LinkedIn is great for making business-to-business connections. It’s the top platform for professionals to reach out to each other. It’s not only a great way to stay in touch with your current connections, but to help foster new relationships that could lead to opportunities in the future.
The only way these opportunities come up, though, are by having people view your profile. Just being connected may not be enough. You need to be top of mind. You need to be in their stream.
There is one feature of LinkedIn that provides valuable data that can drive you absolutely crazy: profile views. It will show you how many people have looked at your profile, and how that compares to others in the field.
This feature is really beneficial when you’re trying to gauge who your LinkedIn posts are resonating with. If you’re looking for a career switch, it can really help you see if your strategy is working.
Profile views and your rank brings out the competitive side of people. Of course, you want to be number one. Who doesn’t? Getting to the top may mean reworking your profile to get more views. Here are a few tips to help you reach new heights in profile views.
Being Active
Just hopping on LinkedIn every day can make a big difference. When you log in, you’ll be able to see all the activity of people you know, and all the posts and information they’re sharing. You can also use LinkedIn’s search function to check out topics related to your field. You’ll find some great connections this way as well.
There are lots of ways to stay active:
- Seek out new connections and say hello. Constantly browse the recommended connections section and see who’s jumped aboard LinkedIn. You can also see 2nd or 3rd connections that would be great to add.
- Comment on people’s status updates. These will appear in your stream. Pay special note to work anniversaries, new jobs and announcements by connections.
- Read articles and leave comments on things appearing in your stream. You never know, you just might learn something!
Update Your Picture
Make sure your picture is appropriate. How you look on LinkedIn matters. Make sure you look the part. Dress appropriately. Don’t use a selfie picture. It’s all about you, so make sure your picture reflects that.
The biggest mistake people make here is that they think the picture needs to be brilliant. It doesn’t. Trying to be brilliant may actually give you the opposite effect. You don’t want it to be hilarious for the wrong reasons.
Unless you’re in the type of business that lends itself to wacky photos, just keep it simple. This is your first impression for most people. Make a good one.
Being Active in Groups
Groups are great ways to get attention in your current field. Use LinkedIn’s search function to find groups related to your field of work or topics of interest.
Groups are a give-and-take relationship. You’ll only get out of them what you put into them. Comment on stories people share and share some of your own expertise. What makes a group relevant is the members in it. If you’re lucky, you’ll even get leads from your group.
Either way, being in a group will lead to more profile views. The more people you have in your circle, the more of them will likely have a chance to look at you.
Write a Good Headline
It might seem really simple to just write down your job title as your headline and not give it a second thought. However, for most of the people that will see your name, all they’ll see is your headline. If you just use the job title, you could be missing out.
Try to expand on your title to include your industry. Use LinkedIn to find similar people and see how they do their titles. For example:
- Instead of “Brand Expert” you can be more specific: “Brand Expert – Social Media”
- Instead of “VP of Sales”, let people know what industry “VP of Radio Sales Montana”
- Instead of “Marketing Coordinator”, let people know of what “Marketing Coordinator Wine and Beer NY”
The little details can make a big difference in how often your profile is searched for and viewed.
Post Often on Pulse
Posting content on LinkedIn is probably the second most important thing you can do after simply having a profile. If your content is valuable, you’ll be noticed more. Your content will get shared more often.
Creating content on the pulse isn’t very difficult if you’ve never done it before. Here’s a complete guide if you’re having trouble. The main thing you’ll want to remember is that this content needs a strategy, just like you’d have on your own site.
- Be relevant to yourself. Post about topics you know. If you’re musician, posting about food recipes won’t lead to more views from the right people.
- Be timely. Content that’s old or out of date won’t put you on the must-check-out list.
- Make it easy to read. Use subheadings, small paragraphs, and not a lot of fluff. Keep it to the point.
- Make it fun. Write in your own style. Use your own voice. This is about you after all.
Optimize Keywords
One of the most talked about secrets to a successful marketing strategy is optimize all your keywords. This includes your headline, but that should be fairly obvious.
When writing about yourself, or your past jobs, prioritize the keywords that you’re going after. If you think “Miami Content Marketing” are your words, work them into as many places as possible.
For example, instead of simply saying you were an “advertising coordinator”, you can say you were an “advertising coordinator specializing in Content Marketing for Miami businesses.”
Don’t try to keyword stuff your profile. You want your profile to sound natural. Just work your keywords into places they could go naturally. This will help a lot when people are searching Google, or using LinkedIn’s search tool.
Link to Your Profile
If you want views, the easiest way to do that is to link to your profile any chance you get. Make sure you link your profile on any possible website, forum, or social profile you have. If you can link to it using keywords, that’s just a bonus.
Many people look at LinkedIn like a professional resume. They check them out to find more about your business history.
You probably won’t want to put it on all print materials – unless it’s your actual resume. A business card is debatable. Most people just put the icon if anything.
With a little hard work, all of these little tips will add up to more views. You’ll be number one in no time!
Images: ”Ostersund, Sweden – August 1, 2015: Linkedin website under a magnifying glass. Linkedin is a business oriented social networking website. / Shutterstock.com“
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