PAGE LAYOUT
Your own personal page needs to look and sound good. Firstly, the page banner must be clear, concise and not too cluttered, whilst also putting forward some basic information about yourself and or your business. The profile picture should be professional but also light-hearted and reflect the brand you want people to engage with: yourself.
Secondly, if you want to stand out from endless photos of suits and show your creative side too, no matter what your job is, add something visual to your profile. Are you in marketing? Adding a cover photo showing in a communicative and visual way what you do can help greatly when looking for potential connections.
Lastly, take away the side bar offering recommendations for other potential connections that sits quietly on your page. This can distract or pull potential connections away from you onto someone else. Removing this allows focus centred on you and opportunities directed your way.
CHOOSE YOUR CONNECTIONS
LinkedIn is a social media platform, but the goals are not the same as Facebook or Twitter. You want a following that you can potentially work with. When choosing connections, always aim for people of similar standing to you or work in a field you would like to move into. If the time comes for you to pitch a new business idea to a potential investor, business partner or even employer, those similarities will give you a much higher chance of getting the outcome you want. Connecting with someone who works in recruitment, when you specialise in marketing, will most likely not be helpful in the long term.
STANDING OUT IN A CROWD
You want your page to stand out by posting content that will help you catch someone’s eye quickly scrolling fast. Generic “I did this today” posts will most likely be ignored, whereas a post explaining your recent inspirational talk you watched may draw more eyes towards your page. This must still reflect your work and brand however, if you work in IT, you could show the inner workings of a PC or top tips on what tech to go for when working in X or Y. Be interested, not interesting.
THE WEBSITE CONUNDRUM
LinkedIn doesn’t show external links as much as posts that keep users on the site. This is because they simply don’t want you to leave the platform. Yet, it is of great importance to have your own site to showcase your work. Keep such posts to a minimum and attempt to publish directly to the platform, as you will basically get more engagement out of that. It’s all about balance. The occasional post with a link to YouTube or your own site won’t hurt. Test and learn. See what works for your audience.
NAMEDROP
It’s important to mention people who inspire you or who you’ve worked with in the past. This increases the chances of their connections seeing it, or even the person mentioned themselves. This may lead to great new connections, introductions, even work or a short chat. But it is incredibly important to not overdo it, otherwise it quickly looks like spam and can agitate your own connections as well as those mentioned, pushing people away from your page. Something you don’t want. Be genuine and share when appropriate.
STUDY THE COMPETITION
Study your peers and competition to see what they’re up to on LinkedIn. Whilst being unique and new is always the aim, it’s good to ensure you’re on the right track making positive choices when it comes to the content you share and how you present yourself. This also serves as a way to ensure you’re not moving too close to competitors which then would give the impression you are simply copying them. No one is like you, that’s your power.
BE YOURSELF
Above all else, be yourself. A good report and personal connection will grant more success than blindly waving in the dark. Whilst you need to ensure that you maintain a professional image on the platform, make sure that what you post and how your page looks, reflects you as a person, so that potential connections can have an idea who they are engaging with. And don’t forget: don’t take yourself too seriously. We’re all humans at the end of the day. Express yourself and have fun!
GOOD LUCK.
