I believe every small business should have a LinkedIn profile even if you are not actively using Instagram to market your business.
Why? Because LinkedIn is super popular at the moment and I don't want you to miss a customer who expects to find you there!
This video will teach you how to optimize your LinkedIn profile.
This optimization will increase your views, attract more strategic connections to you, showcase the results you consistently deliver to happy customers, and lead to more business.
I did quite a bit of research to create this video because I wanted to bring you the latest and greatest information to make your LinkedIn profile AWESOME! I imagined piecing toether information from different sources. But then I cam a cross a Podcast titled "LinkedIn" dated 2016 by the Blogging Millionaire. The host's name is Brandon Gaille and his tips were fantastic so I must give full credit for this video to Brandon. Instead of just suggesting yo listen to his podcast, I decided to make this video so I could screen share my LinkedIn profile and Canva so I could show you how I implemented Brandon's step-by-step guidance.
Here are The Blogging Millionaire's Tips (with a few tweaks based on my implementation) for creating an optimized LinkedIn profile:
- Use a good photo. Think about if you were going to meet your ideal customer to make a sale (whether it be in your store, your office or at your potential customer’s office) OR you are going for a job interview for your ideal position, what would you wear? Wear THAT in your photo. Remember to smile with your teeth showing, look at the camera and show your whole face (nothing blocking!).
- Utilize the background image to share testimonials about your work. Use www.canva.com and create a custom size banner of 1400x375.
Remember. Part of the banner will be blocked by your profile picture. The tricky part is that when it is on a computer screen the profile pic blocks the bottom left side of the banner (about 1/3 of the top of the left side shows) and when it is on your phone your profile picture appears in the center of the banner. For that reason you basically want to leave everything blank on the bottom but the right side- that never gets covered up.
Therefore, Include your logo on the upper left corner of your design.
In the center include 3 testimonials next to which you can add gold stars. You could add a photo back ground but I like the clean white look. Preview how this looks on your profile then make adjustments. I chose to have 2 testimonials in the middle of the banner that can’t be seen when people view my profile from their phone because the profile pic covers it up. I still think it looks nice because the top line can be read clearly.
- Headline- we want to create a professional headline that compels people to read your profile. It is the most important part of your linked in profile. It is the text that shows up right below your name. Unless someone already know you, your name won’t mean anything to people.. it’s your profile that people are searching for. There are 3 areas on linkedin where your headline shows up.
- At the top of any message you to send people.
- At the top of the “who has viewed your linkedin profile” This section shows you the name and professional headline of people who looked at your profile.
- Your headline shows up in the search results. The majority of searches are for talent to fill job and people they are looking to do business with.
So if someone searches under services provided… a list of people just like you will show up… a great headline will help you stand out.
Brandon’s Headline Formula=
Product you are promoting + Social proof + URL
The trick is to turn your product/service into an action to make it sound like a sales position.
- Current Position- where you are working currently. This is edited in the Experience Section of LinkedIn. Listed on your profile under Current Position will be the title of the company where you work. If you have been on LinkedIn for more than 7 days and have an email address with the company named, then you can create a company page for your business. I followed this video to create my Company Page:
- Call to action links in your contact info. This isn’t visible to people when they are on linked in… but it is seen on your public profile. In your contact info put your email. And 3 websites. What is cool is you can include custom link text and turn it into a call to action Instead of the deafault words that show up.
- Summary- Craft a summary that will make you want them to do business with you. This will bring the sale home. Create a well thought out pitch for each action you want viewers to take on your profile. Brandon suggests 300-400 words. Tell them the problem you solve then how you solve it and then tell them how to get in touch with you.
Brandon suggests humanizing the pitch in the last sentence with some personal information. I said I live in Miami, Florida with my husband and 3 children. Then, as Brandon directed I included a few photos from work and one with my family. I also included a video commercial. The experts all say that video is key now.
That wraps up updating your LinkedIn profile, but while you are there I want you to make sure your LinkedIn profile has a custom URL. You can share this in your email signature, on your business cards, as another point of contact for your potential customers.
