While LinkedIn can be a useful networking tool, it’s not easy to stand out among the half-billion other users who are also trying to make an impression.
However, even a few minor changes might have a significant impact. Better, all it takes is five minutes to elevate your LinkedIn profile to the next level.
LinkedIn is always expanding, with new features that can help you in developing your brand and connecting with your target audience.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use LinkedIn’s other important features to expand your network and increase your productivity.
5 Ways to Build your LinkedIn Profile more Effectively
- List of Connections
One of the greatest features of LinkedIn is the ability to maintain all of your contacts in one place and connect with them over time. You control your roster, thus having your people in your email contacts is valuable. However, people leave organizations, and if your only link to them is through their company email (which is often), you’ve lost touch with them.
Regardless matter how many times your contacts change jobs, their LinkedIn profile will very certainly remain consistent as they go from ship to ship. That means you still have a way to communicate with them even if their email bounce. Companies come and go, and LinkedIn features change all the time, so download a list of your contacts and save it for safekeeping regularly (at least once a quarter).
- Research Others
Trying to hire top talent, research a competitor, or learn more about a potential client? Or maybe you’re just shy and don’t want people to know you’re looking at them? Private Mode, on the other hand, can be your best friend. You can choose “anonymous LinkedIn member” in your profile viewing options in your privacy settings, allowing you to be completely anonymous in your investigation.
Just keep in mind that anonymity comes at a cost. You won’t be able to see the subset of people that visit your profile if you’re in Private Mode.
- Help to pronounce your name correctly
Help others in pronouncing your name correctly. If you’re someone whose name causes others to stumble when they say it, make it easy for those getting to know you by posting an audio clip of you saying your name the way you prefer to hear it. It exhibits your brand’s empathy, relieving some of the burden on a new contact who would otherwise be left to guess.
- Access your assets
Let’s face it, LinkedIn has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a virtual Resume and a hub for e-networking. It’s now the hub for managing your job, building your brand, and engaging with your audience. The change has been massive and rapid.
That means it’s difficult to keep track of everything you’re doing on LinkedIn. When you’re on the home page, there’s a helpful option called “My items” near the top of the lefthand column, which includes your profile image at the top. This is where you can find information on the LinkedIn Learning courses you’re enrolled in, the projects you’ve started, and the posts you’ve saved. It’s a time-saving feature you’ll come to love as you use it more.
Expect LinkedIn to add more important items to the list so you can reach them quickly and easily.
LinkedIn is brimming with opportunities to improve your brand and simplify your success strategies.
- Be Strategic About Your Endorsed Skills
Do you have endorsements for several other basic talents that don’t help you stand out (think Microsoft Word and Google Docs)? If that’s the case, they’re detracting. Include keywords that make you more searchable in your skills area, and reinforce the story you’re telling about who you are and what you can do. So, go to that section and do the following three things:
- Remove any abilities that aren’t relevant (hint: you shouldn’t list Facebook unless you’re social media trained and manage professional pages).
- Skills that are essential for someone in your industry and role should be included.
- Rearrange the skills on the list so that the most important ones are at the top.
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