Optimize Your Social Profile: LinkedIn

Long gone are the days when LinkedIn is just for job seekers. Over the years, LinkedIn has transformed into a platform for professionals to showcase their work, network with like-minded people, and learn from industry experts.

It’s not just for individuals, either. It’s a great place to promote your business, whether that entails the product or service you’re selling or recruiting new employees, you can benefit from incorporating LinkedIn into your social strategy.

There are fundamental differences between managing a business profile and a personal profile, especially when optimizing them for success. Keep reading, and we’ll break it down for both!

 

Business Page

Profile Picture

Just like all other platforms, your profile picture should be your logo. As a business, you want people to begin recognizing your logo and the best way to do that is to have it everywhere! This should be a high-resolution image that can be cropped into a square without cutting anything off.

 

Cover Photo

While your profile picture is a no-brainer, your cover photo requires more creativity. The one requirement is sizing, of course, but a few things to keep in mind are making sure it is on-brand and engaging. Keep any text or images in the center or right aligned to avoid covering anything with the profile picture. Including your logo on your cover photo isn’t necessary since it will sit alongside your profile picture, but including a tagline or images representing your business and values will satisfy the job of the cover photo.

 

Tagline

Your tagline is placed right below your profile picture and is what you could consider your “elevator pitch.” You only have 120 characters so use them wisely! You can briefly describe what you do and who you help. Keep this short and sweet.

 

Description

Here is where you will… you guessed it… describe your business. You have a 2,000-character limit, so we recommend giving a longer-form description of your business and including any keywords prospects may use to search for your services. These keywords will later help increase your visibility within LinkedIn and Google.

 

Website

In the about section, you have the opportunity to link to your website. Utilize this! A call-to-action (CTA) button, “Learn More,” will direct visitors to your website. Never forget that your goal is to move the discussion off the social media platform and take the conversation to a more personal level, including their inbox or setting up a face-to-face conversation.

 

Hashtags

Engagement is key on all social platforms, and LinkedIn is no different. Unfortunately, as a business page, you don’t have the ability to engage with outside posts, only on your own. However, you do have the opportunity to “watch” 3 hashtags that are relevant to your business. By adding these to your profile, you can engage with related posts. This will help increase exposure while creating brand awareness. 

 

Personal Page

Managing a social presence from a personal page is quite different from a business page, but the benefits are similar. For business owners, I recommend utilizing a personal page to truly be the face and voice of your business. Personal LinkedIn pages are also great for employee advocacy. 

 

Profile Picture

Personal branding is of utmost importance in this day and age. As a business owner, you are the face of your business, and being seen as a thought leader in your industry will build credibility for your business. Your profile picture should be a professional headshot that is on-brand.

 

Cover photo

As mentioned above, your cover photo should remain on brand and keep any text or images right aligned so that nothing is covered by the profile picture. This could be a professional picture of you talking in front of a crowd to create a reputation or a graphic describing your business’ services. Whatever you choose, it is a focal point for your profile, so be sure that it aligns with your brand.

 

Creator Mode

Like all other platforms, the LinkedIn algorithm favors those that are creating original content. Creator mode was made to prioritize content creators and give them more access to tools that will benefit them. Some of these tools include new features like Lives, Audio Events, Newsletters, and Followers (rather than connections).

 

About

Just like your business page, this is where you can describe what you do and who you help. With a 2,600-character limit, feel free to use all the keywords to increase your position in the search rankings. Talk about your core values, your experience, and what brought you to do what you do now.

 

Optimizing your LinkedIn business and personal profiles is just the first step to setting yourself up for success. Like other social media platforms, a solid strategy and exceptional content will be the defining factors in whether or not LinkedIn can genuinely work for your business. Simply “having a presence” is no longer enough. Be sure to check out our other blogs on optimizing your other social profiles, and contact our team if you’d like to set up a time to discuss how we can help you utilize these channels and generate leads for your business.

 

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