Your LinkedIn profile should have the power to communicate your points of difference in the professional world better than a traditional resume or networking event.
In a nutshell, it is a glimpse of who you are, why you are awesome, what you can bring to the team, how your potential clients will benefit from your service and your growth.
Does your profile do justice to your professional prowess? Are you sure?
Whether you think it is perfect or lacking, read on to find out what you might be doing wrong or maybe not doing at all:
LinkedIn blunder: Bad photos
It’s 2020 and if you still have blurry and low-quality profile pictures, logos or background images, you are turning away every visitor and every opportunity of growth.
None, few or inadequate recommendations
How valuable do you consider the last section on your resume to be – “references available upon request”?
Credibility is an important factor not only before you make an online purchase. Whether it is a recruiter or a potential connection checking out your profile, the recommendations section has the power to boost your chances!
Pro Tip: Request, rather than demand.
It’s natural to feel shy when you have to message someone and ask them for a recommendation. But what we tend to forget is everyone on LinkedIn has similar goals – to grow their network, get more profile views, likes and shares and stand out as an industry leader.
As long as you are polite, not expecting anyone to lie, and promise to return the favour – chances are you will get all the recs you want.
3 ways you too can get more recommendations:
1. Go beyond your family and friends – Think long and hard about who in your list of connections, industry or network could boost your value. What about a coworker, your manager, clients, and your mentor? Why don’t you drop an email and see if they would be willing to endorse you.
2. Help them help you – We are all busy and caught up in the race. Speed up the process by sharing a few questions, framework or pointers that they could get started with. For instance – How did I impact you when we worked together? What value do you think I bring to the table?
3. You can write one first – It’s as easy as it sounds! LinkedIn is a two-way street. Instead of waiting for someone to write one for you first, you could wow them with your gesture.
What is the worst that could happen? They could say no, or forget to endorse you. So, ask someone else.
The curious case of content
If you do not share content on LinkedIn, you are invisible.
If you share too much, you are a spammer.
If you do not share quality content, you are redundant.
It’s confusing, isn’t it? You should do these things right and I’ll say it again – quality and consistency matters.
These are some of the mistakes you should avoid:
– Don’t talk about yourself all the time, address things that are happening around you and in the world.
– Heavy and verbose content does not sell. As always, keep it simple and short!
– If you think you can get more engagement if you tag everyone you are following in every other post – you can’t.
– Too many or random hashtags will kill your content. Use them wisely; three is a good number.
Share your valuable and high-quality content that your network will like and be interested in hearing more of, as Status Posts, Native Video and Articles.
Pro Tip: LinkedIn suggests that you should post at least 20 times in a month.
As it is the case with content anywhere, find that thin line between under and over sharing.
Typos
Please, for the love of God, check, then check again for typos.
Everyone you know is using LinkedIn to their advantage, and if you are lagging behind or missing out on the magic simply because you slacked off at proofreading – your loss.
Imagine this – a recruiter browsing through your profile finds your profile interesting, but spots tens of silly typos. Typos just aren’t appealing and erodes your credibility.
Tip: You can use tools like Grammarly, to find those sneaky mistakes that you might otherwise skip over. Or have a friend help you proofread important content.
Headlines
One of the critical features like background images that makes LinkedIn amazing is the headlines.
With a 120-character limit, a lot could go right or wrong with your headline.
And a mistake that all too many users make is simply adding their most recent or current job title and then waiting for their life-changing moment. Sure enough, for many first time users, it’s hard to think past that.
What you need to know is that you have this golden opportunity to brand yourself on LinkedIn’s headline section.
An attractive and well-written headline with a good mix of keywords means that new connections, potential leads and recruiters can easily find you and in a matter of seconds, understand who you are.
Take a look at my headline, if you are still confused:
Adam Houlahan:
LinkedIn Expert | Best Selling Author | International Keynote Speaker | LinkedIn solutions delivered globally via remote technologies
I hope these pointers will help you draft a memorable and snappy headline:
Does your headline communicate directly to your target group?
Does it offer any benefit to your reader rather than just spelling out what you do?
Does it have the power to make your readers curious, take action and know more about you?
Does it have the right keywords to help you stand out in the searches of recruiters and potential clients?
Don’t ever make these mistakes:
Add the position or role you are seeking to get in the future
Lie and misrepresent yourself
Say you are “unemployed”
I encourage you to work on these small but impactful aspects of your LinkedIn profile to get back out there and take advantage of the opportunities you deserve.
What are some of the mistakes you have made in the past? Share your stories with us over on LinkedIn.
P.S. Here are 5 ways we can help you accelerate your Lead Generation results:
1. Grab our free 4-Week LinkedIn Profile Optimisation Course
It’s the road map to positioning your profile in the top 5% of the 700 million LinkedIn users
currently active – Click Here
2. Join our FREE LinkedIn Group and connect with entrepreneurs who are scaling too
It’s our Facebook community where smart entrepreneurs learn to get more leads and smart
ways to scale using LinkedIn — Click Here
3. Register for our FREE LinkedIn update webinar
Every 12-Weeks you can join us for a free update on all the latest news, ninja tips and
outline of new features released by LinkedIn – Click Here
4. Join our LinkedIn Inner Circle Solo Program on our Free Trial
Click Here for more details
5. Work with our team privately
If you’d like to work directly with us to create new marketing opportunities send us a quick message Click here … tell us a little about your business and we’ll organise a time for a deeper chat