How are you looking on LinkedIn?

It matters. Whether you’re looking for clients, a new job, or just hoping to be perceived as competent, LinkedIn matters.

Get this. 94% of recruiters use social media in their recruiting process (source). Yep, that means that they Google your name and scope your LinkedIn profile. Not only are they looking online, but they’re getting better leads through social media sources. All this social media research is getting results. 89% of recruiters have hired someone through LinkedIn.

Don’t care what recruiters think? Understood, but what about your openness to a new position? If your company folds or stalls, what next? About half of the workforce (51%) is either open to or actively seeking their next position, and a full 71% are “on the job market” which means that they are unemployed or open to new opportunities.

So maybe you’re not one of those maybe-kind-of-sort-of-seekers-or-at-least-open-to-it. But do you build business relationships? Are new customers and clients a good thing? Do you care how people perceive you? Do you want respect from your business actions and behavior?

Okay then. LinkedIn is still very important.

Let’s listen to a career advisor, quoted in Forbes:

If someone tells me I should talk to (x person), the first thing I’m going to do is look them up on LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn, I can quickly figure out whether someone is worth speaking to, which saves me a lot of time.

Do you have the kind of wispy LinkedIn profile that makes people click off in a second or two, or do you have the elements that keep eyeballs on the page longer?

If you want to make your LinkedIn profile matter, this is your blueprint.

Defining Questions

Let’s start off with the warm-and-fuzzy stuff. Before you start hammering out your skills and biz jargon on LinkedIn, take a big step back and look at LinkedIn through the lens of a life coach.

Who do you want to be?

The question isn’t who does your boss want you to be? or who do your friends want you to be? The question is who do you want to be?

Keep in mind your LinkedIn profile is about shaping your identity, not just listing your job history. Many people think about LinkedIn as an electronic resume. It’s not that at all.

Your LinkedIn profile answers the question who is this person? with all the nuance, texture, and features that you want.

What do you want to do?

Your identity is not your occupation. Nonetheless, as a professional networking site, your LinkedIn account should point to what you do.

As you develop your profile, consider that you want to do might differ from what you have already done. If the past predicts the future, then your work history will indicate what you can do in the future.

If you are shifting, growing, or transitioning your career, decide how your job history can build your future direction. Give special attention to the positions or accomplishments that show how you can thrive in your new direction.

Your LinkedIn profile can tell others what you’re good at. If you want to do a certain thing, make your profile tell that story.

Ready for the blueprint?

The Nine Must-Haves

I’ve listed these must-haves in order of importance. My process in selecting the must-haves involved an analysis of public LinkedIn metrics, user interface analysis, and some eye tracking studies.

If you can only afford a few minutes of LinkedIn optimization at a time, then use this list to make your efforts meaningful. I also recommend checking out my infographic which provides a visual outlay of LinkedIn profile optimization.

1. Your Profile Photo

If your LinkedIn photo lacks a photo, it is 11 times more likely to be ignored. No photo. No game.

Eye tracking studies show that users spend 19% of their time looking at a LinkedIn profile picture. It’s the first thing that they look at when they encounter a profile

Get yourself set up with a professional headshot. Get it touched up a tad. You’re ready to rock.

2.  Your Connections

The number of connections is a form of currency on LinkedIn. If you have a higher number of connections, you are perceived as better networked and therefore more influential.

The upper limit of connections that LinkedIn lists is 500+. I strongly recommend that you get at least 500 connections.

3.  Your Headline

The headline is the line of text that appears below your name. You can use this to describe your sizzling hot skill or superpower.

I suggest that you also use this section as a call to action. I use my headline to describe my accomplishments, and I ask people to join my group.

4. Your Industry

LinkedIn provides a pre-populated list of industries to choose from. If you’re not entirely clear on what industry you should select, then look at the LinkedIn profiles of the professionals that you most align with and want to emulate. If you want to be in a different industry, then select that industry on your profile.

5. Your Position

Right up there with your name and headline is the importance of your current position. People want to know what you’re doing right now. Use this line to create an action-focused and goal-oriented headline that showcases your top skills. You are not required to use your actual job title, but doing so is customary. Make sure you’re using a title that accurately describes your true position.

6. Your Recommendations

Recommendations are important, but they’re also the toughest to get. You can do the other things yourself — list your skills, put up a photo, etc. But you have to rely on the generosity of others in order to get a recommendation.

How do you get endorsements? Just ask. The worst thing that can happen is a “no.”

7.  Your Skills

Skills are the LinkedIn equivalent of an elevator speech. If an elevator speech ever garnered the attention of a client or recruiter, then the skills section does this even more so.

According to LinkedIn’s own data, “members who have skills on their profile receive an average of 13x more profile views than those who don’t.”

You can list as many skills as you want. I suggest that you feature at least eight. When people look at your profile, your skills will be matched up with theirs in order to rank similarity.

Make sure that the skills you list truly reflect what you’re good at. You don’t just want to list a bunch of random skills. You want people to recognize you and endorse you for those skills.

8.  Your Activity

LinkedIn isn’t a leave-it-and-done affair. You have to stay active in order to stay visible and competent. LinkedIn is a social network, remember, not just an online resume. The interactivity and dynamic nature of LinkedIn is both a challenge to keep up with and an opportunity to engage.

By staying active, you’ll gain a leg up. While some social networks report their monthly or daily active users, LinkedIn doesn’t have the same metric. As with any social network, there are always more accounts than there are active members. The more active you are, the more visibility you’ll get.

9. Your Summary

If someone is interested in finding out more about you, they will examine your summary. A well-written summary is essential for explaining yourself. A set of facts, skills, headline, or photo can only tell so much. In your summary, you can explain where you’re at, what you’re doing, and how it impacts your direction and focus.

Conclusion

These nine elements are only the start, but they are absolutely, undeniably, integrally, essentially, importantly crucial to your LinkedIn success.

From there, you can put icing on the cake — posts, content, visual features, groups, accomplishments, experiences, projects, cases, and all the rest.  

Just like you would optimize your business or your website, optimize your LinkedIn profile. It’s your ticket to future jobs, future success, future clients, and the future you.  

What is your strategy for creating a killer LinkedIn profile?