Let’s jump right into it, LinkedIn has always been known as the place where your online resume and professional brand lives. It’s also one of the first places new colleagues and potential clients will look for your name and business. That said, making your profile speak directly to the people you’re looking for (i.e. new clients) is very important. Not to worry, below are 10 tips to give your LinkedIn profile the TLC it needs to go from just good to drop-the-mic great!

First, Handle the Headline

Did you know your headline follows you all over LinkedIn? That’s right, every time someone comes to your page or reads your comment on a colleague’s post, they see your headline. Clearly, this is something that should instantly want to learn more about you–that’s the reason we’re here, right?! So let’s make sure we’re going beyond a simple job title, use this space to show off the value you provide to your clients or customers. Take this for example, “Ashley L. James | Social Media Consultant & Host of BOBs in the ‘Burbs Podcast | Empowers Black-owned businesses to manage social media successfully” this is my headline at the time of this writing. It tells you who I am and what I do, but also shows you the value I bring to the table. Take a look at your headline, can you say the same?

Make Your Profile Photo Pop (Respectfully):

From the early days of social media until now, profile photos have taken on many different styles and varieties, but on LinkedIn they’re still pretty straight-forward. You want a photo that is easily recognized as you. To be honest, the majority of the photo should be your face and shoulders. Also, your clothes in the photo should reflect how you’d dress in a normal business setting, whatever that would be for you. Lastly, while many people dislike being told to smile, this is basically your “digital first impression” so you might want to have an “inviting expression” on your face. Just gonna leave that for you to decide. 

Craft a Standout Summary

Each section of your profile is an opportunity to show people what you bring to the table and the LinkedIn summary is no different. Yes, you should share your story but as a business owner, you also want to use this space to let people know what’s in it for them. How does your work make their life easier? Why should they work with you instead of a competitor? What makes you qualified for their particular needs? Let them know!

This is also where your messaging comes into play. How do you speak to your clients? What are common pieces of advice you give? Try to incorporate that here, where it makes sense. Then end with a call to action, tell your people what their next step should be to work with you.

Whip That Work Into Shape

Your resume is where you list your work experience, here is where you can add some shape to it (within reason). Focus on highlighting the things you accomplished in current and previous roles, along with how you’ve added value to your team. Don’t be afraid of the numbers, if you can quantify results, that will catch people’s attention. For example, something like, "Increased the sale of athletic wear by 30% by shifting the target of a recent marketing campaign to a previously untapped demographic,” says a lot more than, “increased sales by 30% through targeted marketing campaign” and can provide a more holistic view of your impact.

Request Recommendations

You can shout to the high heavens about how great your business is and how you help your clients, but your people really start listening when someone else says it too. To put it simply, LinkedIn recommendations are when people you’ve worked with tell others about their professional experience with you. For example, a client can give you a recommendation based on the service you provided for them. Their recommendation will be seen on both your profile and theirs, so it’s a solid way to get and spread your social proof on the platform. The best way to get recommendations is by asking your colleagues, clients, customers, and mentors for them directly. You can make your requests via email or you can send them a personal message on the platform. Keep in mind, those you ask may want you to return the favor so be ready to do some writing of your own.

The Content Continues

You can make all the updates above and then some, but if you aren’t posting to the platform regularly, they won’t help. Before you talk yourself out of all this, know that you don’t have to publish multiple times per day or go wild with creating new concepts, but it’s important to regularly show up and stay involved with your network. Your posts are a key way to do that. 

There are a lot of options for sharing valuable LinkedIn content, you can share original posts, industry articles, blogs, and more. Outside of posts, you can share your thoughts in other ways like creating a newsletter or contributing to a collaborative article. 

No matter how you choose to share, just make sure you stay consistent. It helps to have a LinkedIn strategy in place to help you plan how to stay consistent. Your strategy will also help you to take your business goals into consideration when creating content. That’s one of the things we help with at ALJ Digital, so if you need help with that visit us online and submit a contact form. 

In Closing

Whew, that was a lot. Hopefully, you have a lot to think about and a few ideas of where to start with your profile updates. There’s a lot more to the world of LinkedIn, so if you want some guidance (and maybe even a bit of hand-holding) through the process book a Stress-Free LinkedIn Strategy Session to get a customized gameplan for LinkedIn based on you and your business goals.