Event Review: 10 tips to polish your LinkedIn profile

Written by Sue Horner, IABC/Toronto member, volunteer and Freelance Writer, Get It Write

Event review: IABC/Toronto Professional Independent Communicators (PIC) event "How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Presence – For yourself and your company" held Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Never, never, NEVER auto-post your Twitter comments to LinkedIn. It’s annoying, all those #hashtags and @signs are #messy and #confusing to #people who don’t use #Twitter, and you’ll just cause your network to hide your comments, which effectively hides YOU from sight. Not what you’re looking for in a network that’s all about connection, is it?

That was just one of many tips shared by Anita Windisman of One of a Kind Marketing at a meeting Feb. 1 of the IABC/Toronto Professional Independent Communicators. 

LinkedIn "isn’t the sexiest tool, but it is the most useful,” she said. It’s great for personal branding, maintaining an up-to-date contact database, identifying decision-makers, and helping rank your company higher in Google searches.

Anita advised the group to be active and visible on LinkedIn, using these 10 tips to optimize LinkedIn profiles:

1. Upload a great photo. “Great” means a head and shoulders shot with a neutral background where you are smiling and dressed in business attire.
2. Write a compelling headline. Don’t just put a title and company name. You have 120 characters to create a sound bite that conveys the value you offer. This is also a place where you want key words that help you turn up in searches.
3. Tell your story in your summary. Write in the first person (“I”). Use key words. Be conversational. Showcase your expertise without boasting. Avoid overused buzzwords like creative, motivated and extensive experience.
4. Add your current position, describing it with key words and two or three accomplishments. Note that you can now have multiple current positions, and you can drag and drop to put the one you want listed first.
5. Add any volunteer positions. Recruiters look kindly on this! It also opens up conversations.
6. Add your education. This is great for networking because it opens up alumni connections.
7. Customize your links. Replace the generic “website” with your company name (choose profile > website > edit).
8. Personalize your public profile URL. The default has a bunch of numbers and letters. Make yours clean and crisp by personalizing it (profile > public profile > edit). If your name is common, add your middle initial or some other identifier.
9. Add certifications and credentials under profile> edit profile > add sections.
10. Add skills. You can have up to 50, but aim for 12 to 15 (who is good at 50?).

Once your profile is in good shape, work on building your network:

• It’s not a popularity contest or a numbers game; only add people you know and trust.
• When asking to connect with someone, use “we’ve done business together” rather than “friend.”
• Be sure to personalize any requests to connect with how you know the person or where you met.
• To use your connections for prospecting, search for the person you want to reach, and see how you are connected. Rather than use the LinkedIn tools, though, pick up the phone and call your connection.
• Check in once a day. Be sociable, share business-related updates, comment on other people’s updates.

Were you at the meeting? What have you changed on your LinkedIn profile after hearing Anita’s advice?

About Sue Horner:
Sue Horner is a writer and IABC/Toronto member as well as part of its Professional Independent Communicators special interest group. Connect with her on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/suehorner. This is an edited version of a blog post on www.GetItWrite.ca.