Gettin' it Together on LinkedIn

Image courtesy of jannoon028/freedigitalphotos.net

So you’ve sent out a direct mailer, or maybe an e-mail campaign, to prospective clients. You’ve included your name, website, and all of the fantastic services your business offers. Chances are, the first thing your soon-to-be-client will do is try to find you online—through Google, your website, any images that may be floating around, or your social media channels. 

Your online presence says a lot about you, and one way you can secure your stellar cyber reputation is through LinkedIn. Although perhaps not as trendy as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, LinkedIn is like your great Aunt Mabel—sturdy, reliable, and loves chocolate chip cookies (okay, that last one might be an exaggeration).

Check out our tips below for creating a professional (and totally awesome) LinkedIn profile:

Pay Attention to White Space

• Don’t overwhelm your reader with blocks of text. Give them enough information so they know who you are and what you have accomplished, but don’t jam-pack the page so much that it looks like one paragraph.

• Try bullet points—see how well it works for this post?! Don’t just take our word for it, hop on your LinkedIn profile and experiment with spacing and layout.  
  

Strategic Networking

• Join groups and make connections that are relevant to your skills and interests, but don’t sign up for every single group you come across. Clients want to know that you have a clear focus, not that you are out to connect with every single group or person on the site.

• Sometimes it’s not what you know but who you know. Explore your connections’ profiles and see who their connections are. If there is someone you think would be great to network with, ask your connection to make an introduction. 
  

It’s All About the Language

• Just like you would on your resume, your LinkedIn profile should use strong action-based verbs like analyzed, developed, managed, or instituted. Check out a longer list of action verbs here: http://career.opcd.wfu.edu/files/2011/05/Action-Verbs-for-Resumes.pdf.

• Compelling, creative copy is another way to wow your potential clients. You can still keep it short and simple while being creative and showing your clients who you are. If you are funny (think Groupon style humor), don’t be afraid to take that tone in your profile. Make it succinct but still make it you.

• Although it may go without saying, the most important thing about your LinkedIn profile is to be truthful. Don’t trump up skills you don’t have to impress other people. Your potential clients want to know how great and awesome you are now—so make sure to show your true colors!
  

Now go forth and let the cyber makeover begin!

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