Social media has proven to be the most effective market place and channels of communication for businesses across all industries. Businesses has therefore taken to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and twitter to reach their customers.
As one of the popularly used platform, LinkedIn is famous for connecting professionals all over the world. Many people associate it with finding new positions and advancing one’s career, but LinkedIn can also be a valuable space for expanding the network for many types of businesses.
Professional freelancers, digital creatives, recently established companies, and even performing artists now uses LinkedIn to promote their services to a different audience than is available on other social networks. The first step to effectively using your LinkedIn is creating a profile, not just a profile page but a detailed, marketing profile. Because Profile is a key component for your potential contacts while advancing your career or growing your business.
How to Create the Best LinkedIn Profile.
The LinkedIn profile page is the foundation for your personal branding. And we regularly add features to increase its capabilities as a personal marketing platform and give you new ways to signal your skills and motivations. Hence, you need to create an effective profile page. Here are best LinkedIn profile tips.
Choose the right profile picture for LinkedIn.
The first thing people will notice about your profile s your picture, therefore you need to use a professional profile picture, attract the right set of people. If you don’t know what best to wear, take a look around at what the people in your target company, industry sector, or business level are wearing. “A photo can go a long way to convey passion, energy, charisma, empathy, and other soft skills that are hard to write about.”
Make sure you use a headshot image that is clear and professional. The ideal image size is 400 x 400 pixels and maximum file size of 10MB.
Create an impactful Profile Headline.
This is the perfect place to tell people who you are and what you do – within 120 characters. Keep your headline catchy and include the industry you’re in as well as any important keywords to make it easier for people to find you.
According to LinkedIn, there’s no rule that says the description at the top of your profile page has to be just a job title. Use the headline field to say a bit more about how you see your role, why you do what you do, and what makes you tick. The more specific you can be about what sets you apart from the competition, the better.
Write an interesting summary
Your LinkedIn summary gives you the opportunity to tell your story. Your summary can be a longer form of your headline; here you have 2,000 characters to work with so you can dive in a little deeper. You don’t need to use words alone though – LinkedIn now lets you add documents, photos, links, videos, and presentations. Be creative and use these options to help your profile stand out and get noticed. Try to bring to life why those skills matter – and the difference they can make to the people you work with, because, your summary is your most personal piece of content marketing – and it’s worth the effort.
Showcase your experiences.
Unlike a CV, you don’t need to stick to just 2 pages of A4 paper when telling people about your experiences and expertise. However, it’s still important to be clear and concise. Consider using bullet points to break text up, don’t forget to include keywords, and double-check for any spelling or grammatical errors. Note that a long list of skills that are not really core to who you are and what you do, can start to feel unwieldy. Take time for a spring clean of your skills to list every now and then.
Showcase your Developed Skills & Endorsements.
Including specific skills on your LinkedIn profile is a great way to showcase your abilities to other members, such as your peers, colleagues, managers, and even recruiters. You can add a maximum of 50 skills to your profile. They’re a simple and effective way of building your professional brand and engaging your network.
Once you’ve added a skill to your profile, your skills can be validated by 1st-degree connections to reinforce their weighting. These are called skill endorsements, which are different than recommendations. When a connection endorses your skills, it contributes to the strength of your profile and increases the likelihood that you’ll be discovered for opportunities related to the skills you possess.
Endorsing your connections’ skills is a way to recognize any professional abilities that you’ve seen them demonstrate. You may be asked to provide feedback on skills and endorsements. Endorsing your colleagues can also help you to maintain strong connections with the people in your network. However, if you change your mind about a skill endorsement that you’ve given, you can remove it.
Get Recommendations from Customers, Peers & Colleagues.
After endorsement, you need to get recommendations. You can ask for recommendations from people that you’ve developed a good working relationship in the past. When you edit your profile, there is a link to click that says Ask for Recommendations. Click on it. You choose what you’d like to be recommended for and can choose a list of people from your connections. Then, send it out, and hope you get some great feedback. Before you request recommendations take the time to think about who you would most value a recommendation from and personalize your request.
Luckily, the platform now sends you recommendations before they go public, and you can decide to add them to your profile, dismiss them, or simply allow them to languish in their pending status. You can also manage recommendations that are already on your profile by clicking the “Edit” icon on that section and toggling to “Show” or “Hide” each one.
Start networking and building relationships.
LinkedIn Groups are an incredible resource and they can do wonders for your job search and networking. By joining groups relevant to your profession or industry, you’ll show that you’re engaged in your field. Share posts with your latest insights, write interesting blogs, or a new development in your career or job. You can also check out what other people are posting, engage them with thoughtful comments, and like.
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