It’s that time of year again when people get picture ready for Christmas family portraits, work holiday celebrations and New Year’s Eve parties. You should also be getting online ready to ring in the new year and start off 2018 by putting your best foot forward on LinkedIn.
In order to be social ready for all those new prospects and customers that you will be contacting in 2018, here are my top 3 tips to get your LinkedIn profile in tip top shape.
Put your best face forward!
Your profile picture is your first handshake, your first eye contact or smile, indeed your first impression online. LinkedIn reports that profiles with pictures get 21 times more views. Why is a view important? A profile view means someone found you interesting enough to click through to your profile and that is what you want. This next step is the equivalent of someone accepting your business card and taking the time to hear you out. To get this result, you’ll have to work on your headline which is tip #2.
But, back to the picture. If you do not have a picture, easy, get one taken or upload one to your profile. Make sure it is professional looking. After all, LinkedIn is a professional network, so post a picture of what you would look like if you were going to an event or a customer meeting. Avoid blurry or colored backgrounds and be alone in your picture. By this I mean, avoid cropping an existing picture and having someone else’s arm in your profile. If you haven’t updated your picture in a while, take a hard look and determine if you still look like yourself. You want to be authentic and not give a fake or biased impression from the start. If you need an update, then get a new picture taken and upload it to your profile. A profile picture should be updated every 5 years, at the minimum. If you would like to know more about all the small details that make a profile picture great, you can read more here from Pillar Research.
What you represent in one line!
Your headline is the one-liner that comes right below your profile picture and is always visible. Every time you post, engage with a post or share a link, your picture, name and headline will be what people see. Usually, you will see the title of a person or the company they work at appear in this one-liner but instead, use this opportunity to tell people what you are about and why they should contact you. I’ve seen a trend over the past few years of people calling themselves a guru or master of something, or stating their intention to help their customers and change their lives for the better. Remember to keep it simple! In one line, tell your future customer why you are the right partner for their business and what makes you so different from the competition. You can add your title, if relevant but simplify it to the important keywords. Finally, use action to explain your value proposition and make it clear why people should contact you. This headline should be captivating and interesting enough that people will want to click on your picture to get to your profile and learn more about your product or services.
Your pitch and a little about yourself!
Once you have made that first impression and got people to your LinkedIn profile, this is where you can give them your pitch. The summary is located right below your picture and headline, once people land on your profile. You will notice that only a few lines are visible and people can click to read more. You can edit this part by clicking on the small pencil in the top right corner of your profile, next to your picture and scrolling to the bottom of the editing window.
Very important to start with yourself. It is your LinkedIn profile after all and, even though we are going digital, people still buy from people. Start with 1-2 lines about yourself and what makes you passionate about what you do. Use the following questions to help you build your summary:
- Why did you chose the industry you are in
- What got your started
- Why do you like what you do
- What are you passionate about
Next, talk about your company, products and services. Make sure you include the right keywords for your industry and segment. Also, decompose your solution, are there other words that people would use to find your product or service? What are the business pains that your solution answers? Think in terms of what a customer would look for and include those keywords in your summary when talking about your offering.
Add a call to action at the end to tell your customers why they should contact you and how. The text in the summary is not hyperlinked, but you can write out your website or email, in order to make it easier for your customer to copy and paste in a new web window or email.
Finally, think of some media that you can add to complement your summary. Either a video, ebook, recent news clipping or your latest campaign can be uploaded to your summary to give some visual information to your prospect or customer.
Remember to take some time during the holidays to rest up and energized for the new year, update your profile and start off strong in 2018! The PROSAR team can help you achieve social success and reach your goals, just contact us here!