LinkedIn is my favourite social media platform for doing business, and it’s where I’ve found the majority of my clients. I love sharing my top LinkedIn tips, especially when it helps my connections maximise their value from the platform!
In this article, I’ve picked 5 of my favourite tips for getting the most out of your LinkedIn profile. As I’ve tried and tested them all personally, I know that they deliver results.
1. Customise your LinkedIn profile URL
The first of my LinkedIn tips is the quickest and easiest – it only takes a couple of minutes! By customising your LinkedIn URL, you’ll make it more memorable, and easier for your ideal client to find you.
If you check out my LinkedIn profile, you’ll see that mine is https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbagga/ – it’s much simpler and easier to remember than the default combination of your name and a string of random numbers
However, so many people haven’t customised their LinkedIn URL, because it isn’t always immediately obvious how to change it.
Start by going to the ‘Me icon at the top of your profile, and click ‘View Profile’. You’ll then get the option to ‘Edit Public Profile and URL’. Click that and in the top right-hand corner you’ll see ‘Edit your custom URL’. Click the pencil icon and change it to something more memorable!
To help you, I’ve created a step by step video guide as part of my Knowledge Base here. It’s definitely worth checking out!
This simple change will help your LinkedIn profile to score more highly in search results and improve your SEO ranking. More importantly, it will help your ideal client to find you in the first place. It’s also cleaner and neater to use on your website, business card or email signature.
2. Write your LinkedIn profile in the first person
One of my favourite LinkedIn tips is to write your profile in the first person.
I’ve seen a lot of people who’ve written their LinkedIn profiles in the third person as if they were writing about someone else (“Nick is a marketing consultant…”).
I wouldn’t advise you to do that – it’s YOUR profile, something that YOU have created. It’s much better to use your profile as a means of talking directly to your ideal clients and prospects.
Using the first person (“I am a marketing consultant…”) is much more authentic and resonates much more.
In this Knowledge Base video, I explain in greater detail why I recommend using the first person. I’ll even give you examples, using my own LinkedIn profile.
3. Use formatting tools to make your profile stand out
I always recommend getting the most out of your LinkedIn About section by using formatting as well as making use of all 2,000 characters.
A huge block of text can be hard to read and off-putting. By using formatting and emojis, you can add interest and make your content more eye-catching.
You may have seen LinkedIn profiles and posts that really stand out, using bold text, symbols and emojis, and wondered how to achieve the same effect with your own profile.
Here are a few of my top LinkedIn tips for using formatting tools:
- Bullet points can be a great way to break up sections and draw the reader’s attention to key points, particularly when emojis are used to signpost
- Emojipedia is a great resource for emojis which can then be copied and pasted straight into LinkedIn – https://emojipedia.org/
- Sites such as Lingojam will allow you to ⓕⓞⓡⓜⓐⓣ ⓣⓔⓧⓣ into various styles – https://lingojam.com/FancyTextGenerator
- Use formatting to make key phrases stand out by converting to 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 – https://lingojam.com/BoldTextGenerator
I’ve created a video where I demonstrate how to use formatting tools, using my own profile as an example. Check out this link to find out more.
I also give you some tips on when NOT to use formatting – it can be easy to get carried away!
4. Use the featured section of your LinkedIn profile
Have you made the most out of the ‘Featured Section’ on your LinkedIn profile yet? It’s a relatively new section of the LinkedIn profile, meaning a lot of people still aren’t aware of it.
Your Featured Section is a fantastic way to bring your LinkedIn profile to life! It allows you to showcase your best work, bringing it to the attention of people who land on your profile. You can add a variety of media, including video, images, weblinks, posts and articles.
I’ve included this in my top LinkedIn tips because I’ve benefitted from using the ‘featured’ section on my own profile. I’ve used it to show my introductory video where I tell you a bit more about myself. Plus, by providing links to my free Masterclass and other valuable resources, I’ve driven more traffic to my website
In my ‘Knowledge Base’, I’ve created a step by step video guide to using the LinkedIn Featured section. Why not take a look?
5. How to change the ‘Connect’ button to ‘Follow’
I’m sometimes asked how to change the ‘Connect’ option on your LinkedIn profile to ‘Follow’. So I’m including this in my top LinkedIn tips as many people prefer ‘Follow’, but don’t know how to switch.
By default, everyone’s LinkedIn profile defaults to ‘Connect’, but there are circumstances where you may want to change this to ‘Follow’.
Start by going to the ‘Me icon at the top of your profile, and click ‘Settings and Privacy’. You’ll then see ‘Visibility’ as one of the options on the left. Click that and then scroll down to the very last section, called’ Followers’. Click into that and then toggle the button to ‘Make follow primary’.
Again, to make this easier to understand, I’ve created a Knowledge Base video. In this video, I explain the differences between having ‘Connect’ and Follow’ on your profile. I also explain why you might want to change this and how to amend your settings step by step.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed my top LinkedIn tips, and that I’ve helped you get more out of the platform. There are plenty of other resources on my website – feel free to take a look around!
If you need more help or advice with anything LinkedIn related, I’d be delighted to hear from you. Please send me a DM on LinkedIn or email me at [email protected].
