LinkedIn is all about connection, but before we connect, we look for what we have in common. That’s the key to putting together a profile that jumpstarts conversation. Think of your profile as a way to promote your brand, fixed point on the web to promote your skills, your knowledge, your personality. Brands build trust by using an authentic voice and telling a credible story.
Don’t Cut and Paste your Resume
LinkedIn hooks you into a network, not just a human resources department. You wouldn’t handout your resume before introducing yourself, so don’t do it here. Instead, describe your experience and abilities as you would someone you just met. And write for the screen, in short blocks of copy with visual or text signposts.
Borrow from the Best Marketers
Light up your profile with your voice. Use specific adjectives, colourful verb and active construction. For example, “managed project team” not “responsible for project team management”. Be natural, don’t write in the third person unless that formality suits your brand. Your authentic voice is how you introduce yourself at a conference or client meeting.
Write a Personal Tagline
That line of text under your name is the first thing people see in your profile. It follows your name in search hit lists. It is your brand. You might need to distill your professional personality into a more eye-catching phrase, something that at a glance describes who you are.
Put your Elevator Pitch to Work
Go back to your conference introduction. That 30 second description, the essence of who you are and what you do, is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in the Summary section to engage readers. You’ve got 5-10 seconds to capture their attention. The more meaningful your summary is, the more time you’ll get from readers.
Point out your Skills
Think of the Specialties field as your personal search engine optimizer, a way to refine the ways people find and remember you. This searchable section is where that list of industry buzzwords from your resume, belongs. Also, particular abilities and interests, the personal values you bring to your professional performance, even a note of humour or passion.
Explain your Experience
Help the reader grasp the key point: briefly say what the company does and what you did or still do for them. Picture yourself at that conference, again. After you’ve introduced yourself, describe what you do and what your company does. Use clear, succinct phrases and break them into visually digestible chunks.
Distingush Yourself from the Crowd
Use the Additional Information section to round out your profile with a few key interest. Add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. Then edit the default “My Website” label to encourage clickthroughs. If you belong to a trade association or an interest group, help other members find you by naming those groups. If you’re an award winner, recognized by peers, customers or employers, add prestige without bragging by listing them here.
Ask and Answer Questions
Thoughtful questions and useful answers build your credibility. The best ones give people a reason to look at your profile. Make a point of answering questions in your field, to establish your expertise, raise your visibility and most important, to build social capital with people in your own network. You may need to answer a question of your own down the road.
Improve your Google Pagerank
Pat your own back, and others’. Get recommendations from colleagues, clients and employers who can speak credibly about your abilities or performance. Think quality, not quantity. Ask them to focus on a specific skill or personality trait that drives their opinion of you. Make meaningful comments when you recommend others. Mix it up – variety makers your recommendations feel authentic.
Build your Connections
Connections are one of the most important aspects of your brand. The company you keep reflects on the quality of your brand. When you scan a profile and see someone you know in common, that person’s stock with you soars. The value of that commonality works both ways. Identify connections that will add to your credibility and pursue those.
As you add connections and recommendation, your profile develops into a peer-reviewed picture of you, of your personal brand. Make sure it’s in focus, well composed and easy to find. Remember that permalink? Edit your public profile’s URL to reflect your name or tagline, and then put it to work. Add it to your blog, link it from your website, include it in your email signature. Then go start a conversation.
