Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
Taking the time to optimize your LinkedIn profile is key to your success on the platform. A full LinkedIn makeover poses the following benefits:
- A professional touch:
Recruiters, leads, business connections, and friends are going to click on your profile to learn more about who you are and your experiences. Taking the time to go above and beyond rather than settling for a basic LinkedIn profile will showcase you as hard-working and willing to go above and beyond by accurately reflect your full set of credentials and qualifications. Add your current and previous job experiences, college degree(s) and course work, awards you’ve received, volunteering experiences, etc.
- Increased clicks to your profile
Whether you want to promote your account for recruiters or prospective leads, optimizing your account with the right LinkedIn keywords will increase organic exposure to your profile.
- Improved odds of landing a dream role
Just as a recruiter reviews your resume, the majority of recruiters and interviewers will review your LinkedIn profile too. And while a resume is limited to just a single page, the sky’s the limit with showcasing your knowledge on LinkedIn. What better way to show your potential employer that you’re qualified and go above and beyond?
In this helpful guide, you’ll come to learn the full benefits of showcasing your professionalism on LinkedIn through networking. To help, we spoke with real-life LinkedIn users to highlight the benefits that have come with using the business-friendly social media platform.
How to Optimize Your Profile:
Here are a few quick tips for giving your LinkedIn profile a makeover:
- Add relevant keywords related to your job that ensure you appear on relevant search results and showcase your industry expertise.
- Highlight all of your credentials, including
- Current job and responsibilities
- Past experiences and the things you learned at each
- College degree(s), GPA, coursework
- Online courses and certifications
- Awards
- Volunteering experience
- Skills
Explore the LinkedIn Profile Makeover Service to get your profile optimized by a pro.
The LinkedIn Ghostwriter uses best practices to optimize your LinkedIn profile for you attuned to your goals and using industry-specific SEO keywords.
Always Add Connections As Soon As You Meet
A good way to build a rapport and grow your business network is to connect with colleagues, clients, individuals at a networking event, etc. is to connect with them on LinkedIn immediately after meeting them in-person or virtually.
You never know when knowing a particular connection will pay off. So make sure to search for their name and throw a connection request their way quickly.
“I recently landed a 7-figure contract with a Fortune 500 company just by connecting with a department-head and shooting him a message. I’m always adding people at companies I find interesting and would like to work with,” shared tech salesman Christopher Johnson.
Pro Tip: Even if you so much as come across a business you respect or are interested in working at, look up their company profile and send connection requests alongside a note to people from your respective department to get on the company’s radar.
Add Existing Connections
In addition to connecting with new business associates you meet, you’ll want to leverage your existing connections too. Take the time to look through your email, contacts list, etc. and add your existing connections, especially if you have less than 500 connections (everyone likes to see 500+ connections on your LinkedIn profile!)
“I recently switched companies but wanted to remain in contact with my colleagues at my previous employer. Adding my former coworkers and clients on LinkedIn has allowed me to stay up to date with what they’re up to and occasionally reach out and check-in,” financial consultant Dylan Brescia shared.
Make Regular LinkedIn Posts
To stay top of mind with your ever-growing list of connections, creating LinkedIn posts on a regular basis is a great way to showcase your expertise and stimulate conversation with your audience.
You’ll be seen as an authoritative thought-leader and get engagement via profile views, post comments, and drive clicks to your website from qualified leads.
Popular post types include:
- Interesting insights about your industry as a text-post
- Links to posts on your website blog
- Links to external resources highlighting trends and current events
- Imagery like informational sliders, infographics, and photographs
The LinkedIn Ghostwriter offers automated LinkedIn post writing and scheduling for you. Share your goals with a writing expert that will provide you with industry-specific expertise to stimulate conversation and close sales.
Comment on Industry-Leaders Posts
LinkedIn influencers almost certainly exist in your sector. Profiles with thousands (if not tens or hundreds of thousands) of followers have already reaped the fruits of their labor for optimizing their profile, adding new connections, and creating interesting and relevant industry content. Capitalize on their success by contributing with an insightful comment to expand on and add-to the takeaways they shared in a post.
Doing so will get your face directly in front of your target audience and build a rapport with a top industry leader.
The LinkedIn Ghostwriter offers automated comment marketing, too! Showcase your thought leadership and grow your network with customized posts from influencers of your choice.
Send Thoughtful Notes Alongside Connection Requests (and a Friendly Note Upon Request Acceptance)
Whether you’re adding a new connection or bridging an intro to someone you’d like to know, people are much likelier to accept a personalized connection request with a personalized note. Simply click “Add a Note” when sending your connection request and add a few friendly sentences about why you’re inclined to connect.
Upon an accepted connection request, you should always strive to reach out with a personalized introductory message. While some people automate the introduction DM process, those types of messages are easy to spot. Personalizing the message is much likelier to induce a response and build upon your connection for networking purposes.
“I always personalize my connection requests when reaching out to potential connections. That recent 7-figure sale started with a personalized connection message. In that particular instance, the man I wanted to connect with had just made a really insightful post, so I let him know in the connection request that I loved his recent post and want to continue to see his thought-leadership content. He accepted immediately,” Chris Johnson shared.
Join LinkedIn Groups
As explained by Linkedin, LinkedIn Groups are, “a place for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to share their insights and experiences, ask for guidance, and build valuable connections.”
You can search for LinkedIn groups from the LinkedIn search bar and request to join, or even create a sector / region based page of your own.
Pro Tip: If you’re creating interesting content about your industry anyway, re-sharing LinkedIn posts on relevant Groups is a wise way to showcase your expertise amongst people in your sector that will be interested in seeing it (and connecting with you!)
Making the Most of LinkedIn
Like anything else, you get what you put into the LinkedIn platform. If you’re committed to meeting new people and putting out interesting content that resonates with people in your sector, you can find a job, close sales, and / or establish relationships with leaders in your industry.
If you want to take advantage of the platform but don’t have the time to optimize your profile and write LinkedIn posts, automate these processes by getting started with the LinkedIn Ghostwriter today.
Sources:
- https://searchengineland.com/seo-guide-to-optimizing-your-linkedin-profile-for-more-connections-better-leads-315882
- https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin
- https://blog.linkedin.com/2020/may/june/12/four-tips-to-network-on-linkedin
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-add-note-connection-request-linkedin-scott-aaron-/?trk=pulse-article_more-articles_related-content-card=en