If there is one social platform that everyone is sleeping on—it’s LinkedIn.
Perfecting your LinkedIn profile today means that you’re ahead of 40% of the crowd.
At this year’s Traffic & Conversion Summit, Marcus Murphy, DigitalMarketer’s Head of Business Development & Partnerships, explained why right now is the perfect time to hop on the platform.
LinkedIn’s goal is to have 1 billion users. With only 600 million right now, perfecting your LinkedIn profile today means that you’re ahead of 40% of the crowd.
But once you are there, you want to make sure you are being active by starting conversations. And your profile is where those conversation starts.
Good news. There is just one section of your profile that you can tune up to really optimize your conversations on the platform.
Your LinkedIn summary is one of the most important parts of your profile. It’s where you’re going to explain to people what you do, who you do it for, and why they want you to do it for them. We’re going to show you how to do this and give you LinkedIn summary examples to help light the way.
Here are 5 tips to perfect your LinkedIn summary.
Tip #1: Choose the Keywords You Want to be Found For
A lot of people don’t know this, but your LinkedIn summary is searchable, which means it can (and SHOULD) be optimized for SEO.
Just like how keywords help website content rank on Google, the keywords you use in your profile will help you rank on LinkedIn. This means that if somebody searches for “digital marketer” and you’ve optimized for this term, you could rank as one of the profiles shown as a result.
(RELATED: Check out 6 Steps to Launch Your First LinkedIn Ads Campaign)
To figure out what keywords to use, look at other profiles of people in your role.
- What keywords are they using that pertain to your industry?
- What keywords would a recruiter search when looking to fill the position you’re hoping for?
Use these keywords in your summary AND as the name of your profile picture and banner. To make your keywords the name of your photos, change the name of your photo before you upload it.
Now, your profile is a mecca for those keywords.
Tip #2: Write in a Narrative Format
Your summary should be written from your voice. This means that you’re not saying, “Marcus Murphy is the Head of Business Development & Partnerships at DigitalMarketer.”
Instead, you are talking to your profile visitors. We’ll talk more about what you’re going to talk to them about in Tip #3, but here’s a LinkedIn summary example of what we mean by a narrative format.
Tip #3: Use a Catchy Hook
Saying, “I am the Director of Marketing at DigitalMarketer” doesn’t make a profile visitor think, “I have to know more!”
The first sentence of your summary is like the headline of an article, the tagline of your business, or the blurb you put on your business card. It has to make people think, “That’s interesting, I want to know more.”
Instead of saying, “I am the Director of Marketing at DigitalMarketer,” DM team member Amanda Powell says, “I’m leading the charge to fill Google search results with content that actually matters.”
If you’re like us, that makes us think, “Wow, that’s quite a mission…” and then, “Wait—how does she plan to do that?”
This is your chance to give people a first glimpse into who you are.
Without surprise, Billy Gene Shaw has nailed the catchy hook. Here’s a LinkedIn summary example of a short, sweet, and (very) on brand summary.
When your hook creates the response of having to read more or find out more about your business, you know you’ve nailed it.
Tip #4: Tell People the Number 1 Thing You Want Them to Know About You
Now that you’ve reeled them in, you want to think of the most important thing that a recruiter, potential client, or follower needs to know about you.
This could be:
- Your expertise/specialty
- Why you do what you do
- Your statistics (ex. Launched a Facebook ad campaign that made $50,000 in the first week)
- Awards you’ve won
- Speaking engagements
- Your beliefs about the future of your industry
For example, Brad Martineau, co-founder and CEO of Sixth Division, writes, “With over 14 years of building successful small businesses, my specialty is simplifying the complex and bridging the gap between theory and execution. I love teaching and helping people understand difficult concepts. As the 6th employee at Infusionsoft, I helped essentially create the marketing automation space for small businesses.”
He then goes on to explain what SixthDivision does and who they serve.
Matt Douglas, DigitalMarketer’s Content Product Manager, explains who DigitalMarketer is, what we do, and our mission. He then highlights that “I absolutely love what I do, and I’m passionate about being better every day.”
Whatever you choose to write after your hook needs to tell readers at least 1 of the following:
- What you do
- Who you do it for
- Why you do it
Tip #5: End With a Call to Action
Just like with ads, you want to make sure people know what to do next. What should a reader do after they read your profile?
- Should they call you?
- i.e. Brad’s CTA: If you’re ready to automate your client journey, contact me here on LinkedIn or at https://www.sixthdivision.com
- Should they join your mission?
- i.e. Marcus’ CTA: It’s time to put thoughtfulness back into the sales process and I’m ready for the challenge. Does anyone want to join me?
What should a reader do after they read your profile?
Other CTA’s to use:
- Go to your website
- Send you an email
- Visit your social profiles
- Read your content
- Watch your video
Follow these 5 LinkedIn summary tips to make your profile better than the competition. If you want to make it even better here are 3 quick tips you can add in:
- Don’t use your first draft
- No, this summary isn’t written in stone, but having access to a backspace button doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write at least 2 drafts before hitting publish. Write your first draft, walk away, and then come back to see what can be polished.
- Don’t use industry jargon or buzzwords
- Keep your language simple—you’re not trying to win a spelling bee, you’re trying to show anyone that lands on your profile that you’re an expert in your field. Tell them in a way they can understand.
- Use bullet points and short paragraphs
- If we took all of the bullet points and paragraph spaces out of this article and mushed all of the content together like in a textbook–would you have read this far? If your answer is no, you’re like the rest of us. Nobody wants to read a wall of text, and nobody wants to read a LinkedIn summary that’s just one long paragraph. Break up your text using bullet points and short paragraphs to keep people interested.
Start the conversation on the ultimate B2B platform by perfecting your LinkedIn summary and showing people why they want to work with you over the competition.
