5 Tips to Sharpen Your LinkedIn Presence
Just getting started? Make sure these steps are done!
My daughter, Kristin, is an Ohio University student just getting started on her LinkedIn profile. As I help her through this journey (understanding, as well as process), I thought I would list my top 5 tips to her in setting up your profile.
Thanks to Bill Tomoff for your input and assistance!
1 — Download LinkedIn’s Profile Checklist (for College students)
It’s a great beginner guide — use it!
2— Must have a Profile photo!
“Make sure your LinkedIn profile photo shows you the way you want to be seen. It doesn’t need to be a professional portrait, but it does need to show your face clearly and present you as professionally as possible.
Whatever you do, don’t leave your profile without a photo!” — Liz Ryan, Forbes, “Ten Things Every Job-Seeker Should Be Doing On LinkedIn”
Make sure you have one! I see so many that don’t — and it leaves an impression of laziness.
3 — Customize Your LinkedIn Profile URL
“ When you created your LinkedIn profile, it had some ugly combination of letters, numbers, and backslashes that had no value for your personal branding. You don’t still have this, right?” — Larry Kim, Medium, “Want to Effectively Raise Your Linkedin Profile? Follow These Tips!”
This will take 30 seconds, and it makes a professional statement — I pay attention to details!
Here’s where you change your Profile URL:
- Go to your profile page, select “Edit your public profile”.
- Click on the “pencil” to Edit public profile URL.
- Create your custom URL (you may have to be creative if you have a common name!) and click Save.
4 — Use Your Headline!
Don’t rely on a standard LinkedIn headline (job title and company)!
“Professional Headline: The job of any headline is to entice people to click. At minimum, you can use your headline to highlight your current position and company…but you can and should go further. Highlight your expertise (e.g., “Content Marketing Strategist and Copywriter”) or awards, or showcase skills you want to turn up in searches (e.g., “Speaker, Trainer, Author, Consultant, Evangelist”). Tell everyone on LinkedIn who you are, what you do, and why you’re someone they need to connect with.” — Larry Kim, Medium, “Want to Effectively Raise Your Linkedin Profile? Follow These Tips!”
Check out this article on 10 Examples of Highly Impactful LinkedIn Profiles if you need ideas (I know I do…).
5 — Join Groups and Be Active!
Joining LinkedIn groups is easy, being active is harder! Just. Do. It.
Get engaged, add input when it’s relevant and be consistent. LinkedIn groups are a great way to meet professionals with interests similar to yours.
“It’s still important to join and be active in groups. Not only will this look good for potential employers or clients searching for you but will actually mean your profile is 5 times more likely to be viewed.” — linkhumans.com, 10 Tips for the Perfect LinkedIn Profile
Those are my top 5 LinkedIn tips — nail these 5 and you’re off to a great start! Then we step it up to the next level!
Good luck!
Given that I limited my list to 5 items, are there any you would change? Let me know in the comments!
Extra
Here is a presentation about LinkedIn geared specifically to college students. Flip through it…your journey of using LinkedIn is just getting started!
