10 tips to enhance LinkedIn visibility

In today’s world with high competition and ever changing business landscape, as an individual we need to stand out to get noticed. Thus, personal branding is a must need of the day. Personal branding is defined as a process of you creating an identity or brand, either for yourself or your business, and this involves a well defined and consistent look, message, and presence both online and offline. Everything that you either say or post digitally reflects on your personality.

LinkedIn has evolved into a strong corporate social platform, and thus by utilizing this platform, you have a strong opportunity to create awareness to both you and your brand. This shall bring value to your brand, open avenues to highlight and display your expertise to potential clients or recruiters, and thus leaving a powerful impact on your life, and in return adding a positive touch to it.

With about 875 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, LinkedIn has become one of the largest – if not the largest – professional networking platforms today. In other words, pretty much everybody around you is very likely to have their very own LinkedIn profile. Your profile provides you with the opportunity to get your name and face in front of thousands of professionals within and outside your industry.

However, having a profile is simply not enough in today’s day and age. You need a profile that draws attention to you and your accomplishments as well as enables you to connect with the people who can assist you in developing your career. Simply put, your LinkedIn profile page is the groundwork for your personal branding.

The internet is full of countless articles that go over a number of factors which make your profile stand out. However, we have compiled the top 10 profile features so that you don’t have to go through every article published on the internet. Some of these features are quick wins, while others may take a little bit of time – but one thing is for certain: every single one of these are absolutely crucial in ensuring that your LinkedIn profile stands out.

Tip one: Choosing the right profile picture

First impressions are everything – and that goes for your LinkedIn profile as well! Being the visual beings that we are, viewers want to be able to put a face to your profile. Statistics show that those without a photo are easily pushed aside by recruiters.

Some quick tips to get started with include making sure that your picture is a recent one. Additionally, make sure that it isn’t blurry, because your face should take up about 60% of the frame. Long distance shots don’t really stand out as viewers really want to get a good look of who you are. Moreover, wear what you would typically wear to work. Most importantly, smile with your eyes!

Tip two : Creating an eye-catching headline

Your headline will be the second thing viewers can see, right after your profile picture. Keeping this in mind, it is important that you include something that attracts recruiters. While the default settings tend to fill this part in with your current job title, which can be okay for starters, adding information that reflects your skillset and specialties will work better in your favor. After all, you are more than your job!

Some quick tips to get started with your headline include mentioning what you do well and how you can benefit the workplace you’re in. It is also important to keep your target audience in mind: are you targeting customers, recruiters, or industry peers? Remember, you have 120 characters to work with, so every word matters.

Tip three : Crafting your story in the summary

Just like the synopsis in the back of any book, your LinkedIn summary gives you the opportunity to tell your viewers your story in the way that you want. Unlike your headline, which limits you to 120 characters, your summary gives you 2,000 characters to work with. This allows you to dive deeper into not only your past
experiences but also what you can bring to the table. In other words, don’t just use the summary section to list your past job titles. Instead, try
bringing those skill sets to life and showcase to prospective employers why those skills matter and the differences they can potentially make.

While you do have a lot more room to work with compared to your headline, it would be more beneficial to not use up all 2000 characters. Studies show that attention spans are getting shorter, so it would be best if you keep your summary short, creative, and most importantly, professional.

Tip four : Avoiding buzzwords and using the right keywords

After crafting your profile’s headline and summary, it is absolutely crucial that you include relevant keywords. Terms such as ‘experienced’, ‘leadership’ and ‘focused’ have become some of the most over-used buzzwords on the professional networking platform. While you may still use these words in your profile, it is important to note that these words alone will not convince potential recruiters and employers that you have these qualities. After all, actions speak louder than words!

Some quick tips to find the right keywords for you include conducting a search of job descriptions that are attached to positions in your particular field of interest. It would be beneficial to select some of the most frequently quoted skills and duties and make sure to include those specific words throughout your LinkedIn profile.

Tip five : Highlighting your experiences and skillsets

An average LinkedIn profile would simply copy paste their entire
resume in this section. However, if you want your profile to stand out, you
should include jobs that you believe are relevant to the direction you want
your career to go in. Use anywhere between two to four impressive bullet points for each job you include, because as mentioned earlier, you will have thousands of viewers with short attention spans.

Using the right keywords is critical in this section, as doing so will help to authenticate the details included in your headline and summary sections. It is important to use engaging action words to showcase not just what you were able to do, but also what you were able to accomplish. Demonstrating the initiatives you’ve led, the impacts you’ve made, and the results you’ve delivered all while bringing them to life to showcase the differences you can make is the key to standing out to recruiters and employers.

