Professional Photograph
Remember this is a professional platform in a business environment and first impressions count. A clear, quality photograph is essential element of a LinkedIn personal profile.
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Make sure it is up to date
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Smile and look happy – you want people to like you
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When considering appearance, think about about how you would turn up to a meeting
Powerful Description
People need to know what you do, how you can help them and you need to stand out from the crowd in search results.
Include keywords and phrases associated with your role – consider how potential connections and your target audience may search for someone like you and try to use those search terms where possible.
Quality Summary
A clear and concise insight into what your role and responsibilities are using key terms that your target audience can associate with. It is important to remember this is a personal profile so it needs to be in first person (I have lost count the amount of profiles I have seen where people refer to themselves continuously by their first name) and people want to know how YOU can help them or what YOU can offer – this is not a company page.
Only add relevant experience
In this section only add items of experience that are relevant to your existing role and purpose for using LinkedIn.
The aim is to build credibility and give people a flavour of your journey to where you are now.
Remember – people do not want to know about your paper round.
Sending the right connection invite
Make your invites personal – it doesn’t take a great deal of time and you are likely to get a better response than simply hitting the connect tab.
Simply replace the standard LinkedIn message with a simple message beginning with the first name of the individual that you are looking to connect with. After all the platform is all about getting to know people so it makes sense to be personal from the outset.
Identifying discussion groups
A great way to spread the reach of your content and build your profile is to participate in discussion groups. It is important to only join groups that are relevant to you and your business so begin by joining groups that have a focus on your local area or specific to your sector or industry.
Bare in mind that some groups are more active than others so it is worthwhile trying out new groups on a fairly regular basis. That way you will find out which works better for you and put you in front of a new audience.
Connecting with the right people
Rule of thumb – ensure that each connection is for a reason. Do not send flippant requests.
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Ensure you are connected to all of your clients.
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When you meet new contacts see if they are on LinkedIn.
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Use the search tool to identify individuals within your target audience and you want to share information with.
Share interesting content
Keep people updated with company news, interesting posts about products and services, case studies and blogs.
Sharing content on your timeline and into discussion groups demonstrates that you are active, encourages engagement and helps to build credibility.
Remember it is a professional platform
This platform is purely for business purposes, therefore do not see it as you would your personal Facebook page. You may hear people describe LinkedIn as the Facebook for business, there are some similarities but it is for BUSINESS purposes only.
You should be using your profile to enhance your reputation and build credibility – not sharing holiday snaps or informing your network of connections what you had for lunch.
You should be mindful that you are representing your employer when using LinkedIn.
Interact with people
Don’t be afraid of liking, sharing and commenting on other posts of if you find them interesting or useful.
After all – this is what you would like your audience to do when you share content.