When it comes to building your personal brand it is important to be searchable on as many platforms as possible. However, there is one platform that a lot of entrepreneurs are overlooking that could be pivotal for growing their business and brand awareness. Linkedin.

Linkedin, the “professional social networking” site has been around since 2002 and has been rapidly growing and helping professionals connect peer to peer and peer to business. According to HubSpot,

Linkedin has been ranked the highest amongst social media platforms in terms of lead generation and new business connections, measured at being over 277% more effective. This means Linkedin is arguably the most useful platform to be present on even over Facebook and Instagram.

If you are on Linkedin and using it effectively, great! If not, you are potentially losing out on a lot of opportunities.

Today I want to cover 5 ways you can upgrade your LinkedIn before 2020.

 

1. Craft a clever and strategic headline

 

 

When someone searches your name on LinkedIn, your profile and more specifically your headline will be their first impression of you. Based on your headline, potential customers or partners should be able to know exactly what you do. There should be zero confusion!

How to create a more effective headline?

Be very specific about what you do and who you are. If you a business consultant you should include the major sector of business that you work with. Is it real estate? E-commerce? Retail Fashion? You want to make sure what you do is clearly established.

Use relevant keywords. Just like a search engine, Linkedin uses the content on your page to help others find you. If you are in real estate, you want to use relevant keywords that a user might search for when wanting to connect. I.e Real Estate Investor, Wholesaler, Realtor, etc.

 

2. Highlight your accomplishments

 

 

You’ve worked hard to build your brand and your skillset. Let the world know what you have accomplished by listing them on your LinkedIn. This isn’t the place to be too humble and sell yourself short. You have the credentials, so show others that you have the credentials that they may be looking for.

When someone is researching your Linkedin, they want to know how you compare to others that may be offering the same service that you are. Give them a reason to want to do business with you.

Use your profile like a review section on Amazon, describe situations where you have helped someone do X and go them the results Y. Be as detailed as possible.

How does this help?

This helps you establish credibility and authority. Potential customers will think “Hey, if they can get results for this person, then they should be able to get results for me too!”.

 

3. List your skills and get endorsements

 

 

If you’re currently on LinkedIn, I’m pretty sure you’ve gotten those requests to endorse people in your network for specific skills. Use this feature to your advantage.

According to a 2016 LinkedIn study, users who display five or more skills are messaged 31 times more and viewed 17 times more than those who do not. This means that by not listing your skills and getting endorsements you are reducing the number of potential connections that you could be making. This is big, especially if you’re into consulting.

Take a second and do a personal inventory, list out all of your skills and rank them in order of relevancy to the main purpose/theme of your LinkedIn page. Your strongest skills should be towards the top. Once you have them listed and posted, go ahead and ask others in your network that are familiar with your work to endorse you.

 

4. Add Relevant Photos and Video

 

 

“A picture is worth a thousand words, and video is worth a million” – Me

When you are updating your LinkedIn be sure to add photos under the experience, education, and summary sections of your profile. Use these images to quickly convey your experience and expertise to wandering eyes. Images and videos are viewed far more than words. I mean look at Instagram, that’s the entire premise!

After all, posting a video of your helping or consulting with a client is far more influential than just saying, “I help clients do X”. If possible, show them what you can and I guarantee your connections and business will grow because of it.

 

5. Utilize LinkedIn’s Publisher Feature

 

 

If you are a thought leader, which you are! You should definitely be expressing your ideas and thoughts on LinkedIn. You can use this feature to teach, inspire, and build credibility and authority in your space. Potential connections may be interested in your ideas and may be sold just on your thoughts and processes alone.

Take some time out maybe twice a month and post about your thoughts on a specific issue or advancement in your industry. It doesn’t take long and the benefits far outweigh the time cost.

 

Don’t really know what to post?

 

Look at around at others in your industry and use their ideas to get started on your own.

As a whole, the purpose of your LinkedIn is to establish yourself as credible and capable to your potential connections. They want to work with someone, why not you?

Make sure to perform a Linkedin audit at least once per quarter to make sure everything is up to date by updating your skills, accomplishments, and case studies.

Hopefully, these 5 tips will help you make better use of LinkedIn in 2020.

Be sure to connect with me as well!

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/annettapowell/