LinkedIn profile basics for professional services.
Social selling is one of the fastest-growing trends in the sales world and is all the buzz. In fact, it has been going for some time now. When done well it can be a very effective way of extending your network and winning new work. The main platform for doing social selling or social networking is LinkedIn, which is also a key area for professionals to start developing and promoting their personal brand. This means that utilising LinkedIn for professional services providers is absolutely essential. It has never been more important to know how to elevate your LinkedIn personal profile.
LinkedIn now has over 930 million users in total, mostly all professionals. The latest stats I could find from a quick Google search showed that NZ has nearly 2.5 million users and a similar search showed that Australia has around 12.7 million. So why do so many professionals have nothing more than a badly written CV complete with a poor photo, or even no photo at all on their personal profiles?
Before you start engaging in social selling, social networking, writing articles on LinkedIn or other personal branding activities, it is essential that you get your current LinkedIn profile page up to scratch. It is vital that as a professional you understand how to elevate your LinkedIn profile.
Why it’s important – Google yourself!
Your LinkedIn profile will come up very high in your results. If you have a common name it may be that someone else appears ahead of you, so it’s important for you to climb those rankings. Now, think about when you go to meetings, the digitally empowered buyer (which is basically everyone) will almost certainly have Googled you ahead of any meeting they have with you. If when they see your profile it looks empty, or worse, is full of typos, they won’t be impressed.
Updating Your Profile 101 – How to elevate your LinkedIn profile
Have a professional looking photo.
This is LinkedIn, it isn’t Facebook. You’re using LinkedIn for professional services marketing purposes. So, absolutely no photo’s of you out partying – unless you happen to run a party organising business!
This is the first thing that people will see of you and they will form an opinion on this. So smart and looking at the camera, and at the very least get a friend or colleague to take it. Selfies are for Facebook or Instagram. Also, tempting though it may be for a great deal of us, have a recent photo, that one where you look younger, that was taken 10 years ago, won’t cut it.
Bonus Tip – Name your photo along the lines of what you do – e.g. “Corporate Lawyer focused on helping SMEs”, “Tax accountant, partner in a boutique Hamilton accountancy firm” – this helps LinkedIn’s algorithms and SEO have another resource it can read to understand what you do. Use this to your advantage. It’s a great tip in knowing how to elevate your LinkedIn personal profile.
Have a good tagline
If you’ve spent any time on the platform, you’ll notice that people have tag-lines that describe what they do and how they can help, not what their job title is. This is actually quite cool, finally people have full control over their business card and they’ve given themselves titles that mean you know what it is they actually do.
Avoid over-doing it – “Dealmaker” might sound cool but are you really Harvey Specter from Suits? Try something more like “M&A Lawyer focused on getting deals done. X transactions completed since 2020” Similarly ‘Beancounter’ might be your attempt at irony but does it really promote you well? I’d argue that it doesn’t. Getting this wrong is not how to elevate your LinkedIn personal profile for business.
Make your first two sentences relatable.
This is what comes up on your profile when someone clicks on it. If you fill it with “Experienced professional who’s a team player and likes a challenge. I am keen to learn and embrace new experiences. I have been a professional for 8 years and in that time I have enjoyed what I’ve done…” Then not only is it a raft of meaningless phrases – your reader has no idea what you do, how you help people or why they should read on. Try instead something like “As a small business focused accountant I have worked with my clients to save them time and money through efficient tax and payroll advice. Tauranga based you can reach me at…” Getting this right is a key aspect of optimising LinkedIn for professional services.
Don’t write like a boxer.
If you watch a boxer’s interview they’ll speak like this “Bob Basher took care of business tonight. Basher is the real deal, he’s ready to move to the next level” – It is a belief that they are a brand, so they talk like that. Now be honest you don’t talk like that, so don’t write like it; use the 1st person. Use phrases like “I help”, “I advise” etc.
List your “Featured Skills & Endorsements.”
Before someone else does. If you don’t fill this in, then other people can, which means they can list your skills as “Awesomeness.” Funny but not helpful. So put down what you think your main skills are and in no time people will start to endorse you for them. This leads me to the next point.
Ask for some recommendations.
If your colleagues or clients endorse you it gives credibility to what you do and your profile. People are more likely to contact you if others have willingly endorsed you.
Reciprocate.
Yes, give recommendations too – not just to those who endorse you, that looks contrived, but to those you feel deserve it. If people deserve your recommendation, then give it.
Add links
At the end of your main bio and in every listed role that you have, you can add links to your website or any articles or video you’ve published. If you haven’t published anything yet, no worries, but at the very least you can add links to the relevant parts of your website. If nothing else this adds visual impact to your profile.
Listen to LinkedIn’s advice
There are lots of other sections to fill out, LinkedIn will guide you through this and will start to recommend you fill in the areas you’ve missed. Add in your University, where you’re based etc. It really does help you to be found.
Make your profile public.
Once you’re happy with your profile, go into “Settings and Privacy” (click on the small icon of your photo – top right of your screen) then go to “Privacy.” Then go through the options and I would say pretty much allow everyone access to most things. This really is a key part of how to elevate your LinkedIn personal profile. As an example, you certainly want your photo visible to all in “Profile viewing options” and definitely allow “Followers”. These instructions can change from time to time, so you can read how to do it on LinkedIn’s help pages.
Conclusion – How to elevate your LinkedIn profile
That’s the basics of your profile done and you have now optimised LinkedIn for professional services marketing purposes. Now you need to start being social on this social media platform. LinkedIn is like a bar or networking event in this respect, if you just stand in the corner, chances are no-one will speak to you. However, if you start to interact with them, they’ll most likely engage back. But just like networking in person, first impressions count.
This is why it is important that you now how to elevate your LinkedIn profile.