Tip six : Becoming a digital extrovert and growing your network

Growing your connections on LinkedIn is the easiest and most relevant way to expand your digital network. Having a lot of connections can help you stay visible to others on the platform, as well as keeping your profile vibrant.

While you can connect with individuals who you don’t know, it is always preferred to connect with people who you may know personally, have worked with professionally, or met in some professional capacity. This allows you to connect with people who align with your career goals. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t connect with people who you don’t know yet. In the case of connecting with an individual you haven’t met or don’t have a direct connection to, it is wise to send a note with your request giving a brief introduction to yourself and why you would like to connect with them.

A quick tip to get started is to sync your LinkedIn profile to your email address book. Doing this will allow LinkedIn to suggest people for you to connect with. In addition to this, it is important to get into the habit of following up on conversations so that your network remains up-to-date.

Tip seven : Becoming value-active on LinkedIn

LinkedIn, as mentioned earlier, is one of the world’s largest professional networking platforms. The key word is networking: that means in order to get the most out of the digital platform, you need to remain active. Treating it as your personal online resume will not get you very far in your career. Instead, it is crucial to engage with other people’s posts, leave a like or a thoughtful comment, and share posts that you believe may be helpful to others. Moreover, it is beneficial to join groups on LinkedIn that align with your professional interests. This allows you to meet new people, make further connections, and more importantly, learn and share ideas.

A quick tip to get started is to simply post informative content relevant to your area of expertise regularly. This will allow you to use your profile to market yourself as an expert in the chosen field. Moreover, the content you put out and share can be an effective way of not only establishing your knowledge but also making new connections.

Tip eight : Asking for recommendations and getting endorsements from peers

Because they validate your skillset and increase your credibility, asking for and spreading recommendations and endorsements from other members on LinkedIn is one of the most important ways to make your profile stand out from the rest. This particular feature is a great opportunity to demonstrate your value in the digital space, as potential employers and recruiters want to know that others have approved of your work.

A quick tip to get started with recommendations is to go to your profile, click edit, and find the link that says Ask for Recommendations. With this, you can choose what you would like to be recommended for and can even select a list of people from your connections. It is important to really take some time and think about who’s recommendation you would most value. Reach out to specific contacts and remember to personalize your request. While this last step requires extra effort, the results will be worth your while.

As for endorsements, a great way to get started is to go through and identify connections who you believe should get an endorsement from you. With this, people will be more likely to return the favor and endorse you. The key is to reach out to people with a polite message, so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Another thing to keep in mind is to reach out to people whose endorsements have relevance. You may find that, once your endorsements start coming in, they don’t really reflect your key skills or who you are. This is completely fine, as long as you are proactive in managing your endorsements in the edit section of your LinkedIn profile. This will allow you to choose which endorsements to show and which ones to hide.

Tip nine : Customizing your URL

A URL is a unique digital address used to locate something on the internet. From an article on the web to a profile on LinkedIn, a URL is the key. This may arguably be the most important part of your LinkedIn profile as you would want your URL to be memorable for other users, recruiters, and employers.

When setting up your profile, the default URL that you are given will include your name and random numbers. In order for it to be memorable for others, you can click on the ‘edit your public LinkedIn URL’ button on the right-hand side of your profile. This will allow you to customize your URL and make it more concise.

Tip ten : Sharing your passion

Last but not least, after completing all of the above, it is
important that you share the learnings that you come across on LinkedIn. The more you engage in content that you are passionate about, the more you are able to market yourself as an expert in your chosen field.

Like other platforms in the digital space, LinkedIn gives users the opportunity to start conversations. In order for you to stand out from the rest of the crowd, start publishing long-form posts about a matter that interests you and monitor your response activity. You would be surprised to find particular topics you could expand on within what you had already discussed, starting newer conversations and engaging with a wider network of people.

A quick tip to get started is to go easy on yourself – take a couple minutes out of your day, whether it’s over a lunch break or in the evenings and try to think about what intrigues you the most. You will find yourself working through your ideas one after the other, making progress quickly as you go. Keep a close eye on your LinkedIn feed for posts that may align with your thoughts and begin sharing content that you are genuinely passionate about. Adding your own twist to the conversation will spark greater conversations, and you’ll be amazing by what a difference one post can make!

Written by Noman Ali & Manal A. Abaali

References:

Chase,
Ken. “12 Ways to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Stand out (2023 Guide).” TopResume,
Dec. 2022, www.topresume.com/career-advice/10-ways-to-create-a-winning-linkedin-profile.

Deehan,
Jane. “20 Steps to a Better LinkedIn Profile in 2023.” LinkedIn, Jan.
2023,
www.linkedin.com/business/sales/blog/profile-best-practices/17-steps-to-a-better-linkedin-profile-in-2017.