Digital Marketing

8 Powerful LinkedIn Tips for Beginners

Whether you’re just getting started or would like to freshen up, here are 8 helpful LinkedIn tips.

  1. Personalize your profile and start with your “title”. Your profile becomes your virtual LinkedIn handshake and is the first thing people will see and read. It clearly represents what you do and think about in search engines as well.
  2. Use a professional portrait image. Think about it carefully. Choose an image that represents the professional image you want to convey. Avoid cropping half of your face and use an image that is less than two years old.
  3. Customize your public URL located at the bottom of your profile area. LinkedIn will create a public URL for you automatically and you can personalize it with your name. There are also many options for determining what appears on your public profile. Personally, I don’t hide anything since what I share on LinkedIn is for public consumption.
  4. The summary. I recommend changing this from a bio to a more personal, first-person account of who you are, how you got to where you are today, how you help your customers, and end with an invitation to connect.
  5. The privacy settings. You should take a look at this area below your profile to see what you are sharing. For example, I know that some of my competitors may want to take a look at my connections, so I no longer share my address book publicly.
  6. Building your network Broad or Narrow. This is the most frequently asked question when I lead a public workshop and also the most passionate. Some people want to connect only with people they know personally. Others, like me, want to build a larger network so they can find and connect with as many people as possible.
  7. Customize your invitations and responses. Most people just use the default text that LinkedIn puts out. To me, this demonstrates LinkedIn trolling. Remember, LinkedIn is all about building relationships. I always personalize my greetings and responses.
  8. Bring value to others! When you share an update, think about how you can help others improve and do better. Think about the value for your target audience. What are the types of problems they deal with, and how can you stay top of mind by positioning yourself as a subject matter expert?

LinkedIn continues to grow and add new features. The way you use LinkedIn completely depends on what you want to get out of LinkedIn. Remember, provide value to others and your presence will be known on LinkedIn.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *