If your LinkedIn profile is not giving you the desired results, perhaps the first thing is to take a step back and redefine your goals. Ask this question “How to Improve LinkedIn Profile”?
I work with my global clients and help them to build their presence by revamping and optimizing their LinkedIn profiles. According to my experience, very few LinkedIn users understand how LinkedIn Profile works.
Most LinkedIn profiles are not focusing on a defined goal, or goals. Lack of focus makes it impossible to implement simple strategies to generate views on a LinkedIn Profile.
I have seen people subscribing to LinkedIn premium in the hope to improve their visibility, however in absence of a focus and strategy, it does not work too!
I hear complaints about people not responding to connection requests and lack of engagement.
I tell my clients, “If you are not getting visibility, not being able expand your network on LinkedIn, there must be something wrong, which should be looked at carefully. Simply wasting money on LinkedIn premium will only add to your frustration.”
Starting point is to get your LinkedIn profile audited. You can also use a great auditing tool that takes a deep dive into your LinkedIn profile and provide you an overview of where improvement are needed. Click here is the link to explore.
Generally speaking, there are three types of LinkedIn users:
- Job seekers
- Companies or self-employed
- Influencers
They all have different needs, and should have their unique focus based on their needs. First two categories, i.e job seekers and self-employed and companies are the most unsure group. Most of them are unable to reap benefits of this great platform that has grown from 330 million professional users in 2015 to over 800 million users in 2020.
Influencers however know the art of networking, generating views and promoting themselves as a brand on LinkedIn.
I recommend following influencers with just one focus, “learning”. Try to learn from them about their content and engagement strategy. They make money because they have become brands people trust.
So in simple words, if you start focusing on your branding on LinkedIn, eventually you will be successful in building trust and creating the desired network.
But all that boils down to a strategy. Do you have one?
Do not worry if you are struggling with your LinkedIn profile. I will help you understand the basics. Moreover my 8 weeks course titled “63 Days LinkedIn Challenge” can help in building a great impact on your LinkedIn journey.
Start your LinkedIn journey by creating your goals. You can be as basic as 50 new connections in a month, slow and steady is a good thing. You will learn that as your network grows, your LinkedIn profile will start hitting more views.
But to build your network, there are certain things you need to implement.
Here are 6 things you need to do with just one question in mind, “how to improve LinkedIn profile?”
Content Strategy
Try to understand that fact that your LinkedIn profile is not your resume. It is a live thing, it needs feeding with great content. Sharing other’s content is okay, but you do not own that content. You are sharing information, but benefitting the creator of that content. Your content strategy has to be well crafted and targeted to the audience you want to attract.
Branding
While content plays a vital role in attracting views and improve social engagement, your visual branding has a significant role in encouraging visitors to your profile to return and follow you.
Ask, why would someone stay on my profile?
Brand with that question in mind. Branding aspects are often neglected. Create a great cover banner to show who you are, hook people with your cover banner.
Next in branding is your profile picture. Do not upload a low resolution selfie. It is your professional profile. Treat it well. A nice forward looking picture with a smile creates a lot of value.
Headline
Your headline is searchable. This is the most important feature that helps LinkedIn algorithm to index you on its search engine. You can easily confuse it by adding too much, too little or unclear stuff that is not searchable or does not speak about your profession.
Careful selection of headline keywords is tricky. Better keywords, better search results!
About
It is okay to cut and paste from your resume. But often resumes are not exciting. You can create tons of excitement for your profile visitor by writing a compelling About to talk about you, your passion, your success, your skills. And preferably in a more story like manner.
Experience
Again, the easiest way is to cut and paste from your resume. As I said earlier, your LinkedIn profile is not your resume. It has to be more exciting. Add content in about that would attract eyeballs. You can still add responsibilities, my suggestion is to write a short paragraphs to speak about achievements or your current role, followed by responsibilities.
Engaging with Influencers
There has to be a meaningful engagement. Personal Branding on LinkedIn cannot be done by a simple like, reaction or adding a short comment such as, a great post, nice, super etc. If you want to showcase yourself, be meaningful.
An articulated comment is the only way to engage with influencers as well as other potential connections. I often tell my clients to focus on smaller influencers, big influencers with over 100K following are too busy, and they do not have time to engage. They get automatic engagement on their content. Instead, follow and engage with influencers in your industry or profession that have under 50K following. They are hungry for attention, for them every articulated comment matter.
Having said that, I would still like to follow the thought leaders such as Simon Sinek or Bill Gates. You will get a lot of learning from their posts, they write short and thought provoking content. Engaging on their content is often exciting.
I started this post by asking How to Improve LinkedIn profile?
For some, it is challenging, but those who stay consistent, win the race!
Your LinkedIn Profile is the power to your career.
Say yes in comments if you want to WIN the Race too.
