Professionals should develop their brand on LinkedIn. If they’re helping grow the company’s brand, they also should do the same with theirs. Unfortunately, not everyone is keen on doing so. This article has the top tips to ensure that you have a flawless LinkedIn profile.

As a professional, you may have invested time and resources in helping build brands. You’re good at it because you trained for it. However, have you applied those skills to build your own. Is your LinkedIn profile all spruced up?
You may say countless times that you’re so busy you don’t get to spend time marketing yourself. You may even think it’s egotistical or selfish. However, it would help to build your brand and not sell yourself short. LinkedIn can help you make it, and you should be careful about creating your profile page because it’s the backbone of your brand. So give time to plan what to include in your LinkedIn profile.
If you plan to have or already have your page, here are some top practices to boost your LinkedIn profile:
- Post a suitable LinkedIn profile picture.
You can consider your profile picture as your LinkedIn calling car. You introduce yourself to others through your LinkedIn profile. Thus, it would be best to make a lasting first impression. Therefore, you should ensure that you post the most recent picture that perfectly resembles you. Moreover, your face should occupy 60% of the space, meaning you can’t post a long-distance shot. Lastly, you should be in business attire. Don’t forget to smile with your eyes.
- Choose a background photo.
Your profile page has a second visual element – your background picture. It helps set the context, grab others’ attention, and show more about you. If you choose an appropriate background photo, your page will stand out, remain memorable, and engage more LinkedIn members.
- Write a creative headline.
Your profile page’s description can be anything, not just a job title. You may use it to introduce yourself, and your career, among other things.
- Bring your LinkedIn summary to life.
Your LinkedIn summary is essential and shouldn’t be blank when you create your profile. It should tell your story and not just your job titles or skills. You can present your skills differently by making it lively and not dull to read. You should spend time writing it and ask others to give feedback before putting a polished summary.
- Don’t join the bandwagon. Stop using buzzwords.
Buzzwords are vital, but you can’t create a string of over-used and meaningless buzzwords. You may still use them, but you should demonstrate these buzzwords as you describe yourself. Moreover, don’t forget to use LinkedIn features to show readers who you are.
These buzzwords include the following terms:
- Leadership
- Specialized
- Strategic
- Focused
- Passionate
- Experienced
- Creative
- Expert
- Certified
- Innovative
- Increase your LinkedIn connections.
If you want your LinkedIn network to grow faster, you should synch your email address book with your LinkedIn profile. Then, the platform will suggest people you can connect with through email. It’s an efficient and relevant way. Moreover, the app will only send connection requests if you approve them. In addition, you should follow up on conversations and meetings with connection requests to update your network.
- Include relevant skills only.
You should check LinkedIn’s list of skills and choose the relevant ones. Moreover, they substantiate your LinkedIn Summary and Headline and offer a way for other people to endorse you. It’s critical to stay relevant; therefore, you should only include core skills. Perform spring cleaning of your skills regularly.
- Highlight the services you provide.
If you’re a freelancer, freelancer, or a small business owner, you should use LinkedIn’s new feature – Services – to list various services you offer. This way, you boost your chances of visibility in search results.
- Endorse and be endorsed.
Check your network and endorse deserving people. You’ll get their endorsements as they return the favor. Moreover, you can message them to request approval for some of your skills. However, you should only request valuable endorsements and not ask everyone to substantiate your skills.
It would be best to continue trimming your endorsements. Include only those aligned with your LinkedIn profile. For instance, if content marketing is your core skill, you should only include those endorsements that reflect this skill. Don’t be afraid to edit them by choosing which ones to hide and which to show.
- Take the online skills assessment.
It would help if you took an online skills assessment to show prospective employers your skill level. You can show a Verified Skills badge once you pass a test. Job applicants with verified skills have at least a 30% chance of getting hired than those without them. You may or may not share your assessments’ results. Moreover, you may retake them as often as you want.
Final Thoughts
If you have a LinkedIn profile, you should ensure that you create a consistent personal brand. First, follow the tips in this article to attract the right connections and employers. Then, amplify your profile to generate the returns you want.
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