Want to supercharge your career? So do we! The goal of this post is to help you maximize all three benefits of LinkedIn: discoverability, credibility, and visibility.
Discoverability
Your unique blend of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) isn’t going to mean very much if no one can find you on LinkedIn. That is why you need to: find relevant job advertisements and the LinkedIn profiles of those holding a similar position; review them carefully for those words and phrases you see repeated; and make a list of these “keywords.”
Keywords facilitate the organization and search for content on the Internet. For example, a recruiter seeking a person able to design buildings may search on LinkedIn – or a search engine like Google – for profiles that include the keyword “architect.” That will generate a list of all the profiles that include “architect.”
“But,” you may be wondering, “won’t that list have too many answers to be valuable?” BINGO. That’s why an effective search combines a mix of keywords and generates a smaller, better-defined set of results. In this case, they might include other keywords such as “architectural drawings,” “blueprints,” “CAD/CAM,” and other words or phrases common to that kind of job.
Look inside the head of an employer who is looking to hire someone with your KSAs. List a few words and phrases you would search for. (Go ahead – we’ll wait.)
Or what if someone who may have met or heard about you is looking specifically for you? And what if they cannot remember how to spell your name right? Or what if yours is a name that computer systems change – ever hear of “auto-correct”? Whether it’s a person or a computer that misspells your name, you can ensure that your profile still gets found by including common misspellings at the bottom of your LinkedIn summary.
For instance, the President of one of the Profile Proud Alliance companies – and the author of this (awesome) blog post – is named “Mary D’Rozario.” Commonly misspelled “D’Rosario,” because of the fact that, even today, many computer systems cannot handle apostrophes, at the bottom of her LinkedIn profile summary section, you’ll see: “D’Rosario”; “Drozario”; “Drosario”; “D Rozario”; and “D Rosario.”
Conversely, some people’s names are too easy to spell – because there are hundreds, or even thousands, of people with the same name. If that is the case with your name, consider consistently using and publicizing a middle name or middle initial to make it easier to find you. If you do not have a middle initial, you can make one up. (When Michael J. Fox first started acting, there was already another “Michael Fox” registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Because he didn’t like the idea of using his own middle name of “Andrew” or the initial “A,” he chose “J” in homage to actor Michael J. Pollard.)
Finally, make sure your profile has a picture that is professional and actually looks like you do today. It helps people find and recognize you. Did you know that one’s face has a deep psychological impact that makes it more (or less) likely to select your profile? A top-quality head shot may cost a couple of hundred dollars but, because you can use the same one for at least two years, it is a good investment. (In this case, a picture may be worth more than just a thousand words – it may be worth a thousand dollars!) If you cannot afford a professional picture, have a friend take a lot and use the best one. The secret to getting a good picture with a lower-quality camera, such as the one on your cell phone, is simply to take a lot of them.
Credibility
A resume and a cover letter are private communications. You can say anything whether or not it’s true – and studies continue to reveal that most people “bend the truth” at least a little. Is it any wonder then that recruiters and hiring managers would rather review LinkedIn profiles than depend on the honesty of strangers?
Because it’s unlikely that a person is going to lie about him/herself in plain view of former colleagues, who know the truth, your LinkedIn profile is considered more credible than just a resume and cover letter.
To enhance your overall credibility, therefore, you also need what is called “social validation.” For example, if you say you are a leader in your field, you need a lot of LinkedIn connections to others in your industry to validate that claim. On the other hand, if you only have three links, you fail to validate your claim – and your honesty may be called into question by a savvy reader.
Once you have more than 500 links, LinkedIn simply shows “500+.” There is no reason for you to have less than 100 links. Therefore, it’s wise to keep thinking about new people you can connect with, adding them, and, eventually, having a noteworthy number of quality links. To avoid getting shut down by LinkedIn for spamming, be sure to add your links carefully. Limit your invitations to connect to only those you already know – or ask a mutual connection to make an introduction. If there is someone to whom you’d like to be connected, you can also join groups that he/she belongs to and then make the request through that channel.
Visibility
Everyone knows that the key to a great career is a great network. Now that you have your connections, don’t waste your efforts – get your face seen. LinkedIn allows you to write updates the same way you can write an update on a platform like Facebook. However, these should be very different from those you post on Facebook.
Consider the individuals to whom you are now connected and what would be useful to them. Your goal is to deliver useful information that they might have otherwise missed. For example, perhaps there was a major news item, but it doesn’t get around to saying how it relates to your industry until the end of the article. Busy people are going to miss that, but – lucky you! – the news broke when you were looking at Twitter on your lunch hour and you read the entire link.
Now you can write something very short that provides a fresh take on the article. Even though LinkedIn will let you write a lot, you want to keep it brief. In fact, it’s best if you can write something as short as a 140-character tweet. This post of yours will do more than just be of value to your contacts; even if they do not click on the link, they will see your face in front of them and recognize you as being knowledgeable. Moreover, if they comment on or like the post, your face will now be in front of all of their contacts in addition to your own.
There you have it: to maximize the impact of your LinkedIn profile, you need to make it easy for people to: find you (discoverability); believe you are who you say (credibility); and see you as a valuable resource (visibility).
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Mary D’Rozario is the President of CRP Social Media, which provides social media management focused on the health care and life science industries. For more info on personal social media management – and Profile Proud workshops – sign up for the CRP Social Media Newsletter.
