When is the last time you updated your LinkedIn profile? Many of us change, rearrange, and update our Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest and other various personal profiles at least weekly, but let our LinkedIn profiles, where updated information is paramount for professional networking, sit stagnant.
Updated information is especially important for business owners, trying to build their presence online. Potential clients, customers, and partners won’t spend much time on a profile filled with old information. There are three things business owners should watch for while updating their profiles:
Unprofessional Photos
Your profile picture should present you at your professional best and a headshot is a great way to put your best face forward. As with outdated information, outdated photographs should also be avoided. While you may look a little younger, or a few pounds thinner, looking “better” could backfire. If a potential client is expecting the person they saw in your profile picture, but see someone else at your first meeting, it could make them wonder what else you’re fudging the truth about.
You don’t need a glamour shot, and the photos need not be expensive. All you need is a decent camera (or a friend with one) and a blank wall. Wear what fits your business, if your typical attire is a t-shirt and jeans, a photo can represent as much, as long as t-shirts are well-kept and don’t sport something a potential client could find offensive.
And, although you may have great pictures of your children, spouse, or pets, perspective customers don’t necessarily want to see them.
Avoid Random Recommendations
While Twitter is all about the number of followers you have, not so with LinkedIn. You want to make good, solid, real connections. Don’t gather up recommendations from random acquaintances just for the sake of having more of them. Real recommendations from people who truly know you and your skills, that can speak honestly about them is key. Exaggerating, or outright lying, is just bad form and will backfire.
Padding your resume, saying you have years of experience performing a particular job when it was only a few months, should be avoided. Potential clients and customers will be researching you to confirm that you are who and what you say you are. If they don’t find out prior to doing business with you, the lack of experience will shine through when you’re unable to provide the services they’ve requested and bad reviews spread like wildfire.
Fluffy Nothings
Avoid adding information that’s really just cluttering up your message. If you’re trying to promote, and grow the business you own now, you want to present relevant information about that; there’s no need to provide a laundry list of every job you’ve had since high school. If it doesn’t have anything to do with your current business, you probably don’t need it.
Don’t overuse keywords trying to land in every search result. Use keywords that are meaningful to your field, so the results you do pop up in are the ones that matter most, because they’re looking for you.
Finally, avoid filling your profile with fancy words or technical jargon only recognized in your industry. Overusing a fantastic vocabulary doesn’t always impress the masses. Sometimes what you leave out of your profile is just as important as what you put in.
Latest posts by Spencer Frandsen (see all)
- 6 Reasons to Build an Organic Social Media Following - March 1, 2014
- 3 Things to Omit from Your LinkedIn Profile - February 22, 2014
Recent Comments