If you’re yet to jump on the world’s biggest platform for professionals, then learning how to make a LinkedIn profile can be a gamechanger for your career.
The growing momentum and influence of LinkedIn reflects a changing employment landscape, and drives home the simple fact that having a great resume and impressive career trajectory is no longer enough – not even for executives.
Today, LinkedIn now boasts over 810 million users worldwide, which is an enormous jump from the 660 million users that the social network had recorded just two short years ago. Without a doubt, these figures alone make LinkedIn the go-to for recruiters, jobseekers, and even businesses looking to promote themselves and expand their network.
If you’re yet to jump on the professional networking bandwagon, the good news is that learning how to make a LinkedIn profile from scratch is actually much easier than you might think: all you need is a decent headshot and a firm grasp of your own employment history.
Make Your Own LinkedIn Profile In Eight Easy Steps
Like all social media platforms, engaging with the right audiences and getting seen by the right types of people is often the hardest part. In order to find professional success via LinkedIn, new users have to learn the basics of making a LinkedIn profile that not only accurately represents what they’re all about, but what they’re looking for from the platform too – so where do you start?
Use The Right Photo – Like it or not, people can – and do – judge books by their covers. If you work in industries that command a certain level of visual professionalism, such as white collar finance or office based jobs, then using a selfie at a music festival is not the best idea. Instead, aim for a headshot that is clear, high quality, and without shadows or filters.
Publish Your Details – Although this may depend on your industry or sector, it’s a good idea to publish your personal website or portfolio so that your work speaks for itself. In addition, don’t forget to add some basic contact details such as your phone number or email, as you never know who might want to get in touch.
A Memorable Headline – Much like a newspaper, the headline of your LinkedIn profile is the first thing that readers will pay attention to, so it’s important to make it count. While this short description is often used for job titles, users often take it a step further by adding a bit more detail about their current role, or key accomplishments that they’re proud of.
Highlight Your Skills – You’ve got a story to tell, and the LinkedIn summary encourages its users to not only list their employment history, but to showcase their skills, their values and even a hint of their personality. While some people prefer to cut to the chase and use specific examples of their achievements, avoid buzzwords to avoid coming across as shallow.
Include Keywords – Did you know that your fellow users will often stumble across your profile, because there’s a specific text or phrase listed in your summary that they were searching for? Try weaponsing this function, and purposefully litter your profile with keywords that relate to what you’re looking for, or industries you’re hoping to connect with.
Make Some Connections – It’s not called the professional’s social media network for nothing, right? LinkedIn is one of the best ways to master online networking, but it’s at its most effective when you start collecting some connections. Much like adding a friend on Facebook, start small, make personalised messages, and avoid spamming people that you haven’t met yet.
Ask For Recommendations – For many people, the first connections in their LinkedIn network are often past or present work colleagues or clients. Be sure to weaponize your working relationships, and ask for recommendations from them. For the unfamiliar, this function is more or less like leaving someone a professional review, and often highlights their key skills.
Post Your Own Content – LinkedIn allows users to publish content directly on LinkedIn Publisher, which is otherwise known as the LinkedIn blog. While it can take a bit of work to maintain, publishing your own content does provide opportunities to build your own personal brand, and to ideally become thought leaders within your sector or industry.
Now that you have a firm grasp on how to make a LinkedIn profile, it’s important to remember that the key to success is committing to regular engagement. Like all social media platforms, you risk dropping off the map if you’re not regularly posting, commenting and liking the content on LinkedIn.
Although original content that packs a punch is essential if you want to gain traction online, the downside is that producing quality content takes time, effort, experience and resources. While you’re not alone if you can’t quite commit to that, the good news is that there’s never been a better time to consider outsourcing to the professionals.
The Key To Good Marketing Is Great Content
Producing quality, consistent and on brand content takes time, effort, experience and resources, but avoiding these responsibilities altogether may actually be doing your brand a disservice. Thankfully, investing in a solid content marketing strategy has actually never been easier.
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as blog articles, social media posts, videos and even animated Instagram stories. By using this model, we believe that it enables us to produce high quality content with faster delivery times.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
