Choose the appropriate scenario:
What’s going to capture the interest of the hiring manager or decision-maker? Forget about the adage that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Hiring managers and business prospects alike are human beings who respond to certain stimuli that communicate a value proposition. Even the color you chose for your profile image can make a difference.
Knowing what they respond to and incorporating it into the overall look of your LinkedIn profile can make the difference between that next step in your career or the next sale for your company. Here’s what you need to know.
Each social media platform shares a subset of unpublished behavioral rules. When it comes to LinkedIn, members are highly sensitive to authenticity.
Members using the platform are totally turned off by an overdose of self-promotion. Being a professional space, it’s unlikely that they will tell you they’re mad at you for not observing the rules before they go away. They’ll just go away.
LinkedIn offers the most succinct explanation of the true value of your Company Page. The platform challenges companies to treat these profiles as a dynamic marketing tool instead of a static “About Us” page.
The key function of your Company page is to attract and interact with your audience. It’s a place to help you establish thought leadership and further build brand awareness. You’ll want to consider a few things as you set up or update your profile:
You could be looking for a new career opportunity. You might be exploring ways to grow your reputation as a subject matter expert or thought leader. Maybe you’re just seeking out others in your industry or profession to grow your professional network.
Whatever your intent, the first thing you have to do is demonstrate that you’re worth paying attention to. Few platforms offer this spotlighting capacity as well as LinkedIn.
Entrepreneur.com reports that 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn regularly, and more than 35 million LinkedIn members say they were hired by a person they connected with on the site.
Your LinkedIn profile is, more often than not, Google’s top return in a search based on your name. After all, the profile is all about you. But that’s what a resume is for. Move your LinkedIn profile to the next level and make it all about what you have to offer.
Start with your profile headline. This is where most people put their current job title, but you can do better than that. Make it a value proposition. Who do you help? What is their goal? How do you help them? Consider the attractiveness to prospective employers that a headline answering these questions offers.
Executive recruiter Biron Clark runs a popular website called CareerSidekick, which offers advice and resources on how to get noticed by top employers. Clark advises people to beef up your Skills section with the keywords that recruiters will use to search for people like you. LinkedIn lets you choose 50 skills. It’s the one place where you can jam keywords and not be accused of spamming.
LinkedIn reports that adding a professional profile photo gets an average of 14 times more views than other types of profile photos. Take advantage of the platform’s statistic-backed advice on what works best for a profile photo. It includes seemingly no-brainer tips like making sure it’s an image of yourself to making sure to smile because it makes you appear more likeable, competent, and influential.
Keep your profile current. Listing your current position can boost relevant connection requests by a factor of five. The five top skills associated with your current position can increase the opportunity to be messaged by recruiters by up to 31 times.
“Engage!” Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard proclaimed this in practically every episode of the television series.
Take it to heart. Get going with the creation of content that captures the attention of those you want to engage.
What type of content works best on LinkedIn? After analyzing 3,000 posts, search marketer and Director of Strategy at Catalyst Paul Shapiro came up with 10 tips on what works best. Advice ranges on title length (between 40 and 49 characters) to image usage (include eight of them). Shapiro also found that headlines posing a question and video posts tend to perform less effectively on this platform.
Above all else, your goal is to engage – to start a conversation. “Stop using LinkedIn as a one-way street,” advises Search Engine Journal. “If there isn’t reciprocity,” Codeless founder Brad Smith writes, “you can’t expect continued engagement.”
ContentBacon is ready to take your profile to the next level. Find out more about our LinkedIn Makeover.