Linkedin Optimisation
Are you looking for a way to make your LinkedIn profile stand out?
If you're on the hunt for an in-depth guide that has all the bells and whistles I would have to recommend this online course, Here to help you build your online brand. With step by step actions and even some tips to remaining consistent.
Below I have shared what I have come across over the years and some short fixed you could start focusing on, especially if you are new to LinkedIn or not sure how to boost attractiveness of your profile.
How to fill out your profile:
This short guide will cover all the fields you can fill out in your profile and give some tips and advice on what can be filled out. It follows a chronological order, in accordance to what you see when you open LinkedIn but can vary, depending on how many fields you have already added to your profile.
1) Name:
It's highly recommended to use your formal name and not nicknames. The reason for this is, if you have any activity or are tagged somewhere, it's easier to find you and does not create any confusion. LinkedIn is also a professional platform and not a gaming account ?? This being said it is in their terms of service which makes it obvious.
2) Headline:
Choose 1-3 key phrases that will be repeated throughout your profile. For example: Pragmatic | Best coder 2022 | Innovative, These words can be repeated in your profile in the job description, in the “about me” section and even in skills and achievement. These are the topics you want to be known for and what you’re able to offer. Remember is you are looking for a job on LinkedIn most applications have space to add a link to your profile and this will help you stand out to recruiters. You are free to be creative here and do not need to use keywords, again this is your profile and these are merely suggestions.
3) Experience (Job details):
Be sure to add where you work, with a short description of
These topics allow for people to see your growth, skills and what you do in your position as responsibilities of positions vary from company to company.
In the case of a CEO or Founder:
Describe your company's mission, What you follow in business and why you created such an organisation. It's important to have a link between owners and companies as it shows the personal investment and clients/ partners know what they are in for.
4) Education:
Add all forms of education. This helps when it comes to filters recruiters set when looking for a profile that matches you, as some jobs require a certain level of education e.g. Masters Degree. In some fields this is not the be all end all, as experience is more important.
?? On this topic, when you're on your profile, you can select "Add profile section". Once opened it's displayed differently for everyone, but under “recommended” in most cases are courses, licenses and certificates. These are helpful sections to improve the visibility of your account.
5) Projects:
What better way to show off your work, much like a portfolio. Share projects you have worked on and give enough detail so people are aware of your impact. Be sure that you get all the green lights to post the information as their could be internal information that you cannot add. This is especially important when working with clients to not breach any NDAs.
6) Volunteering:
Let's not beat around the bush, Volunteering is a good thing to do. It allows you to give back in many different ways and in most cases builds character. On your LinkedIn profile it may give members or recruiters a more in depth idea of what is dear to you. The helpful tip here is that this is black and white, don't make things up or force something, as this will be evident, having a negative effect.
7) Skills & Endorsement:
With LinkedIn offering you a space of up to 50 skills, it is important to be as precise as possible and try not to repeat or add synonyms of skills. So if you specialise in communication for example you have 18 options to choose from and is best to be precise. This will help in recruiting processes.
Think of it this way, stick to the skills which you are best at as they work like SEO keywords, where the ease of finding your profile is affected by this.
Where possible, get network confirmations in the form of endorsements (Worked with someone on a project, and you know they've seen your work? Be sure to ask them to endorse you, or be kind and do it for someone without asking.
8) Recommendations:
Profiles with recommendations are more likely to come up in searches. Think of it as validation to your profile and skills.
It can be seen the same as endorsements, be kind and share a public “kudos” with your work colleagues. It also helps a lot if people outside of your workplace give you recommendations. For example, if you are working on a product with a client and they're super happy with your work, send them a request to share some positive feedback on your LinkedIn.
Now that your profile is covered Let's jump on to making use of it ??
Increase your activity on LinkedIn:
Simply said but rarely done post more often, but does not mean that you should post some fluff for the sake of posting, quality over quantity works but consistency in tone, branding and insights is important. This can include the following:
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Summary of events and meetings that you've attended:
Adding photos or links allows the LinkedIn community reading your posts to see more details about this and improves the attractiveness.
?? Be sure to check event tags, or if you can tag the event host with "@" this will help boost your reach. Be sure to add some context before tagging anyone. Make sure your posts also do not start with tagging or hastaging and has some pre-text.
Follow the corporate profiles of clients you work with that interest you:
It's a big plus and will keep you up to date with the latest news and may add some insight which you have missed out on from other forms of communication. This also allows you to comment and engage with posts that are in your interest fields. For example, you worked with person X on a project that got a golden award: be sure to congratulate them by saying some kind words in the comments (Being sure to tag their account) and build your personal branding by adding a comment of why you think this is deserved.
Congratulate customers/partners:
When a partner does well in something, even if you were a small piece to the puzzle and you weren't mentioned, this may be due to legal reasons, be sure to congratulate them. For example, if the partner had a successful funding round and posted it on LinkedIn, jump into the comments and congratulate them. This helps boost your personal brand awareness, which is essentially what LinkedIn is designed for.
Write an article or two:
This is not as scary as it looks. You can even add a summary post with a link to a bigger article. This gives you the space to entice readers and open engagement/ conversation with the LinkedIn community.
?? If you're afraid of writing, set aside some time every day to write a short or long article and keep this consistent. It will help you build on your vocabulary and writing skills. A big plus is you can use LinkedIn article function, which gives you the option to save drafts.
Add videos:
This, in general, is better when it comes to design aspects or even events. It’s also popular to do short vlogs that cover a topic. This is also not a video platform though and if it is your main form of content that YouTube, TikTok and Instagram should be your go to platforms.
?? Videos require skills that can be self taught on courses or some YouTube videos for example. Just remember it's better to avoid this if you're not confident or you know the quality is not good enough, as your idea may be amazing but the execution is what LinkedIn users will judge you on.
Add photos:
Photos easily catch users attention. Try posting pictures related to what you do with a short, personal description of your view of this image. It can be in the form of what you’ve learnt or what conclusions you have come to regarding a given topic. Conferences, business trips, and company meetings are all great examples of what you could use.
Don't be afraid to use emojis:
?? It’s essential to know the meaning of Emojis. They need to be used in context and sometimes carry different meanings. For example, You would not make a LinkedIn post “Happy fathers day ??”
Share company posts:
This may help highlight your expertise, as it may be a post you were a part of and you can always work smart and use the content of your marketing team on your personal profiles ?? This is usually appreciated by marketing teams and is not a must do but also shows that you back what you do.
Participate in groups:
LinkedIn has groups which you can join and partake in. You can either post content, comment, vote on polls etc. This helps boost your personal brand and allows you to share your knowledge and gain some along the way, as a LinkedIn group is generally respected and has great professional value.
Handy Tip for when adding contacts:
It’s best to add a note, eg What connects you, what caught your interest, where you met. As it is beneficial to have people in the same field of work as you as you're able to keep up with trends and topics that interest you. With that being said do not limit this, as you may want to grow your knowledge in more topics.
What's all this for?
Examples of benchmark profiles:
Headline (bio) divided into sections with contact details, many confirmed skills & endorsements number of recommendations.Very active and has doubled down on Polish audience.
Pays special attention to the description of his Bio. Answering questions: How can I help you? Why me ? What now?
A great example of a clean looking Founder and CEO profile - Describes the company he created and provides a solid backing with a list of awards and skills.
Where accounts usually fall short:
Summary:
I hope this has helped kickstart or improve your profile, as these were points I always knew about but paid no attention to and have seen the benefit and improvement of focusing on and improving this.