With over 350 million active professionals, Linkedin is the most popular social networking website for professionals. Developing a strong presence on Linkedin can therefore have multiple benefits. It is great for building contacts, reaching out relevant people and attracting leads. With constant updates and changes happening on the Linkedin platform, it can be hard to keep abreast of what to do. Here are some tips to improve your Linkedin profile in 2016.
Improve your profile headline
This is a searchable feature and appears in popups and hovers all over Linkedin. Ensure that your job title/role/profession is immediately recognisable in this field. And it has plenty of space for multiple variations of your job. For example, instead of just using “Associate” , you can have a longer title with more keywords such as “Associate | Digital Marketing Professional”. Of course, don’t go overboard too!
Get the professionally shot photograph
Some prefer to get one in formal attire but its entire your call. Ensure that your photograph is aesthetically pleasing and sharp. Having a nice picture can dramatically improve clickthrough rates to your profiles purely out of curiosity. If your profile picture can inspire curiosity or interest, you will definitely see a spike in your profile views.
Write a thoughtful summary
Every profile starts with a summary. This is perhaps the most important section of your Linkedin profile after your photograph and headline. The summary essentially tells the story of you. Who are you, what do you do and why you do what you do. Use the summary section creatively and you will definitely see an uptick in the number of people who contact you. However, do not write endlessly – make it simple to read with short sentences and bullet points. It’s called a summary for a reason!
Select the most appropriate skills
Skills are another searchable feature and if you have filled out this section properly, chances are that more potential business contacts and recruits will be able to spot you when they go out looking for talent. If you’ve had a long career, always keep refreshing and adding/deleting skills which you’ve learned or forgotten.
Add multimedia to your profile
You can add Slideshare decks, pdfs, links, videos and other multimedia to various sections of your Linkedin profile such as your summary, work experience, publications, etc. Do you have any case studies or ready decks from the different projects you’ve done over your career? Always ensure that there something additional on your profile. This will help you stand out from the rest.
Volunteering and Awards
Volunteering experience and causes that you care about, though not necessary are sweet extras for any Linkedin profile. So if you’ve taught poor kids or visited old folks in a home, do mention that here.
Recommendations
One of the strongest elements on a Linkedin profile are recommendations. These are essentially references which can help future employers or prospects to decide whether they’d want to work with you or not. See if you can ask your ex-clients or old bosses for a kind word or two.
Conclusion
Linkedin is a great platform for digital B2B marketing and for scouring new leads and contacts. That’s reason enough for you to ensure that your Linkedin profile is nicely filled out. And even if you’re working in another organisation, it can really help you develop a larger network of contacts – who knows who might be helpful in the future! Are there any suggestions that you’d like to share on ways to improve your Linkedin profile in 2016? Please do so in the comments below!
