Tips To KickStart 2016 On The Bright Side of The Force — The LinkedIn Profile Boost How-to
As 2016 approches, some tends to salute a win-win year, some others are looking to forget about it and hope for a better starting, in all cases when it comes to efficient people it’s time to summarize what has been learnt from the past experiences and make lessons out of it.
1 — First rule of all
“A LinkedIn profile, you shall have”
At the wake of 2016, if you belong to the extreme minority of self respectful professionals deprived of the visibility provided by the just mentioned social network, it means that you are off-to go with a heavy disadvantage.
Let people that matter hear from you, get to know you and why not interact with you. As a matter of fact, it’s where employers, investors and almost half of the world’s millionaires thrive.
However, this is not a deploy and forget solution to put out there and wait for the mojo to happen, you have to build your page and make it worth noticing. That’s what I am going to explain today.
2 — The Profile Picture’s Importance
In social network there happens to be the word “social”, therefore appearances matter.
According to the LinkedIn staff itself, having a profile picture could get you to 14 times more profile views. It may be not the suit and tie type, but it should reflect your style and personality in a professional manner. It has to be meaningful.
Yet, in no case should you be posting a SELFIE
3 — Be Bold, Be a Show Off
Skills, positions and projects are the epicenter of hierarchy in LinkedIn, and that’s why putting skills on the table is what matters the most, be a show off, brag about your abilities, advertise yourself and let others endorse/recommend you for what you can do, this is the fondamental basis of e-reputation.
4 — Make a projects’ portfolio out of your page
Handy work and deeds go here, there is even a whole section dedicated to these facts, initially created for students to put on projects accomplished at university.
The importance of this section lays in the exhibition of creativity and expertise for people that need to prove they know their stuff.
Do not be afraid to enlist your experiences, add team members, collaborators and tag them, the more you do, the more visible/prone to be hired you are. It’s all about being socially and professionally sexy.
5 — Starve for recommendations
Recommendations are always important in job searching or in sales, and it’s no different here. On LinkedIn, recommendations are written by members of your network about one of your specific roles, and appear underneath the corresponding position.
Recommendations are on another level compared to endorsements and bear a much heavier weight, be sure to only take recommendations from trustworthy persons as their pictures and profile links are going to be seen on your page.
6 — Your Summary, Your Pitch Fire
Truly, no joking here, your summary may very well be your must valuable asset, consider it as your elevator pitch to potential employers, customers or investors, and sell… guess what? Sell them yourself and on why YOU ARE THE RIGHT PERSON THEY NEED
Many people tend to think lightly of their summary on their LinkedIn profiles, which is a shame, because this is the only part where you can talk about yourself as a person, get us to know about you, in a non robotic way.
7 — Join Groups
LinkedIn is really about networks, so do not be reluctant on joining groups, finding professionals in your industry or niche, being social with them and helping each other build the greater good.
“Let a thousand flowers blossom — Guy Kawasaki”
Doing so lets you be seen as an active part, a reference in that niche and one less step away from achieving the perfect professional reputation in your field of expertise.
According to LinkedIn, that way your profile is five times more likely to be viewed and leading to engagement.
