to 17x more profile views on the platform.
The Interesting Stuff
Customize your URL
By having a custom URL for your profile, it makes it a lot easier to send to other professionals in your industry. You’re also more likely to appear higher in the search results. This straightforward task will take less than a minute, so head over to your profile click ‘Edit Public Profile & URL’ and you’re all set.
Recommendations
Think of these like a testimonial for your LinkedIn page. Having recommendations from past colleagues & friends is a great way to validate the content in your summary and skills section. The best way to go about this is to reach out to someone you know well and suggest that you both write a recommendation for each other. All you need to do is head over to someone’s profile, click ‘more’ and then select the ‘recommend’ option. Below is an example of what a recommendation should look like.
Write Articles
From an SEO perspective, publishing an article on LinkedIn isn’t necessarily more advantageous than posting it on your website, in regards to google rankings. However it’s a good way to increase your profile and credibility, and it also explains your professional viewpoints. LinkedIn articles do still get indexed by Google.
The organic reach of LinkedIn articles is relatively low, but if you add keywords and tag relevant people in your post then there’s no reason your article can’t go viral. All it takes is one ‘share’ from somebody with over 10k connections and your reach will skyrocket!
Featured Section
The featured section is a part of your LinkedIn profile between the about & activity section. It allows you to highlight a specific piece of content to stand out. It can be a LinkedIn post, articles, link (for web content) or media (photos, documents & presentation). By showcasing great content, this can set you apart from other professionals and will leave a strong impression in a decision maker’s mind.
People that look at your profile will form a first impression in a split section, so be strategic in regards to what content you choose to be featured. Don’t be afraid to update this regulaury so your content isn’t outdated. Finally it’s a good idea to think about the keywords in your featured section, so make sure it’s relevant to your industry or goals for using LinkedIn.
Conclusion
So there you have it, this article has provided you with the relevant tips & tricks to optimise your LinkedIn profile. Don’t stop there, stay active on LinkedIn as much as possible and engage with other people’s posts by liking, commenting & sharing! While you don’t need to spend all day on LinkedIn, it’s recommended that you check your notifications at least a couple of times each week.
If you’d like more tips or have any questions then contact us today at hi@leadzoom.io