Building a professional LinkedIn Profile is not that hard.  Well, maybe not for us at Aston Social because we have built dozens upon dozens of profiles that have made a good impression on others.

However, we really love sharing and we do not like keeping things to ourselves so we have created a list that would help businesses build the right profile for their personal brand.  This one is on us!

Here’s our checklist for building a professional personal LinkedIn profile:

  1. You got to have an informative headline

Your profile headline should include:

  • your job title
  • industry keywords
  • professional aspiration

Make it informative.  Make it all about your professional self.  This is a business social media platform so be professional about your dreams.  Where do you work? What do you do? These can be found on your main profile but for your headline you can just put the three details above.

For example:

James Dominic

Aston Social, Professional Photographer

Landscape Photography, Portrait Photography, Candid Shots, Weddings

  1. Choose a professional photo or have new photos taken

Sure, you would want to save a few bucks by getting your photo taken by your handy high pixel cellphone camera but do you really want the first impression about you be along the lines of cheap?  We sure hope not. Spend some money and go ahead and have a professional take your photos. Unless you are a professional photographer, there is just no way that you can get away from spending money on this.

  1. Go ahead and add some important contact information

What classifies as important contact information?  They are the following:

  • email address
  • website
  • business/company name
  • other vital information

The idea is to be reachable at any point in time so leave details that you know the public can know.  Your business phone number is a yes but your personal one is a no. Just know what you can share and what you cannot.

  1. Invest time on your profile summary

You are busy and so are the people who would be browsing your profile for possible business.  Would you really want them bored with the way that you present yourself? We sure hope not so maybe it is time to invest on your profile summary.  Make it catchy. Make it count. There is just not a way for you to forget everything that you have accomplished in your life so far.

  1. Do not skimp on your education and your achievements

LinkedIn is the perfect way to tell the people who you are and what you have achieved professionally.  While these facts do not really count on Facebook and other social media, they do count on LinkedIn.

Pro Tip: You should probably choose the top 3 of your background – the top schools that you went to, the top companies that you have worked for, and do not forget the top position that you have reached.

Aston Social calls all of these details the “meat” of your profile.  If you provide just the right meat, you would definitely get the juicy details that you have always wanted.

Extension Tips:

So you have made your profile, now what?  These are the things that would further add to the quality of your profile.

  1.  You should also show off your skills

This is your chance and you should not miss it.  Make sure that you show off your skills and tell the world of what you can do.  Limit those skills to the following categories:

  1. Work trainings and seminars you have attended
  2. Certifications on certain skills that you have learned how to master.
  3. Skills that you would want to share to a possible employer.

  1. Do not be afraid to add some media on your profile

Most business profiles forget to make use of this aspect of LinkedIn but we at Aston Social encourage everyone to make sure that they would add some color to their profile. Nobody likes a boring person so you still have to show off your cool side.

 

Time to Connect!

LinkedIn is all about the connections. It would not be called as a networking site if it does not serve the purpose of connecting people to the right company. Make sure that you take some time to connect.  Here are some tips that you should probably remember:

  1. Add professional connections

LinkedIn is not like Facebook in a sense that it would be okay to add strangers to the fold of people you are connected to.  You need a very wide business profile and also a very wide network so make sure that you connect to people.

The rule of thumb that we have shared to our clients is that they can connect to people who are already connected to their personal contacts by two degrees.  You can always add total strangers but that would be left to your sound discretion.

  1. Go ahead and Join a Group

LinkedIn is all about making sure that you are a part of a community of professionals under the same work as you are.  Join a group and be active in it. You do not need to spend 24 hours on that group, just a little bit of interactions here and there would suffice to keep your profile alive and to keep your group happy.

Remember, everyone else is busy so you should know that you also just give a few minutes to the group and they would not mind. Joining groups have a lot of advantages so you should really see to it that you join in.

Final Tip: Always Update Your Profile

You now have a business profile; how do you maintain it?  

You always update it and make sure that every detail you put in there would count.  Post during the best days of the week. Studies have shown that the best days of the week are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before work 8:00am – 8:30am, or towards the end of the work day 4:00pm -6:00pm.

What are the updates that you should put on your profile? They are the following:

  • Links to your company blog – added a post lately?  Share this update on your profile so that people of the same field would read it.
  • Interesting and relevant articles – read something new lately?  Maybe after fact checking it you can share those articles to your LinkedIn connections.  
  • Events you’re attending – attending an event?  You may end up reaching a bigger network when you announce it on your page.
  • Recent projects – what are you up to? You can always share them with the group.
  • Industry tips and business news – like articles, share these only after fact checking.

Now that you know how to create and maintain a LinkedIn profile, go ahead and try to make it your own personal source of sales.

However, if you want a professional to handle your profile, you can always go to us! Aston Social has everything that you need when it comes to your LinkedIn profile and other social media needs.  Take advantage of our professionals at costs that you can definitely shoulder. We give out free tips and free trainings like this one as well so you would really get value above anything else.