3 Top Tips for Growing Your Profile and Your Business on LinkedIn
Written by Andrew Goldman
Using Linkedin is a great way to show off you and what you’re about. It can bring almost endless opportunities for networking, particularly when there are over 700 million users. Massively increase the chances of getting your dream job or dream hire. Here are some pointers to help boost your profile and presence on Linkedin.
Complete Your Profile
Use a good headshot for your profile picture, but make sure it also sets the tone of who you are, and what you are looking for. Putting a face to a name can be more memorable, and make an excellent first impression. The cover photo behind it can also give insight into your personality or profession.
Under this should be a just as memorable headline. It goes right underneath your name and will most likely be the first thing a searcher will read. 120 characters to nail what you do. Think of it like one of those posters you see on the escalators on the London Underground, or a giant billboard that you see for a few seconds when stuck in traffic. This is your opportunity to grab attention and make someone read on. Think about who you are speaking to, and who you would want to attract to your network.
The 2000 characters in the ‘about’ section gives you that longer-form opportunity to really get into what it is you have on offer. Think of it like a cover letter, by showing how good you are. However, as you are using it to reach out for new connections, it’s vital to include benefits to your audience. What do they get from you? 2000 characters may be a bit much, so be concise, and nail what is essentially your pitch. Read it out loud to yourself, and also get someone else to read it out for you. Try and keep it under 60 seconds. This will help make it succinct, and also discover how your tone comes across to yourself and others.
Add your work experiences, and keep the descriptions of the roles to bullet points. Make it easy for your audience to understand your skillset, and what you can bring. Don’t forget to add your skills, as many will be relevant or transferable.
Endorsing other people is a great way to receive your own endorsements in return. Think of endorsements as a way of validating the skills you say you have. Receiving positive feedback from others is a superb way of showing off how good you are, and that you come highly recommended.
Keep Your Page Active
LinkedIn isn’t just a glorified CV, it’s about networking. And the ‘CV’ alone won’t be enough to get yourself recognised. Posting regularly with thoughtful pieces about your profession, asking questions, and showing off your personality, will invite your audience to engage with you. Remember to comment on other people’s posts, and join groups. When conversations get going, connection requests start rolling in. Use relevant hashtags to expand your reach. That dream recruiter could be searching by hashtag and you’ll stand a better chance of getting noticed.
Visual appeal, and making it easy to know what you’re about ‘at a glance’ can really boost your network. Adding images or GIFs in your posts will also attract attention, as long as they’re relevant to your written words.
Don’t be disheartened if you don’t receive big numbers of likes or comments on your posts. It’ll help you to learn what works, and what doesn’t have a good effect.
How to Make Connections
Start off easy. Connect with people you know, to make yourself visible. Import your phone contacts to speed things up. From there, LinkedIn will send you a list of ‘people you may know.’ Send connection requests, and also send a personalised note where necessary, to make connections meaningful.
Joining groups with similar or the same professional roles or values is another way to quickly grow your network. There could be 100s or even 1000s of potential connections there. Others in these groups are there for the same reasons as you.
Connect with or follow your industry leaders. It’s not only a great way to learn about your profession, but reaching out can reap rewards. Receiving golden nuggets of advice, or having an influencer react or comment on your posts will extend your impressions – the number of times your posts gets seen. You’ll soon get your name known as a regular and connections can come thick and fast. Which opens doors of opportunity.
It’s possible to find that mentor, the person whose advice makes the most sense to you can be invaluable. You’ll get to hear about job opportunities, potential leads, and recommendations from those you’ve already networked with.
Conclusion.
To wrap things up, remember:
- Make sure your profile grabs the attention of the type of audience you want to attract. Once you’ve done this, the chances are, they’ll read on. Be interesting. Don’t waffle.
- No one will know who you are, no matter how good your profile looks, if you don’t engage with anyone. Regular posting, and liking and commenting on other’s posts will help you to get known. It won’t happen overnight, but you can really spark some great working relationships. Even friendships.
- More connections bring more opportunities. Personalise your requests, and make them interesting and relevant. Join groups and connect with or follow your industry experts, to learn, spark conversation and further raise your profile.