10 tips to elevate your LinkedIn profile

1. Don’t cut and paste your CV

LinkedIn hooks you into a network, not just a human resourcesdepartment. You wouldn’t hand out your CV before introducingyourself, so don’t do it here. Instead, describe your experienceand abilities as you would to someone you have just met. Writefor the screen, in short blocks of copy with visual or textualsignposts.

2. Borrow from the best marketers

Light up your profile with your voice. Use specific adjectives,colorful verbs, active construction (“managed project team,”not “responsible for project team management”). Act naturally:don’t write in the third person unless that formality suits yourpersonal brand. Picture yourself at a conference or clientmeeting, how do you introduce yourself? That’s your authenticvoice, so use it.

3. Write a personal tagline

That line of text under your name? It’s the first thing peoplesee in your profile. It follows your name in search hit lists. It’syour brand. (Note: your e-mail address is not a brand.) Yourcompany’s brand might be so strong that it and your job titleare sufficient. Or you might need to distill your professionalpersonality into a more eye-catching phrase, something that ata glance describes who you are.

4. Put your elevator pitch to work

Go back to your conference introduction. That 30-seconddescription, the essence of who you are and what you do,is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in the summary sectionto engage readers. You’ve got 5-10 seconds to capture theirattention. The more meaningful your summary is, the moretime you’ll get from readers.

5. Point out your skills

Think of the specialties field as your personal search engineoptimiser, a way to refine the ways people find and rememberyou. This searchable section is where that list of industrybuzzwords from your CV belongs. Also, particular abilities andinterests, the personal values you bring to your professionalperformance, even a note of humor or passion.

6. Explain your experience

Help the reader grasp the key points: briefly say what the company does and what youdid or do for them. Picture yourself at that conference, again. After you’ve introducedyourself, how do you describe what you do, what your company does? Use those clear,succinct phrases here — and break them into visually digestible chunks.

7. Distinguish yourself from the crowd

Use the Additional Information section to round out your profile with a few keyinterests. Add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. Then edit the default“My Website” label to encourage click-throughs (you get Google page rankings forthose, raising your visibility). Maybe you belong to a trade association or an interestgroup; help other members find you by naming those groups. If you’re an awardwinner, recognised by peers, customers, or employers, add prestige without braggingby listing them here.

8. Ask and answer questions on LinkedIn posts

Thoughtful questions and useful answers build your credibility. The best ones givepeople a reason to look at your profile. Make a point of answering questions in yourfield, to establish your expertise, raise your visibility, and most importantly, to buildsocial capital with people in your network — you may need answers to a question ofyour own down the road.

9. Improve your Google page rank

Pat your own back and others’. Get recommendations from colleagues, clients, andemployers who can speak credibly about your abilities or performance. Think quality,not quantity. Ask them to focus on a specific skill or personality trait that drives theiropinion of you. Make meaningful comments when you recommend others. And mix itup — variety makes your recommendations feel authentic.

10. Build your connections

Connections are one of the most important aspects of your personal brand: thecompany you keep reflects the quality of your brand. What happens when you scan aprofile and see that you know someone in common? That person’s stock with yousoars. The value of that commonality works both ways. So identify connections thatwill add to your credibility and pursue those.

As you add connections and recommendations, your profile develops into apeer-reviewed picture of you, of your personal brand. Make sure it’s in focus, wellcomposed — and easy to find. Remember that permalink? Edit your public profile’sURL to reflect your name or tagline, then put it to work: add it to your blog, link to itfrom your website, include it in your e-mail signature. Then go start a conversation.

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