Many people have been on Linkedln now for some time and if you are one of them, you may well be disillusioned with the results you are getting.
It may be that you joined Linkedln because you had heard many positive comments about the social networking site and you were excited to connect with other professionals and find new clients for your business.
A lot of people use Linkedln as a replacement for other social media platforms. However, LinkedIn is a professional network and as such, represents a great opportunity for people to showcase their skills and services to other business professionals. How much of an opportunity you are likely to get I guess depends. The following must-dos will help.
- Complete your profile making sure you pay attention to your ‘professional headline’ and ‘About’ sections. These are usually the first things that people see about you on your LinkedIn profile page. TIP: Keep your professional headline to less than 120 characters long, making sure to count spacing.
- To ensure you have a greater chance of showing up in searches, upload a good-quality professional-looking photo of yourself. TIP: A warm and friendly headshot without a busy background would be perfect if just starting out. You can always add a professional headshot later.
- Speak directly to your audience by writing in first-person using a warm and friendly tone in your ‘About’ section. Share your story, but keep succinct by limiting the length to around 5 paragraphs. TIP: Use bullet points to list some of your most recent achievements.
- Whilst work experience matters, do resist the urge to simply copy and paste from your resume. List in chronological order and always link to the company’s LinkedIn page or website. TIP: Again, 2-3 bullet points are great when listing duties and achievements for each job. And, LinkedIn makes it easy to upload media files, so if you’re in possession of media content that celebrates any achievements, upload away.
- Ask clients to recommend you on LinkedIn. Satisfied customers usually like to express their appreciation for a job well done. TIP: LinkedIn has some basic templates for members to use when requesting recommendations. You can easily customise by changing a few words that better suit your style before sending.
Create Copy can help you create a professional LinkedIn profile. Click here to find out how.