20 steps to building a great LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile is your online CV, it allows express your personal branding and put yourself out there for employers to see. There are many reasons to create a LinkedIn profile and not all of them are to find a new job. There are many articles and posts that may prove interesting or valuable to your career. It is also a great way to speak to like minded people in a professional sense.

First of all before we get started on what will improve your chances in the professional platform writing, if you do not already have a linked in profile go to www.linkedin.com you will then be able to register on here for free. In the process of doing this make sure you use your correct name and details as this is how employers will view and contact you in future.

1. Choosing a profile picture

We are visual beings and because of this your appearance in your picture will have an impact on those who view it. First of all make sure it is a recent picture, it looks like you and mainly shows your face. Jane Fleming says 60% of the frame should be your face. Either wear what you would wear to work or something smart casual. Lastly try to have a friendly expression.

2. Choosing a background picture

This is the second visual element and at the top of the screen on your page. This image should grab people’s attention and show them what matters to you. If you have a picture that describes more about you in a positive eye catching memorable way this may engage more attention.

3. Make your job your headline

There aren’t any rules to say that your title has to be your job title. Try to describe how you see your role and why you’re passionate about what you do or what you would like to be doing. Look at some other peoples to gain some ideas.

4. Turn your summary into your story

Do not neglect the summary section it is important to have one. Its your chance to tell people about you and not just list your skills and jobs. Try to add in the softer skills and personality traits you have to make people see you for who you are. Try not to be generic and recreate someone else’s using so called buzz words be open and descriptive. Maybe try drafting something and asking someone’s opinion.

5. The war on buzzwords

Buzzwords are descriptive words that people feel will attract employers to their profile. Due to the way they are written and the fact so many people use the same ones they can become meaningless. Linked in has a ranking of over used words you can see here the most over-used buzzwords include terms like ‘specialised’, ‘leadership’, ‘focused’, ‘strategic’, ‘experienced’, ‘passionate’, ‘expert’, ‘creative’, ‘innovative’ and ‘certified’.

Now I'm not saying you can’t describe yourself as these things – or that they don’t matter. However, just using these words won’t convince people that you have these qualities.

6. Grow your network

One of the quickest and easiest ways to begin your network is to sync your profile and email address book. By doing this LinkedIn are able to recommend people for you to connect with. After this you can also search for people you work with or have meetings with.

7. List your relevant skills

Whilst editing your profile the skills section provides a list of potential skills- scroll through that list and pick the ones that are relevant to you. Remember to pick the ones you may have used in the description. Skills also allow other to endorse you- colleagues and manager are able to click on the skills and promote that they believe you have it. Remember to keep this section up to date adding and taking out skills as appropriate.

8. Spot the services you offer

LinkedIn has a new feature that helps you to show the services you have on offer. By filling this out you may boost your visibility and generate more business.

9. Spread the endorsement love

As previously mentioned people will be able to endorse your skills which will strengthen your profile. You can also do this for other people. Look through your connections and give endorsements to those you feel deserve them. This often triggers people to return the favour. You could also ask people to you with a polite message!

10. Be proactive with endorsements

When people endorse you make sure that what they say is relevant. By this we meant it backs up what you have said in the rest of your profile. You are able to choose which ones to hide and which to show. This could be changed depending on what job you are looking for too.

11. Take a skills assessment

A skills assessment online test lets you demonstrate the level of your skills. A ‘Verified Skills badge’ will be displayed on your profile. ‘Data shows that candidates with verified skills are around 30% more likely to be hired for the roles they apply for’ – This can only strengthen your personal brand by giving evidence. Displaying the results of assessments is voluntary, and you can retake the tests before showing that you’ve passed.

12. Request recommendation

Recommendations are still endorsements the difference is an endorsement is a quick visual of your skills, a recommendation brings these up a level. They are testimonials that vouch for the experience they had working with you. You can ask for specific recommendations using the drop down box provided. Think about people who you would value a recommendation from and request it from them… its worth it!

13. Continual professional development

At the IMI we always talk about CPD which is ongoing learning! Keeping your knowledge and skills up to date is vital to your career. We offer courses that you can add to your profile and LinkedIn also offer courses that once you have completed, the certificates are added to your profile. You can also share these once completed… shout about your achievements.

14. Share media and marketing collateral

Sharing information about your business demonstrates what kind of business you work for. It will demonstrate you have a passion for your role work and also shows commitment to the role you hold.

15. Get more involved and take credit

If you get an opportunity to be part of a video, tutorial, press release of publication make sure you add this to your profile. The publications section of LinkedIn allows you to share the links to this kind of activity. So show it off!

16. Share relevant content

If there is anything that you find interesting from your connection… Share it! It will help enhance relationships with those connection but also to help others align your point of view, values, passions and interests.

17. Comments!

When sharing consider adding a comment. It will give the share more meaning and give viewers an idea of why you shared it. It may even spark conversation. It also means you can share a wider range of articles as you could disagree with something but still share it meanwhile sharing your point of view because you find it an interesting subject. It can draw more people to view your profile but make sure you are not putting your foot in it, you do not want to put people off of you in the same breath. Make sure you are happy that you are happy for the post to be associated with you.

18. Influencers to follow

By following an influencer you will enable their content to come through on your feed. It also gives your profile viewers an idea of your interests.

19. Become and employee advocate

This is taking things a step further on LinkedIn. LinkedIn Elevate is their platform for helping businesses launch advocacy programmes. It generate insights on the impact of employee sharing from both the business and employee perspective. 86% of employees that share content for their business show it has had a positive impact on their own career.it basically means you are taking a more active role in your business.

20. Publish content for conversation

The more you share, comment and post will boost your profile much like any other social media network. The difference here is that we are going it on a professional level helping to establish your expertise and thought-leadership credentials. Long-Form content is also a good way to do this. Check out any comments you receive and the subject matter then create posts that will draw conversation. If you decided to take the leap into these type of posts make sure you are ready to read and respond to comments!

There are a lot of steps to take but it doesn’t have to be hard work. Take this guide as a step by step and do a couple of the points in different sittings. Steps 1-10 will provide you with a great profile whilst points 11-20 will boost your profile if you would like to feature more and get yourself out there more often.