How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Better B2B Visibility in 2019

Do you want to increase visibility on LinkedIn this coming year?

Your LinkedIn profile is the cornerstone of your professional brand online.

Yet many professionals still treat their LinkedIn profile as little more than a place to park their CV and promptly forget about it.

Linkedin is the best way to generate leads for business-to-business (B2B) prospects.

At 560+ million members in 200 different countries no other B2B network has as many members and as much reach as LinkedIn does.

According to  HubSpot 43% of marketers have sourced a customer from LinkedIn so it pays to build a strong network on the platform.

Looking for prospects on LinkedIn is effective because it’s like a search engine for professionals. 

Everything you do on LinkedIn begins with your profile.

In this article, I am going to show you how to get the most out of LinkedIn so you can increase your own visibility and boost your professional credibility on the platform.

So let’s get started at the place where we start all social media strategy.

1. Have an End Goal in Mind

It’s no secret that goal setting increases your likelihood of social media success.

What do you want to achieve on LinkedIn? Do you want to generate leads? Connect with industry influencers? Find a new job? Establish yourself as a thought-leader?

Clear goals will propel your LinkedIn strategy forward.

For a goal to become a reality, it needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic, as well as time specific — these are often called SMART goals. SMART goals are one of the longest-lasting, most popular goal-setting frameworks for business. For example, if your goal is to generate leads, how many new leads will you aim for? In what time frame? Is this goal realistic?

2. Optimize Your Profile For Success

Whether you’re just getting started on LinkedIn or have already used it for a while, optimizing your profile is essential to your success.

You won’t be effective at LinkedIn networking if your profile doesn’t entice people to get to know you.

LinkedIn profile optimization simply means that your LinkedIn profile is fully updated to maximize your visibility on the platform.

Make your first visual impression count by displaying a high-quality professional photo. 

Think about what you want to achieve with your headshot and how that ties into the image you want show off to the world. Pro photographer, Jeremy Cowart, recommends using your photo to show some personality. "Although it’s a professional platform I like to see some personality in people’s headshots," he says. "An overly sterile corporate look isn’t going to stand out to anyone and most of all you want to leave an impression that makes others want to connect with you more. It’s more intriguing and fun to show off that personality, but you have to keep the quality as high as can be."

Customize your profile URL so you can easily tell people how to find you online.

For the highest possible Google ranking, claim your LinkedIn profile URL (i.e. LinkedIn address). Your address is unique to you and if you haven’t customised it will likely consist of your first and last name followed by numbers, letters, and dashes.

You can find this under your profile picture. If it’s not customised you can do so by clicking on Edit your public profile. If your first and last name are already being used by another person on LinkedIn, try adding something else like a middle initial, industry affiliation, or your location. Once you’ve created your customised URL you can use it on your business cards, add it to your email signature and anywhere online you wish to build your personal brand.

Pro Tip: Adding a background image to your LinkedIn header will help brand your profile. Think of it as your professional billboard.

Create a strong professional headline

This is a critical step because your professional headline is not just highly visible, it's searchable by Google.

Whereas your profile picture is one of the first things people see on your LinkedIn account, your professional headline is one of the first things that they’ll read. 

By default, LinkedIn populates your headline with your current title and company, but you can choose to do much more by inserting keywords. Profile keywords have benefits beyond boosting your LinkedIn search ranking.

Think of LinkedIn as a secret search engine. Just like any search engine, you will want to optimise it for SEO. Since search engines like Google index LinkedIn profiles, having a keyword-rich profile will help you to show up in these searches as well. 

If you want your LinkedIn account to be a way that people discover you, you'll want to place an emphasis on those keywords which people will search for on LinkedIn, and that will show up in search engines. It's important to add keywords naturally - don't be tempted to stuff keywords into your headline (or profile summary) just for the sake of it.

Add your location and industry

Location is one of the top five fields that LinkedIn prioritises when doing a keyword search. To add your location and industry, open up the Edit Intro window and fill in your location details as prompted. 

Develop a client-facing profile summary

Immediately below your picture, name, location, company and education sections, you have the opportunity to write a summary about yourself. In my experience many people skip over this section, or give it very little attention. This is a big mistake.

This section tells the story of what you are passionate about. It makes your profile less about being a resume or CV and more about you.

It’s an opportunity to establish your credibility and show some personality.

It's also a great place to include keywords that will help make you more visible in search results.

Think of this space as your Elevator Pitch. Use it to describe the story of what you do and the unique qualities you bring to your work. 

Make it benefit driven and client-facing. Your ideal prospects and customers don’t care about you. They care about how you can solve their problems.

Identify your target audience and what benefit you offer that audience.

Use a formula like this one to create your value proposition. “I help [target audience] achieve [the benefit they get from working with you] by providing [your service].”

Here's mine.

"I provide consulting and training services to health care industry professionals and patient organisations to help them use social media strategically to achieve their campaign goals."

Finally, include a call-to-action. Make it easy for people to do business with you. Make it clear what the next steps are if a person wants to contact you. Consider creating a free introductory offer (for example a report, e-book or consultation call) prior to doing business with you.

Pro Tip: Introduce yourself and your work through video. You can add video to your introduction and other areas of your LinkedIn profile to make your profile stand-out.

Ask for recommendations.

A recommendation is a brief paragraph that a boss, colleague or client has written describing their experience of working with you. To ask for a recommendation, click on the highlighted section as shown below.

Once you do this LinkedIn will walk you through a number of simple steps to ask for a recommendation which includes the ability to personalise the request.

Pro Tip: Get into the habit of asking people if they would be willing to recommend you on LinkedIn after they have thanked you in person or complimented you for work you have done.

3. Build Your Authority With Long-Form Content

There’s no better or faster way to highlight your expertise, build your personal brand and grow your LinkedIn followers than through creating and sharing high-value content with a strong focus on your topic(s) of expertise. One of the best ways to do this to publish long-form articles directly on your LinkedIn profile.

When you publish an article on LinkedIn, your original content becomes part of your professional profile, it’s shared with your connections and followers in their news feeds, and members that aren’t in your network can follow you from your article so that your next article will be surfaced in their feeds. LinkedIn Publishing is even searchable through Google.

Check out my article How To Increase Your Visibility On LinkedIn By Publishing Articles for more information.

4. Become An Active LinkedIn User

Did you know that only one-third of LinkedIn members visit the site every day (according to a survey conducted by Lab42)?

What you choose to post on LinkedIn will define you as a trusted authority within your industry. The key is to share news, articles, and insights that are relevant to your connections. Think about the type of content which is most useful for your audience. Your goal as a thought leader is to consistently deliver your unique perspective on your top industry topics.

Pro Tip: Use hashtags for increased visibility. LinkedIn is encouraging users to post and search for specific hashtags. Before you begin adding hashtags to your LinkedIn posts and articles, you’ll need to find hashtags that align with the interests of your connections and followers. A good place to start is to see which hashtags the influencers in your niche are using on LinkedIn, as well as on sites such as Twitter and Instagram.

Recommended Reading: Becoming An Active & Engaged LinkedIn User

Taking time and care over each of these steps will pay dividends and reward you with increased visibility and enhanced professionalism. Your LinkedIn profile should never be done once and then forgotten. Review it regularly. Remove outdated information, include fresh keywords, add new images, and keep your profile looking current and relevant.

Next Steps

Everything you do on LinkedIn begins with your profile. If you'd like some help to optimise your profile for success in the coming year, then do get in touch with me.

Here's to your LinkedIn success in 2019!

Like what you’ve read? Get more LinkedIn tips here.