Is LinkedIn yet another thing on your “must do more of” list? As 2019 begins, what better time to get this underway.

In the first monthly article about digital skills, here are five ideas to help you create a LinkedIn profile you’re proud of.

That, in turn, may encourage you to start engaging more on LinkedIn.

Hardly revolutionary, but why not work on improving your profile little by little…

Dive in, give it a go!

1. Headshot: A high-resolution photo taken by a professional… why wouldn’t you? How to find a local photographer: you may want to ask on LinkedIn for a recommendation…Chances are you’ll already want to engage more on LinkedIn once that professional photo takes pride of place.

2. Headline field beneath your name: It’s the ideal place to summarise how you help your clients and solve problems; or your style of working with colleagues.Take a look at a few of your connections’ LinkedIn profiles to see how they put those 100+ characters to best use.

3. Edit public profile and LinkedIn URL: You may have a URL (the address of a web page) that includes numbers.It’s easy to clean this up, helping to “enhance your personal brand,” as LinkedIn puts it.See the top right corner of your profile.

4. Initiatives *and* teamwork: When you’re summarising* a previous role, it’s great to highlight what initiatives you took to “add value”.Teamwork is also worth giving its proper place. Collaboration always gets my vote, and I’m hardly alone in admiring that trait in others.(*Key word: less is more…)

5. Share *after* the edit: If you’re revamping your LinkedIn profile, e.g. the experience section showing your career history, chances are you don’t want your connections to know about every tiny change.So you may want to switch “Share profile changes” to no. It appears once you click on the edit icon (a blue slanting pencil). One swipe left, it’s done.

This article is by no means exhaustive but will help you take a few practical steps on LinkedIn.

The five steps will put you on the way to having a profile that you’re proud to stand behind, as a client of mine put it.

(We worked together to improve his profile, which didn’t reflect a busy few years at work. We then explored the best ways – that suited him, not someone else – to engage more on LinkedIn.)

Go on, dive in!

www.briandmcgee.com

I’ll be very interested to hear about your experience.

What successes have you had on LinkedIn? What about your frustrations?

Please add a comment after this blog: briandmcgee.com/networking/linkedin-five-tips-start-improving-profile

Photos: PublicDomainPictures & pixel2013 on Pixabay