BernieBorges.com Blog: Social Media and Web Marketing

10 Details to Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile

I’ve been blogging a lot about the importance of a strong LinkedIn profile. This post continues on this theme.  The core value of networking on LinkedIn starts with a strong profile. Here is a list of the top 10 details that you should get right in your LinkedIn profile including examples from professionals doing it right.

Photo

Brendan Cosgrove is doing a lot right on his LinkedIn profile. His profile photo is representative of an effective photo. You don’t need a studio photo (although that’s certainly ok). On the other hand, I advise against a photo that is too casual.  To my surprise, I see many profiles with inappropriate photos for LinkedIn. Use this guideline in selecting your LinkedIn picture: How do you dress for customers and your employer?

Keywords

Sahar Andrade: Sahar is one of few professionals (in my experience) who uses keywords in her website links. This is a commonly overlooked missed opportunity. Notice the links to her websites use keywords that represent those websites. When you use keywords in your website links you increase the chance of being found for those keywords. She also uses her name in her LinkedIn URL (a LinkedIn 101 requisite).

Status Updates
Pat Huston: I can always tell the difference between casual users of LinkedIn and devoted users. A devoted LinkedIn user posts a periodic status update. While status updates in LinkedIn shouldn’t resemble Twitter (in terms of frequency), once per week to a couple of times per day is effective, provided you’re posting updates that are useful to your network, such as links to good articles as this example shows from Pat Huston. (Disclosure: the article in her status update is my article).

Profile Summary

Cynthia Nagle: This is an example of a well written executive summary of her experience, specialties and industries. This summary allows viewers of her profile to get the big picture before reading the details. The rest of her profile is expertly completed too.

Skills
Christine Heuber
Christine has listed all her skills using the LinkedIn Skills feature. Note how she also displays her proficiency and years of experience for each skill. This is a feature too many people overlook in their LinkedIn profile.

Applications
Susie Sharp
Susie has added the Amazon Reading List app to her profile, which gives you the ability to view the books she’s currently reading, has read or plans to read. Give your visitors insights into your reading habits through the Amazon Reading List app.

Debbie Lundberg
Debbie has listed her Certifications, Patents and (published) Publications. If you have such credentials, use LinkedIn’s Certifications, Patents and Publications feature to display them on your profile to help portray the full breadth of your professional credibility.

Eric Cook
Eric has added the Slideshare app to display his most recent presentations on his topics of subject matter expertise. I highly recommend adding this app. Most everyone has produced PowerPoint presentations that should be uploaded to Slideshare, then displayed on your LinkedIn profile to help communicate your professional credibility.

Recommendations
Ken Kunsman
Ken has twelve recommendations on his profile. It’s important to earn recommendations so others can see how your colleagues praise your experience. While all recommendations are positive, what is said by others helps to tell your story. If you have more than 200 connections, you should strive to have at least 10 recommendations. Selectively write recommendations for your current and former colleagues, and they may reciprocate with a recommendation for your LinkedIn profile. You may also consider asking some of your colleagues for recommendations.

Groups

David Glass
David is founder and CEO of Florida Technology Journal.  To his credit, he has joined many Florida groups where he networks frequently to build his brand awareness about his media product and his many events too.

Events
David Shestokas
David is an attorney who understands the value of professional social networking. His profile is very robust. He displays events he attends helping to promote these events which endears him greatly to the event organizers, which also helps build his social currency in the process.

Answers
Charles Caro
Charles understands the social networking value of answering questions in LinkedIn Answers. In addition to his effortless attention to providing answers on topics in which he has expertise, he frequently uses the “recommend an expert” feature in LinkedIn which invites another person to contribute his or her expertise to a question. Anyone can learn from observing how Charles contributes to LinkedIn Answers.

Give your LinkedIn profile the proper attention it deserves to maximize its potential. Get more tips from Career Central on how to use LinkedIn in your career development strategies.

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