How to build your LinkedIn profile: Plus NEW features
LinkedIn is a fantastic network to build your personal brand and business.
60% of users actively look for industry insights on LinkedIn.
78% of social sellers make more sales than their counterparts who aren’t using social media.
LinkedIn makes up more than 50% of all social traffic to B2B websites & blogs.
85% of US companies plan to recruit with LinkedIn.
So whether you are looking for a new job, buying, or selling LinkedIn is a channel you need to be on.
The first place to start is optimizing your profile. If you post or connect with someone that’s the first place they are going to look. Let’s help you make it as awesome as you are.
So let’s take it from the top.
Banner Image: Who do you represent?
Your banner is the long image behind your picture. If you work for a company, they might have a banner image they’d like you to use. Along with being a voice talent and aspiring author, I am a full-time Sr. Content Marketing Manager for a top startup in Silicon Valley. It’s part of my job to set an example and enable my company with LinkedIn best practices. So, for myself, I happily use Clari for my banner image.
Let’s say your main focus is voice talent. Your banner image is the perfect place to put contact information, a logo, your tagline. Something that instantly catches the eye of whoever is visiting your profile.
Making your LinkedIn banner can be free and easy with tools like Canva.
Banner tips:
Keep it simple: Take note of the other information around the banner image and keep it clean. Make it easy for the viewer to scan.
Make it your own: Don’t simply take a Canva design and write your name, adjust with your brand and colors
Profile Picture: Show your professional personality
This one should be pretty straight forward. So here are the tips:
Use a dedicated headshot, not a cropped image from a wedding or a mirror selfie.
While it should be professional, you can also add in some character.
I.E. You in a booth with a mic, you with your product, you giving a speech
You outside or with your pet (in a professional way) it could be a conversation starter—but it needs to go with your brand, personality, and goals.
2. Optimizing your headline
Your headline is like your 10-second elevator pitch—except you have 2-3 seconds. So make them count. Below I highlight 4 ways you can fill out your headline. Keep in mind that only the first ~30 characters will show up in a search or by your name when you post.
1) Have your headline talk about who you help or intrigue the reader. If your LinkedIn is primarily for the company you work at, have it relate to how you impact your company’s mission.
2) Good if you have multiple areas of expertise, list them out. Creative and playful? Leverage emojis to stand out and show fun.
3) Good if you want to keep your title in but also share how your company/service helps the reader.
For a voice artist you could have: Voice Actor | I connect brands with their audience through storytelling
4) Your title. The common argument against this is that you lose out on an opportunity to share more about yourself or pique the interest of the viewer. But it is simple and clean.
3. NEW Name Pronunciation Feature
A fantastic opportunity! Helpful especially when you have a more complex last name like I do. You get 10 seconds to record and it must be done through the mobile app.
Hint: Don’t just stop at your name, add a little pitch in there too ;-). Check out mine.
4. Let’s Learn About You
Your summary is one of the first things people see when they visit your profile. It’s like your business card. It is “above the fold” on both desktop and mobile, meaning someone doesn’t have to scroll down to find it. When most users visit your profile, they’ll see the first 300 characters or so of your summary.
Talk about who you help, how you help, and what business problem you solve. Add contact info too. Check out these examples and sample job descriptions for inspiration.
Here’s a basic, general set up. Try writing a sentence for each, in the first person:
Hook
Connection to how it relates to your current role
Who are you, what do you do
List specialties
Add personality, what you do outside of work for fun
Add your ask/call-to-action
5. NEW! Add Featured Multimedia Content
In this section, you can employ two main strategies:
Add 1-2 main evergreen media pieces.
(Tip: I suggest your website and business social profiles)
Consistently add new media, keep it fresh,
6. Experience etc.
For the rest of your profile, go section by section entering in relevant experience, awards, languages spoken, volunteer work, education etc.
My biggest tip for your experience section is to only add more information and media for current roles.
For the most part, unless you are actively looking for a new job, you want to leave past roles clear. You can take the option though to highlight 1-3 of notable biggest wins or pieces of media you are particularly proud of and add value.
If you are a voice actor, share some links to some of your work (as long as the client has approved).
If you have a business webpage, add that as the key media link under your experience.
For example, on my page, under my current Clari role, I have key Clari media assets that sell Clari or showcase work I helped with. My voice over experience links to my website. And my previous role at Wrike has some of my favorite pieces I wrote—because I’m a copywriter as well.
7. Recommendations
If you’ve had a wonderful experience with a client or coworker, it never hurts to ask if they’d be open to either giving you a review or exchanging reviews. But consider first which channel it might be best to get that review.
Maybe it would be better to get it on your website, Google business page, amazon page (if you’re an author for example), Etsy shop, Facebook business page, etc.
Asking for a review is a great idea, but be strategic. The good news is you can pull reviews from places like Google etc. and put them on your website (with permission). So that might help you start to narrow it down.
8. Interests
This section is more for you. Your interests are the people and brands you follow. Follow your prospects, comment on their posts, understand their business. This helps you build a relationship and stronger reach out.
Head spinning?
Take a deep breath. Yes, there are a lot of pieces to your profile. Take it one chunk at a time and you’ll rock it.
Need extra help? Sometimes you just need to talk it through with someone. I offer private LinkedIn profile consultations for $50 for 45 minutes. You can set up a time with me through my contact page here.