LinkedIn Personal Profile Tips

Optimizing your Social Media accounts is a good practice for both your personal brand and your business. Below are some tips on optimizing your personal LinkedIn profile. These tips are current as of 8/30/17 and are subject to change at any time. LinkedIn adds new features and changes processes on a regular basis, so it is important to review any new tutorials or information made available to you by LinkedIn.

1. Profile: Complete your profile to achieve All-Star status:
   • Profile photo
   • Include industry and location
   • Add description to your current position. Try bulleted lists that incorporate relevant keywords for things like job duties.
   • Include at least two past positions
   • Include education details
   • List at least three skills
   • Obtain at least 50 connections
2. Contact Information: Check all profile contact information to make sure it is accurate. All fields should be completed (website, phone, address, email, twitter, date of birth).
3. Company Connection: Be sure that the jobs listed in your EXPERIENCE section connect to the correct company. It’s easy to connect to the wrong company when multiple companies have the same name.
4. Groups: Join and participate in relevant groups to expand your network and improve the search optimization of your profile.
5. Connections: Expand your network. Try searching your email contacts for possible connections. Click the MY NETWORK link and look for the PEOPLE YOU MAY KNOW section for most streamlined way to request connections.
6. Review your account settings: (https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/66?lang=en) to select the best settings for things like what information can be seen about you and how others may contact you.
7. Give and collect endorsements: Giving skill endorsements is a great way to keep your name in front of contacts. Collecting endorsements validates your skills.
8. Recommendations: Ask others to recommend you. The RECOMMENDATIONS section of your PROFILE includes a link for “Ask to be Recommended” which you can use to ask specific connections to write a brief recommendation.
9. Public Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings View your public profile the way others see it then adjust settings based on your preference of what you want others to see.
10. Profile URL: Create a custom URL for your LinkedIn Public Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile/settings
11. Profile Badge: Create a profile badge to use on your website to link directly to your personal profile https://www.linkedin.com/badges/profile/create
12. Articles: You can use LinkedIn to post blog-like articles. Look for the “WRITE AN ARTICLE” button in the status update section.
13. Updates: Post frequent status updates. Like and share updates of your connections.
14. Samples of Work: You can upload videos and presentations to show samples of your work, services, or product information.
15. Jobs: Search for employment (note: posting jobs is handled through a company page).

Most people are intimidated because they do not feel they have the time to commit to developing their personal LinkedIn profiles. The best way to approach this is to not do everything all at once. Rather, set aside a few minutes each day to work on optimizing your profile and making connections. Social Media profiles are always a work in progress. Good luck!