The platform went through some changes over the past or so and with 2018 coming to a close, it's a great time to update your LinkedIn profile for the upcoming new year and optimize it for search.
After all, as a leading B2B social network, LinkedIn is where your potential clients, users, buyers, customers, and referral sources will find you. So just like a website, optimizing your profile content is important.
1 - Update your headline (and feel free to do so periodically). This is the bold descriptive line below your name that broadcasts what you do. When I write LinkedIn profile summaries, I like to include a "what's in it for them" element, a value proposition element so people can see right away why they should contact you. You have up to 120 characters (including spaces) to do this so be judicious, but include a relevant search term here.
2 - Your summary is where you can tell your story. Gone are the days of stiff third-person descriptions (unless that's your style). Draw the visitor in, tell them why you love what you do, share a significant win, talk about specialty areas. Bring out your unique selling proposition (USP); why should someone contact you over your competition? This section gives you up to 2000 characters with spaces so it's fairly generous in terms of room to sell yourself. Be sure to include search terms related to your area of expertise, your industry, and the clientele you serve.
3 - Other areas are available for your job experience (current and prior), education, certifications and professional designations, areas of interest, accomplishments, and other resume elements that don't need to be in your summary.
4 - Ask for recommendations from quality sources: colleagues, vendors, partners, clients. These should be authentic testimonials and are an excellent way to enhance your LinkedIn profile.
5 - Endorsements - these are nice if people are truly endorsing you for skills they know you possess and at which you excel. That might not always be the case; that's why I prefer recommendations.
6 - Add files tho showcase your deliverables - presentations and white papers are excellent additions.
7- Publish on LinkedIn. Remember LinkedIn Pulse? That's gone but you have the ability to publish articles; it's a great way to give your blog additional breadth (consider doing a slight edit so it's not duplicate content) or to amplify your weekly posts by mixing in longer-form content.
Now that your profile is stellar, be sure to post with some consistency; a couple of times a week is ample. The posts can be fairly long, 1300 characters, but that figure is reduced if you are adding an image or a link.
What to post? Glad you asked! You can share third-party news and articles by others with your commentary (which shows your insights and expertise in the field) as well as your own original content that drives traffic to your website or a specific landing page. There's plenty of information out there to share and comment on to mix in with your content about your field. But that's a post for another day.
Need help with your LinkedIn and other social media profiles or posts? A professional copywriter can help. You know what to do: caryn@starrgates.com or 201-791-4694.
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