Just a quick snapshop of what LinkedIn is all about:
LinkedIn is the more formal of social networks. It is all about connections and networking with others in specific fields and industries.
People interact on LinkedIn by joining groups and interacting within them, posting statuses and endorsing / recommending colleagues.
LinkedIn is an online list of contacts as such, where you could view and communicate with your contacts AND those of your contacts’ contacts.
1 in 3 professionals are on LinkedIn. LinkedIn drives more traffic to B2B blogs than Twitter, Facebook & Google + combined.
Here are some tips to create the profile that ‘Hums’:
1. Treat your LinkedIn profile like a website:
Make sure your profile it is formatted, and free of grammar and spelling errors. There is nothing worse than reading something and you’re picking out the mistakes.
I suggest creating your LinkedIn profile first in a Microsoft Word document so you can see any errors occurring and then sections of it can easily be copied into other social media platforms to keep your branding unified.
In some sections of LinkedIn you can use bullet points and special characters. For eg: Background Summary & Experience.
2. Keep your name simple and straight forward:
Put only your first name in the first name field and your last name in the last name field. If someone is searching for you by name, LinkedIn will have a hard time finding you if your last name looks like this: Smith, PhD. Simonne M. (simonnesmith@gmail.com)
3. Your Profile Headline:
This is the MOST important part of your profile. And you only have 120 characters.
Having at least 1 or 2 keywords will optimize your headline. This carries a lot of weight in LinkedIn’s algorithm causing your profile to come up in searches.
But then you need a catchy statement to capture your audience for them to click into your profile.
4. Summary Section: Know your keywords:
Like any website, LinkedIn’s search engines weigh your keywords heavily in its searches.
Make sure you have your most important keywords strategically placed throughout your profile. For example: Professional Headline, Title Fields, Specialties, Interest’s.
Some examples of keywords: accountant, financial planning, accounting, tax etc
Your summary section should be written in the first person. Write about what you can do for them, and not about the awards etc you have received.
You have 2000 characters here – use as much as you can.
5. Use a Professional Photo:
I recommend a close up and a smile. Colour or black and white is fine. A full body shot of you or you and your family, you and your boat is unprofessional. I have also seen people use cartoon characters or movies stars as their profile photos. Not a good look. And LinkedIn doesn’t like logos.
6. Personalize your public profile URL:
Make sure your public profile (URL) reflects your name, your business, or your area of expertise. Eg: http://linkedin.com/in/johnsmith
This is done by clicking ‘edit’ of your profile, then on the right hand side menu click on ‘customize your public profile URL’
Try for your name, but if your name is already taken, try it with a middle initial.
7. Adding & Personalize your websites:
When adding your website url, you click ‘edit’ your website, the drop down menu gives you the options to choose. But if you choose “other”, a new field opens up that allows you to type in your business name, website name, or description of your website. So instead of “Company Website” or “Personal Website” this section can read “LinkedIn for Women” or “Click here: Financial Advice”
8. Ramp up your ‘Experience’ section:
This is what you are currently doing in your business or current position. Make sure you put all your keywords in the title section. (keyword optimization)
“Experience” is not your resume though so don’t put everything in there. Make sure the job roles you choose to list support each other. Think outside the box. It doesn’t have to be boring.
Use the 2000 characters in the description section to tell people why they should hire you or your company etc. Tell a story about something that worked well. Put in a client’s testimonial. “Experience” is a great place to list your positives, different companies you have helped in some way, seminars you have presented and so on.
9. Past Experience:
Your past experience shouldn’t be a detailed as your Current Experience but should show some previous relevant experience
10. Volunteer Experience & Causes:
Make sure you list all of your volunteering experience here. And definitely list your causes.
Note: this section doesn’t automatically come up. You need to manually open this when editing your profile.
11. Skills:
You can include up to 50 skills here but 10 skills is what is displayed prominently and the rest are minimized. Over time, people will endorse you for these skills. The total of endorsements per skills is displayed also.
12. List your ‘additional education’:
Make sure you list your certifications and licenses as well as traditional education. LinkedIn has added new sections where you can list areas of expertise, publications, certifications
13. Get recommendations:
LinkedIn tells you your profile is complete with 3 recommendations. And when you are asking your connections for recommendations, provide a bulleted list of your skills, strengths and services so people will write a more complete reference and not: “She’s nice to work with”. If you are comfortable doing so, you might write a recommendation that the recommender can use or base their recommendation around. You might want to add some of the better recommendations to your website. Ask for recommendations from thought leaders in your field, old employees, and well-known clients.
14. Create a Company Page:
If you have not yet created a Company page, now is the time to do it. (https://www.linkedin.com/company/add/show) If you already have a Company Page, but have not been there recently, its time to revisit it, and add the new banner photo, featured groups, targeted updates and targeted service pages.
15. Add Media to Your Profile:
You can add various types of media to your profile, such as YouTube & SlideShare.
You can add media to your Summary section, Experience section, or your Education section.
And walah ! You now have an awesome LinkedIn Profile !