Though LinkedIn started as the social media platform for recruiters, it has today evolved into a hyperactive site for connecting with people. Some define LinkedIn – and appropriately too – as “Facebook for white-collar professionals.”
It is therefore worth spending time to make your LinkedIn profile shine.
Be clear in your mind about the objective of your LinkedIn Profile. Decide on the type of people you most wish to connect with. Try to highlight your personal attributes that you think your prospective clients will value.
As a first step, you will have to customize your contact information. You will observe that the
LinkedIn drop-down menu offers five different options – company website, personal website, blog, RSS feed, portfolio, and other. Select “other” as that would enable you to specifically tailor the name of each resource.
LinkedIn provides you with the ability to download or link to any content – be they blogs, articles, pictures video, etc. Furthermore, LinkedIn allows you two lines for commentary on each piece of content. It is up to you take advantage of these facilities.
Social media is intended to be personal. You are advised not to use the LinkedIn template copy in the let’s-connect invitation. You must, as far as possible, personalize your invitation.
Use the summary to make your LinkedIn profile stand out and shine.
Your profile picture as also your resume must be continually updated. The purpose of your LinkedIn summary is to get your profile to be unique, lure connections, and enhance search results. In short, your summary is your mission statement and let it speak for itself.
Utilize the summary section to speak about your career accomplishments, your varied experience and also highlight keywords to show up in search results. Never leave the summary section blank.
The summary section provides ample space to write up to a whopping 2,000 words. Use the space imaginatively to capture potential business through LinkedIn’s search results.
When crafting your LinkedIn summary, it is ideal to narrate a story – write in an engrossing way that escorts readers along your career path. Provide headers, short paragraphs and bullet points to make the summary reader-friendly.
You can provide videos of all your special achievements. It is also preferable to include a call-to-action with your contact information to enable people to easily contact you.