Data-driven 10X Digital Marketing
Let’s talk about your LinkedIn. This platform is an excellent place to build your professional brand—whether you’re a CEO looking to expand your social influence or a young professional in need of a network. Although some may see this tool as a necessary evil, you should never neglect your LinkedIn profile. You’d be surprised how much it can impact your digital first impression with others.
How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out
Now, if you’ve spent time on LinkedIn, you know how overwhelming it can be. Wedged between new job announcements are thought leadership posts, open-to-hiring notices, general updates and outside articles. How are you supposed to stand out amid that? Our answer is simple: get back to the basics. Here are six things that users forget about when it comes to their LinkedIn profile that makes a big difference:
Fill Everything Out
The biggest rookie mistake you can make is leaving your profile blank. People can’t connect with you if they don’t know who you are. Set aside 30 minutes to ensure you have all the essential details filled out—your current role, previous experience, a headshot and a professional summary. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but something is always better than nothing.
Infuse Personality into Your Profile Visuals
People often judge a profile by the visuals before they even read someone’s first name. Your profile picture and cover image are the perfect opportunity to infuse personality into your profile. As a CEO or business leader, think about what tone or brand you want to convey. Do your headshot and cover image reflect that? Are you goofy and fun? Are you serious and straightforward? Whatever your personality, your profile visuals are a great way to showcase it quickly.
Write a Compelling Headline and Summary
LinkedIn allows you to craft a professional summary, giving you space to personalize your profile further. Use this space to describe your vision or passions. Let people know what you care about! Your summary doesn’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) a word-for-word summary of your resume—your audience can easily find that elsewhere on your profile.
Keep in mind, you can also personalize your headline to something beyond your technical title. For example, a CEO of a financial organization could write something like “Financial Innovator and Leader at XYZ Finances.”
Add Featured Links
Here’s a feature that people don’t take advantage of enough: LinkedIn allows users to “pin” relevant or interesting links at the top of their profile. How should you utilize this space? Add links to webinars you’ve given, panels you’ve conducted or articles you’ve written. Don’t just say what you do; show it! But for these links to really do their job, make sure they’re coupled with a compelling image to catch a viewer’s attention.
Keep Up Your Activity
Your LinkedIn profile actually displays any recent activity directly on your personal page. Visitors will instantly know if you’re active on the platform—so we’d recommend liking, commenting and sharing posts as soon as possible. And when you’re ready, start posting content of your own. Don’t get caught up on whether or not the post is perfect; the more you post, the more you’ll understand what resonates with your audience.
Develop Thought Leadership
Once you’ve graduated from posting short-form content, it’s time to graduate to thought leadership articles and really make your LinkedIn profile stand out! LinkedIn offers a native platform for you to put your thoughts. Start writing your own content and pin them to your profile. If you join a LinkedIn group, make sure to contribute to it regularly. Doing so will increase your visibility and credibility within the community.
Don’t Wait to Elevate Your LinkedIn Presence
This isn’t something you should keep on the backburner for 2023. Make updating your LinkedIn profile a priority this year. And remember, if you’re worried about putting yourself out there—people respond best to things that feel authentic. Be yourself and the rest will fall into place. If you want help elevating your LinkedIn profile, reach out to our team at 10x Digital and we’ll get started.