Whether you’re a LinkedIn beginner or a long time user, there are a few basic features of your profile that you would already have. You may have a profile picture, an experience section, and even a summary of any hobbies or extracurricular activities that you have undertaken.
Once you have completed these sections, it can be difficult to figure out how you can take your profile to the next level. LinkedIn can be an excellent tool for professional networking so it is important to know how you can get the most out of it.
Read on to learn 7 tricks on how you can make the most out of your professional LinkedIn bio.
Be active on your LinkedIn profile
Many users make the mistake of creating a LinkedIn profile and forgetting to stay active on it. If you want to use LinkedIn to benefit your career, there are a few things you can do daily, weekly, and monthly. Your daily activities can include engaging with your homepage feed. You can do this in a few minutes before work in the morning or before going to bed at night. Scroll through recent updates and like and comment on a few posts. This will help you show others that you are regularly active on your profile and can easily be reached.
Your weekly activity could be to post something to update others on your achievements or interests. You can make posts on career development seminars you attend or short courses you undertake to upskill yourself. If you see articles or posts that you find relevant to your industry, you can post these on your feed as well.
Keep your bio updated
Monthly, you can aim to keep your profile updated in case you can’t do this daily or weekly. Be sure to add any accomplishments to your profile that are relevant to your career. Making sure you have an updated, impressive profile will help bring opportunities to you, especially when recruiters look through LinkedIn profiles for candidates such as yourself.
Boost your profile with media
Adding media to your profile can help you make your profile more engaging, which will keep recruiters from just skimming through it. Possible media you can include may be links to blog posts you’ve written and PowerPoints or videos that you have made relevant to your career.
Post an article
LinkedIn offers an online blogging platform for you to post your thoughts and ideas. This is a great way for you to show others your ideas and get some recognition from other influential figures in your industry. Posting articles can get you involved in the LinkedIn community, giving you a stronger identity than just what your biography has to offer.
Good articles answer a question, explore an issue, or provide multiple opinions on a subject to a reader. You can write about new innovations in your industry, debatable issues, and/or offer advice to others in your industry. Each post should feature your own original thoughts and give the reader something to think about.
Follow important figures in your industry
If you are unable to connect with someone in your industry that you admire, you can certainly still follow them to keep up with their activity. Following someone’s profile means that you can see their posts and articles but they won’t be able to see yours. This is a good option if you want to follow a few big names in your industry. You can keep up to date with what kind of professional development they are undertaking and any short courses they recommend.
Pay attention to people who look at your LinkedIn profile
LinkedIn offers you a feature to see who is viewing your profile. You should reach out to people who are viewing your profile because they are usually people in your industry or recruiters searching for prospective employees. Request to connect with people who view your profile–you never know what you may get from networking with new people. Scroll through the names that have viewed your profile and see where they are from. If you notice anyone from a company you are interested in, it’s a good idea to check their website and see if they have any positions open.
Try and generate real-life connections
Using LinkedIn to network online is a great starting point, but if you can turn these into real-life connections, you will see many opportunities come your way. Once you have built a clear rapport with someone, you may want to extend your conversations outside of the online sphere. You can ask if they will be attending any industry events that you should also go to, or arrange a meetup to discuss ideas face-to-face. This will help you build genuine relationships with people in your field.
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Caroline Schmidt writes the blogs for Kangan Institute. She is passionate about education, careers, and giving advice to students of all ages.