LinkedIn did a tour all over America called the LinkedIn Opportunity Tour where they stopped in select cities and provided free headshots and profile advice. I am always doing LinkedIn research for my clients at WMT, so I decided to attend the Los Angeles LinkedIn event at the UCLA campus.
The process was easy: choose whether you want your photo inside the trailer or outside and meet with a LinkedIn employee to review your profile. Stress-free social media support – totally my style.
A LinkedIn employee named Stephanie greeted me and told me to sit on the stool with a light blueish background, and took several headshots. Like my new photo?
Katie, another LinkedIn employee, helped me upload my photo onto my profile, and then provided me useful tips to make my LinkedIn even more awesome (WHAT!?? My profile was not perfect – EGO SLAP!).
Here are some of the profile tips LinkedIn staff gave me that can help you:
- Get rid of bullet points. (I’m writing bullet points now in this blog post but for Linkedin, cut them!)
- Consider writing your summary in first person. This is social media – BE SOCIAL!
- Make your summary relatable, in paragraph format, and no more than 5 sentences.
- Share your goals and purpose.
- Describe why you are in the industry.
- Be approachable.
So I took my summary, and applied their recommendations. Here’s my LinkedIn summary before:
Over the years, I have developed a great passion for helping individuals and brands achieve online success. Today I support and advise brands in all areas of web marketing from strategy to training to content management and beyond, helping them execute healthy marketing efforts in a competitive, digital world.
As an active blogger and writer, I currently contribute to various online publications including LinkedIn Pulse – a newsfeed dedicated to professional development and growth – and Elephant Journal – a forum for content that promotes a mindful, enlightened society.
Specialties and Topics:
* Personal Branding & Marketing
* Online / Web Marketing
* Social Media Marketing
* Personal Growth & Consciousness
I welcome you to connect with me on LinkedIn—I’m always interested in making new professional acquaintances!
For more insight into my professional and personal endeavors, follow me on Instagram (instagram.com/kthrngee) and Twitter (@kthrngee).
Here’s my LinkedIn summary now– after applying the tips LinkedIn gave me:
I have a great passion for helping individuals and brands achieve online success. I support and advise businesses in all areas of web marketing from marketing audits to analytics to web copy creation and beyond, helping them execute healthy marketing efforts in a competitive, digital world.
As an avid traveler, my goal is to continue to travel the world with my laptop – experiencing cultures and new foods while helping organizations both small and large grow professionally. Helping others is what I do best.
I welcome you to connect with me on LinkedIn – I’m always interested in making new professional acquaintances! For more insight into my professional and personal endeavors, follow me on Instagram (instagram.com/kthrngee) and Twitter (@kthrngee).
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Okay, so I didn’t write five sentences for my summary as advised. I love to rebel! 😉 However, I got rid of the bullet points, got rid of fluff, and displayed my goals and ambition for travel.
Questions to Ask Yourself
LinkedIn provided everyone who attended the event with a handout of questions to help them write their experience, summary, and headline. Here are the 5 questions:
- When thinking about the work I do, what words do my clients/peers/managers consistently use to describe my work?
- How would I describe what I do to someone completely unfamiliar with my field?
- What do I want to be professionally known for?
- What can people expect me to bring to the table?
- What do I love most about what I do?
I advise you to answer these questions to help you write or edit your profile.
Creating Opportunity on LinkedIn
Inside the bus, while Katie was reviewing my profile, I saw a framed graphic that had the definition of opportunity:
And I had an epiphany. The point of creating and spending all this time enhancing your profile is not to show off your resume or impress others, but rather to welcome opportunity. The more you invest time in making your profile look credible (and authentic), the more likely you will receive opportunity.
Here’s my healthy marketing recommendation for the day: Look at your profile and ask yourself, “Does my LinkedIn profile welcome opportunity?” If the answer is yes, high five to you! If the answer is no, pull your sleeves up and edit. The goal is simple: create opportunity.