Having a professional and attractive LinkedIn account means more job opportunities and a stronger circle of relationships. In order for professionals to find you, you must also look professional.
Creating a professional and distinctive LinkedIn account is not an impossible task; with just a few simple steps, you will be close to achieving your goal of getting your dream job or communicating with the most famous influencers in your field.
In this article, I will review with you a set of recommendations and tips that will enable you to appear as a character on LinkedIn and then enable you to get the opportunity you dream of.
1. Always update your LinkedIn account.
If you want to appear professional on LinkedIn, you should always update your account with everything new: whenever you learn a new skill, add it; whenever you take a course, add it; whenever you volunteer, add it.
Also, you must update your account picture from time to time with a newer image that better reflects you. You can also update the background image to express what is going on in your mind or to express the goals that you intend to accomplish at a specific time.
2. List all the skills you possess.
Browse the list of skills and choose what you are good at and what is appropriate for your field. Doing so will help support the profile you’ve already written in your account and enable others to recommend you for jobs that require these skills.
In any case, the important thing is to be clear about the skills that you supply, because a long list of skills that are not connected and that do not represent you will look suspicious and completely unprofessional!
3. Post the endorsements!
Endorsements from others support your competence for the skills you have listed and increase your credibility and entitlement. So how do you get endorsements?
If you are a beginner, your secret weapon is to go through your relationship lists and choose who you believe deserves and deserves to endorse some of his skills.This usually gets people to return the favor, and you get approval from them.
The second way is to not be shy about sending a polite letter requesting certification of some of your basic skills. Note that the more the certifier is highly qualified and professional, the more this certifier will mean a lot to the recruiters and clients.
The important thing here is that you have to manage the endorsements properly, as once the endorsements start to increase, you may run into a direction that does not reflect you properly.
Your primary field may be content marketing, but, for example, you worked in the field of search engine optimization, and those you work with chose that skill to certify. Thus, you are moving away from the intended goal of authentication in the first place.
For this, you have to first choose and indicate what skills you need to validate and, secondly, choose the skills that will appear in your file and which you want to hide through the editing feature.
4. Request your candidacy.
Endorsements give people who visit your profile a quick snapshot of what you’re good at. As for the nominations, they are more accurate and specific, and of course, more credible.
Nominations are testimonials and personal experiences regarding the experience of working with you.
Inside your profile, you’ll find a section for nominations, where you can easily contact your constituencies and people you’ve worked with to request your candidacy.
Take the time to think about who you want to be nominated for, and make your application personal and personalized.
5. Share content specific to your industry.
The best way to build a strong reputation and credibility for yourself or your personal project is to be featured on the homepage of your LinkedIn circles. Let your appearance prove your professionalism and skill in your field and add value to your readers. Share educational or specialized content related to your field.
The easiest way to get started is to keep a close eye on what influencers are posting, share it with your circles, or write a simple blog post.
You can include these things in your blog posts: new tools that appeared on the market, case studies, useful programs, and more. The post should not be a scientific reference, but it should carry value for its readers and fulfill its purpose of proving your competence and skill.
6. Follow influencers in your field.
When you follow top influencers and industry and market leaders, it gives you more powerful content to share with your circles. And if you can add them to your circles, do not hesitate; their very existence is a valuable addition to your account and an increase in your reliability.
Some influencers refuse to accept additional requests for personal reasons or because they are busy. The important thing is not to take the rejection personally and just follow up.
Also, feel free to send a formal, personalized message to these influencers, asking for their addition to or endorsement of some of your skills. If you are not able, you can request this from an intermediary between you.
7. Post visual content
LinkedIn’s new slogan is “Don’t talk about anything.” Show it!” where everything you upload or share will be displayed on your profile: photos, video clips, articles, infographics, photo galleries, digital books, reports, and more.
You can take advantage of this visual policy followed by LinkedIn to attract customers and promote yourself, whether your field is artistic or not. Now everyone on the LinkedIn platform can benefit from adding a visual element to their accounts.
According to recent research, 44% of users interact with visual content more than others, and infographics are shared more on LinkedIn than on other platforms.
8. Be the best you can be.
Be the best you can be. Customers are already looking for you, whether you know it or not. But the important thing is: what will you be like when they find you?
Well, originally, LinkedIn was another social networking platform, and social media platforms are for social networking first and foremost, and their goal is to create relationships.
a) Be really professional: Avoid joking around and sharing youthful jokes and pictures of yourself with your friends on the beach; your LinkedIn updates should be specific to your professional field.
Use the etiquette of tasteful communication sites; do not be too selfish; yes, ask for interaction and participation; but let your last message be: I am a professional and I know what I do.
b) Be an active member: LinkedIn allows you to be a member of approximately fifty groups. Join only groups that are relevant to your field and that you are interested in joining.
Groups are not only a great way to demonstrate your experience and knowledge when someone asks a question and you respond, or to publish a useful and professional blog, article, or video clip, but they are also a great way to meet people who share your field, mentality, and interests.
9. Avoid buzzwords.
Every January, LinkedIn publishes a list of the ten most used buzzwords in user accounts. These words have been used so heavily in profile descriptions that they are almost meaningless.
This does not mean that you cannot describe yourself with any of them; the whole point is that these words no longer convince anyone that you do indeed have these qualities.
You will need to prove and illustrate them through the way you describe yourself on LinkedIn.
Remember that having the greatest account in the world will not replace the importance of active participation, interaction with others, creating new relationships, and expanding your circle of acquaintances.
As I mentioned, LinkedIn is a social networking site, and you need to invest in your relationships and every opportunity that allows you to present yourself in the best light possible.
10. Focus on your biggest targets
Before writing any sentence, think about who you really want to read it and what is the best format that will impress him. On this basis, formulate your bio, your articles, or even your comments on publications and blogs.
When recruiters or clients read about your skills, they want to see how you will help them and add value to their company, as well as what makes hiring you advantageous to them.
So instead of writing, “I managed a team of ten people,” say, “I managed to attract and hire ten of the most qualified and skilled experts in their field.” “We were able to increase sales by more than 20%.”
I hope these 10 recommendations help you to appear on LinkedIn like a pro, and then you can get the chance you always wanted.
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