14 steps to a better LinkedIn profile
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This document provides 14 steps to improve your LinkedIn profile and stand out. It recommends including a professional profile photo, customizing your public profile URL, filling out your experience and education sections with concrete accomplishments and results, gaining recommendations from past colleagues and clients, following interesting people and companies in your industry, and regularly interacting with your connections on LinkedIn to build your professional network. The overall message is that an optimized LinkedIn profile can help showcase your unique talents and expertise to prospective employers or business partners.
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14 steps to a better LinkedIn profile
- 1. How to showcase your talent on LINKEDIN and stand out in the crowd
- 2. Why LinkedIn? The worlds 3. most popular social media site. Aimed for professionals 332 million users in 200 countries
- 3. YOU! Use LinkedIn to stage your uniqueness. Show the world how you stand out Nobody is like Your skillset and interests are distinctive. You are special and different.
- 4. SALES? Your profile will be checked! Business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until 57 % of the purchase process is complete. Do you work in
- 5. SPECIALIST? Demonstrate that you know what you are doing Are you a Your expertise will be questioned. Can you deliver?
- 6. It is a living and adapting organism. Prove that you are keeping up to the pace It’s a social platform Keep your profile alive and don’t just update it when you are looking for a new job.
- 7. YOU! You wouldn’t want that, right? Otherwise this could be
- 8. 14 To help you rise above the clouds! steps to a better LINKEDIN profile one bonus pro tip+
- 9. Get the basics correct EASY Lets start off
- 10. 1. 3. 2. 5. 4. The first five steps
- 11. Profile picture1. If you have a picture, it is 11x more likely that some one will check out your profile. Keep it professional and recognisable. NO holiday shots, sporting pictures, duck face selfies or cleavage captures. If it’s flattering, good for you!
- 12. Title line 2. It doesn’t have to be your latest position. It can be about your skills, aspirations, current focus areas etc. If you are a sales professional you can add something about your product portfolio. But nothing beats being a CEO!
- 13. Background picture 3. Insert a background picture to add some colour, personality and interest to your profile. Show how you stand out in a crowd. My background image is consistent with my blog and Twitter account for a coherent experience. The same no-no’s as with the profile picture
- 14. Vanity url4. When you sign-up for LinkedIn, everyone receives a long fugly personal url. Change it for something easy to remember. Like your name! It’s fine to be vain once in a while
- 15. Contact info 5. Keep your contact info updated. Add things you want to show. You never know who will call! I’ve got my primary email, phone number, blog, Twitter account and company website. There might be a keynote speech in the horizon!
- 16. The next four steps deepen your persona Now it is time to test your COMMITMENT
- 17. Summary6. Open up and tell the cosmos about yourself. Be creative and describe the big picture. That’s not all folks… Avoid just repeating your experience, there is more to you than just your job positions. Tell what makes you tick, what you’re inspired of, what interests you, where you are heading and how you plan to get there.
- 18. Summary6. If you want to use your profile as a selling tool, add something about your solution. But keep the focus on you and how you have the skills to solve your customer’s problems. Promote created content! Add blog posts, SlideShares, compelling customer projects etc. Add a list of specialties or expertise to the end. If you are a boss in a niche, you will be found when needed.
- 19. Experience7. Be interesting and concise Explain what you do and what you have worked on. Focus on the results: What have you accomplished? How did you achieve it? What did you learn? What skills improved?
- 20. Experience7. You can also portrait you whole work history: The latest couple of positions are the most interesting ones. Emphasise them. If you want to elaborate on other positions, be my guest. You can decide, if you want to keep your profile relevant to your current ambitions and keep only your most substantial history visible.
- 21. Experience7. Tell your own story! I have added a little bit of info on everything I have done – starting with being a slaughterhouse cleaner. I have done this, because in my line of work, I am a storyteller. My LinkedIn profile is my personal story on how I became a marketer.
- 22. Honours & Awards8. You are truly original Have you earned anything worth mentioning? This is brag time, and forget the humble. The honours may vary from professional to private, but they all portrait a special part of your life.
- 23. Education & Courses9. Don’t underestimate the importance of studying Your education is the backbone of your professionalism. Even if it is out-dated, it shows that you have the ability to FINISH a long-term commitment and you have the desire to learn. If you have completed interesting and relevant courses, add them too. They can be certificates, education that doesn’t end up in a degree etc.
- 24. The last five steps are all about people Remember, LinkedIn is SOCIAL
- 25. Skills & Endorsements10. Give some and you’ll get some! This is one of the social aspects of LinkedIn. You can add skills to your profile and your contacts can endorse you, if they consider you to be an expert in this field. You can organise them and highlight the skills that you think are the most important.
- 26. Recommendations11. Reciprocity works – Give and thy shall receive. People really read recommendations! Try to get some to validate your competence. Take a leap of faith and ask for a recommendation! It can be from a boss, colleague, employee, contractor or business partner. The only criterion is that it is work related. Your spouse doesn’t count! Everyone gives a different aspect of your know-how, so diversity is richness.
- 27. Following12. If you know what is happening, you are able to influence Follow interesting people and companies. You can gain valuable knowledge and industry insights. At the same time you can profile yourself as a curious expert with a will to learn. You can track companies and receive updates from them. They can be competitors, customers or otherwise ground-breaking thought leaders.
- 28. Network13. “Your network is your net worth” – Porter Gale Add colleagues, friends, business partners, clients – everyone you know or you have done business with. LinkedIn is a low barrier social network – people will accept your request. If you connect with prospects and leads, you have a better probability of closing the deal. People do business with people. If they know you, and they like you, they will do business with you.
- 29. Socialise14. “Active participation on LinkedIn is the best way to say, 'Look at me!' without saying 'Look at me!” LinkedIn is a social network, so it is highly recommended that you are social too. If you see something interesting, share it! If you have trouble finding something relevant to share, check your home page. Your network can help you out with this. At the same time, you can give a few likes and learn something new. LinkedIn has a built in blogging platform. You can use it to show that you have something to say about your work and industry.
- 30. A bonus tip, before you start your journey One for the ROAD
- 31. Before you start avidly updating your profile, turn the “Do not notify“ button to no. You don’t want to bother people with every little detail. Save it for the big moments when you want people to notice! You’ll find it on your Edit profile page
- 32. Now go, and plunge in Hit me with a tweet: @karlfiltness QUESTIONS?