How To Enhance Your LinkedIn Profile

In business, just like in life, it is important that we make a positive and lasting first impression.  This is extremely vital when it comes to our social media presence.  We have one chance for someone viewing our profile for the first time to impress them and let them know exactly what we do and what makes us different. A few months ago, LinkedIn softly rolled out a feature to some (not all) of its users that enabled the use of media such as photos, videos and presentations to be inserted into our profile summary and other areas.  Recently, LinkedIn gave all of it's users this ability and I want to show you how to use this feature effectively, along with a couple of  other tips to highlight yourself and set you apart from your competition.


1.  Update your headshot:  Hiring a headshot photographer for the day is well worth the investment, especially if it has been a few years since you have had one.  Using a non-professional image can give the impression that you are...well..unprofessional.  Nothing makes a first impression like a clean, high definition headshot done by a professional.


2. Add Video and Pictures Your "Summary": Every profile can tell our potential clients and referral partners exactly what we do.  LinkedIn now give us the ability to show them as well.  This is a great opportunity to show off your skills.  If you have a particular product you would like to display, you can add a picture of it in the summary.  This gives your prospects an idea of the products you have to offer.  If your business involves providing a service, such as attorney, this is a great chance to plug in a promotional YouTube video, link to your blog, or PowerPoint presentation.

Here is where you add the media within the summary section (below red arrow):

From there you can upload a file (picture) or add a link:

You can add media throughout your profile anywhere you see one of these:  
3. Complete Your Profile:  I know this sounds obvious, but you would be surprised how many profiles are incomplete on LinkedIn.  This is important because, just like in search engines, LinkedIn ranks our pages based on our profiles being optimized.  Having a complete and thorough profile can be the difference in being selected for a project over someone else when a business is searching for someone in your niche.  Keeping our profiles up to date is a must as well.


LinkedIn is a powerful tool to grow your business and if you use it to it's full capabilites, referrals will start to flow in.  It's always easier to attract more business when someone is already impressed by you before they even meet you!  Please feel free to share this with anyone that it may help. Thanks!