LinkedIn Profile Optimization Strategies and Settings
What kind of message does your current LinkedIn profile make to potential clients?
Is the first impression others see what you want them to know about your brand?
Did you know your LinkedIn profile is almost as important as your website?
Do you know which sections of your profile are the most important?
LinkedIn is one of the top social media sources for professionals to connect with others. According to LinkedIn, they are the “largest professional network with more than 610 million users in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.” With that many users it can be difficult to get eyes on your brand. That’s why it’s important your profile is optimized for maximum exposure.
When people do a search for you or your brand, they often go to Google. Your LinkedIn profile will most likely show up in the first three positions of the search results. It’s often where those searching will click first to learn more about you.
If your profile is slim or hasn’t been updated since you first created it years ago, it may not be making the right first impression for prospective clients, customers, or potential partners. It’s imperative to have an updated, optimized profile that quickly grabs attention and makes an impression.
The first step is setting up your basic profile and optimizing in a way that grabs the attention of your target customers. Specific settings will allow you to optimize your profile for maximum exposure.
Why optimize?
Your profile not only represents you and what you do, but your brand and company as well. Your LinkedIn profile needs to stand out from others. People do business with people they know, like and trust.
“To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract.” — Jim Rohn
With a generic profile, people are less likely to follow you and won’t know if they can trust you. In fact, users with a complete optimized profile are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities from other LinkedIn users.
This guide will dig into the strategies for creating highly optimized profile, why it’s important to have an optimized profile, how to get recommendations, tips for creating headlines that get noticed and resources to help you boost your profile.
As you continue with the four modules in this course, you will learn how and why you should have a properly optimized profile (this module), the importance of a company page and how to optimize it, the tools, types, and tactics of posting content and finally, how to reach out to clients.
Let’s get started.
LinkedIn Profile Profile Optimization Strategies…
Having an optimized LinkedIn profile simply means your profile is updated to get you the most visibility from your targeted audience. It involves several things including compelling, client-focused descriptions while establishing your credibility.
When you optimize your profile, it leaves an impression. The first seven seconds is all you get to wow when a potential client lands on your page. It’s the difference between decision makers wanting to connect with you or them clicking away.
The advantages of having an optimized profile include:
- Attracting leads and clients
- Boost your professional reputation
- Create trust faster
- Build your authority
- Let’s you stand out with a memorable impression
- Develop relationships with decision makers
Another advantage is how your optimized LinkedIn profile contributes to your digital selling and marketing efforts. Successful social selling and lead generation greatly depend on credibility and authority. Having a fully updated profile that is maximum optimized is important to creating that credibility.
Strategies and Best Tips:
- Get found. Make sure you are building your LinkedIn network with your ideal clients. Ensure you can be easily found on LinkedIn and the people you want to attract, like what they find. Your network needs to be 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree connections or share a LinkedIn Group, otherwise you won’t show in their search results. Use the right keywords and search terms throughout your profile to be found by those searching for what you offer. Finally, make sure your profile is optimized and resonates with your ideal prospects.
- Tell your why. Give your target audience a reason to look at and you listen to you. Your story is what separates you from your competitors. Tell them what your purpose is, what drives you, and why you do what you do. Then let them know how you can help them, what problem you solve with insights on how you solve specific problems.
- Create credibility. Your profile needs to make you appear credible in the eyes of your potential clients. To do this, share recommendations from people who know you and have worked with you. The more recommendations you have that are detailed, the better you’ll be able to establish trust.
Having skills that are frequently endorsed by others is a great way to build trust. Your experience and achievements can also help. Toot your own horn, show off honors, awards, and recognition you’ve earned.
- Your ideal clients. Make sure your summary highlights exactly who your ideal client is and what you can do for them.
- Call to Action. You must tell your readers what action to take. Create a CTA to download a free resource, schedule a consultation, send you an email or call you or whatever you want them to do next.
A complete profile includes:
- At least 5 skills
- A professional looking profile photo
- At least 50 connections
- Your industry and location
- A current position with description
- Two more past and current positions
- Education
Not only do you want your LinkedIn profile to be strategically optimized, you want it to be free of grammar and spelling errors. Ensure all the details are true and factual.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re wanting to attract potential business partners, recruiters, employees, or employers, or looking for new clients, having a truly complete LinkedIn profile only enhances your professionalism and your brand. It gives them reasons to connect and trust you. I hope you can now see the power of utilizing LinkedIn profile optimization strategies to grow your business.
I’m author, marketing strategist, and entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green. Learn how to build powerful relationships on LinkedIn from expert Anne Elizabeth Perez and see how fast you can catapult yourself to the status you deserve.
Leave a Reply