LinkedIn profiles : How to use them to market yourself and to network?

With over 300 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking site. When searching for a new job, having a strong LinkedIn profile is very important for enhancing your visibility, networking with other professionals and building your own personal brand.(Christine, 2014)

Fig 1.1 Tips to create a great LinkedIn Profile Christine (2014). Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1yWOMwg

In this blog, we will talk about few tips to build a good LinkedIn profile, to use the LinkedIn profile to network and to market yourself.(Christine, 2014)

To Build an Effective LinkedIn Profile

1.  Include a professional picture: LinkedIn profiles with pictures are more likely to get clicked on than ones without a photo. Your LinkedIn photo should be a professional head-shot that accurately represents you.(Christine, 2014)

2. Use a strong headline: The headline is the most important part of your LinkedIn profile. It should grab the viewers’ attention and make them want to find out more about you. State your specialty, include important keywords and be specific and creative. Example Headline- A person who likes to work in systems and love to do coding.Dream project is a system project from scratch development.

Fig 1.2 LinkedIn Profile .Osborne Tom(2014). Retrieved from http://linkd.in/12d49qe

3. Detailed summary section: Having a detailed summary section in your LinkedIn profile helps increase the chances that your profile will pop-up in search results. Make sure to include key words in your summary section that are closely related to the job that you are currently in or the position you are currently seeking out.(Christine, 2014)

4. Ask for recommendations from colleagues: Recommendations give recruiters and hiring managers a sense of your work ethic and your ability to work well with others. Well-written recommendations will help boost your reputation. One way to secure recommendations is by offering to write one in return.(Christine, 2014)

5. Join LinkedIn groups to improve your visibility:

Fig 1.3. LinkedIn Groups. Osborne Tom(2014). Retrieved from http://linkd.in/12d49qe

Joining LinkedIn groups helps increase the visibility of your profile. It increases the chances that your profile will be viewed by the right audience. A good place to start is by joining your Alma mater’s official group and monitoring the discussions that are taking place. Also consider joining groups that are related to your field.(Christine, 2014)

6.Posting Status Updates: keep in mind that LinkedIn is a “social” network. Use LinkedIn to share articles that you find interesting, or things that your company is doing and that you are proud of. This will help position you as an individual who not only understands how to use LinkedIn as a professional platform, but also to connect with others in your network on a more personal level. (Christine, 2014)

To Use LinkedIn for Building Your Personal Brand

To effectively use LinkedIn for building your personal brand, I will share five useful tips (Osborne, 2014)

• Profile Pictures: People are a lot more comfortable interacting with accounts that feel human so add a photo that is 70-85% your face.(Linkedin Inc, 2013)
• Bio-data:Try to keep opening sentences across all social profiles the same. It’s good when people try and find you and also for search engines.Try to keep things short and to the point. Too often you see people’s life stories on LinkedIn and people simply just click away when presented with lines of text so cut the fluff.
• Banner Space: Be sure to use Banner space on company pages and personal profiles to create your brand online. Again great from when people are trying to recognize you and can also give a more professional feel. Banner space on your personal profiles can highlight achievements or projects. Again adding a personal touch here works wonders.
• Backgrounds:Change the background where possible. When you click a profile the ones that stand out are the ones without standard backgrounds, some can be great and include logos, links etc, but a simple color change still makes a profile stand out.
• Branding and Links: Top three free websites that help you brand yourself are: About.me, Flavors.me, Brand Yourself.com

Christine P(2014). 5 ways to improve your LinkedIn Profile. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1yWOMwg

Osborne Tom(2014)(LinkedIn). 5 Tips to Build Your Personal Brand. Retrieved from http://linkd.in/12d49qe

LinkedIn Inc.(2013). Top 10 LinkedIn Business Marketing Tips. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1rKTAWK