Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile With These 5 Tips
If you're looking to up your LinkedIn game, you've come to the right place. In this article, I'll show you 5 fast optimizations you can make today to your LinkedIn profile that can drastically increase the effectiveness of your existing content efforts.
1. Say what you do, don't hide behind your title.
I'm sure you've seen it done, but this one is pretty straightforward. Leverage that small glimpse of text near your profile to communicate what you do, not simply your role.
For example, instead of having my title be "Chief Operating Officer of ActionVFX", I've opted for "Helping VFX Artists create world-class visual effects via ActionVFX.com."
It instantly tells the reader what I actually do instead of hiding behind a non-specific title, while still being realistic. The trap with this one though, is that yours has to be concise and effective. Make it too long or miss the short-preview window and you'll have the opposite effect.
2. Instantly stand out with a profile photo circle.
This one is one of my favorites! So much so, that I've actually created a free Canva template for you to be able to create your own for free with no design skills required.
Adding this one little detail instantly makes your profile stand out in any search, thread, or comment section. Bonus points for also visually reinforcing your brand color scheme!
3. Your banner is your ad space. Leverage it.
Once someone lands on your profile, you want to make sure you're communicating what you want as effectively as possible. Similar to point 1 of this list you need to leverage this free real estate to even further communicate either your goals, missions, vision, or your values in one way or another.
For mine, I want VFX Artists to realize just how much time, love, money, and effort we've put into creating what we've built. So I literally just put that there! When someone hits my profile, they can't help but learn about what we're doing for the industry and the impact we've already made.
If you have 0 design skills like me, you can use some of the existing content templates available for free on Canva to make something on your own with minimal time and effort!
4. Enable Creator Mode.
Creator Mode gives you access to a number of tools that aren't enabled on your profile by default, such as enriched post analytics, the ability to write native LinkedIn Newsletters, and even Livestream.
To enable Creator Mode:
Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
Click View Profile.
Scroll down to Resources and click on Creator mode: Off.
Click Next on the Creator mode preview pop-up window.
Add topics (hashtags) to indicate the topics you post about the most.
Click Done.
Follow the prompts to turn on creator mode.
5. Record a profile video.
Profile videos have become a more recent feature, but that also means that they are vastly underutilized. This instantly helps you build a personal, human connection with the viewer of your profile and gives you a chance to quickly explain what you do.
I use mine to introduce myself and talk about what type of content they can expect from following me on LinkedIn.
Don't make a huge production out of this. If you have 5 minutes right now, you should do this immediately!
Pull out your phone. Navigate to the LinkedIn app.
View your profile + click like you're going to update your profile photo.
Record a video shorter than 30 seconds.
Upload it.
For a more in-depth walkthrough of recording and uploading a profile video, you can check out this video.
At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how much you optimize your LinkedIn profile if you're not regularly interacting, posting content, and truly engaging with your network. You have to have a solid content strategy in place, but once you do, these techniques will greatly fuel that fire!
If you are struggling to post regularly or are spending way too much time creating content to post, consider checking out my Social Media for Entrepreneurs Kit available on my website!