As a team of experts who spend nearly 7 hours a day perusing LinkedIn, we’ve seen our fair share of profiles on the site. They range from the bland, to outright wacky and weird. Yet there are some elusive profiles that have us hovering for a few more seconds – sometimes, we’ll even spend a couple minutes scrolling through their page, or better yet, hit the follow button.
Recruiters only spend 6 seconds reading your CV. The same rule can be applied when optimising your LinkedIn profile. When your potential business partners or employers are deciding whether you are worth engaging with, first impressions are everything. In this day and age, your LinkedIn is your personal brand, and who you are, or who you appear to be, matters just as much as what you have to say.
At StraightIn, every one of our clients gets their profiles thoroughly vetted before we kick off their campaigns. But if you’re interested in the types of factors we focus on when we do so, read on to discover our three top tips for LinkedIn profile optimisation below…
Do: Build the foundation of your profile
You can’t build a great LinkedIn profile without focusing on the basics first. This includes your profile picture, profile headline, and about section:
Profile picture: Your profile picture is one of the first things people see, and you want to make sure people recognise you and know who they are talking to. The aim is to build trust and convey credibility, so choose a high-quality and professional headshot that is recent and looks like you.
Headline: When you publish content and send outreach for a LinkedIn campaign, your headline is the only thing that is visible aside from your name and photo. It is often what your prospects are using to decide whether your offering is relevant to them, so make sure it accurately reflects your professional identity and target audience in under 220 characters. Aside from your current role and company, mention your key value proposition and show off your milestones and achievements. Some great examples are:
- Chief Strategy Officer at XXX | Helping companies turn data into action and results | Strategy & Transformation
- Head of People and Culture at XXX | Employee engagement & experience | Top 50 Best Places to Work 2024
- Senior Sales Director | $1.2MM in B2B sales in 2024 | Specialising in Martech & SaaS
About: Crafting your about section on LinkedIn is your chance to give your connections a little more background about yourself, as well as draw them into your personal brand. Get creative and show off your skills, industry experience, and how you can help your audience.
Don’t be afraid to talk about your non-work-related passions as well! More often than not, these are what set you apart from others and encourage people to reach out with a common interest – one of our clients mentions her love for horse riding, which has kicked off a conversation more than a couple of times!
Don’t: be afraid to talk about your experience
Most of your daily profile visitors are either hiring managers or potential customers. Whichever is the case, your work experience shows credibility as well as competence for your next job or to excel in your business. Provide concise yet clear descriptions for roles relevant to your current work, with quantifiable achievements or tasks to demonstrate your value within the position.
Remember that the purpose of your work experience section is to showcase your contributions and your competence in the field, just like a resume would.
- Skills: The two most important aspects to keep in mind in choosing among a plethora of skills to add to your profile are relevance and specificity. Your skills can be endorsed and are primarily used in search engines to filter out candidates or partners. However, it is easy to go overboard or to give in to the temptation to add every skill that is vaguely relevant. Go with your strongest attributes and skills, and highlight these throughout your profile to reinforce them.
- Recommendations: Recommendations help to reinforce your credibility, as well as improve your visibility and searchability. Reach out to your current or previous clients to help vouch for your skills and achievements, or perhaps members of your team.
Do: build your network
Once the foundations have been built, it’s time to make genuine connections and expand your network on LinkedIn. A strong profile does no merit without its corresponding viewers. Building connections is spontaneous, it can be on a post that you stumbled upon on your feed or a potential client you just had a meeting with.
In most cases, when you’re sending messages to strangers to connect, make sure you are straight to the point and cut out the generic cliches in approaching them. In the LinkedIn world, people appreciate honesty and direct communication.
If sending connections isn’t increasing your visibility, it’s time for the next step. Your main feed will show posts from different people matched to your recommendations or likings. Spending 5 minutes a day liking and commenting on posts will help you form connections and warm up any potential leads!
In conclusion…set yourself up for success
Your LinkedIn profile is more than just a digital resume; it’s your online storefront. It’s where you showcase your skills, experience, and personal brand to the world. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a profile that stands out and attracts the right opportunities, whether it’s potential clients, partners, employers, or more.
Remember, a great LinkedIn profile is an ongoing process.
As your career evolves, so should your profile. Keep it updated, engage with your network, and continue to experiment with different strategies.
Ready to attract your ideal clients and take your LinkedIn game to the next level?
Let the team at StraightIn help develop your perfect outreach campaign. Our services include Outreach Marketing, LinkedIn Advertising, Content Marketing, and Personal Branding.
Want to find out more? Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help you. Call 0161 518 4740, or emailgrow@straight-in.co.uk.
