Personal Branding: 10 Things That Make Kick-Ass LinkedIn Profiles

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network with hundreds of millions of members and growing rapidly. Thriving in this already crowded "world" requires tools and techniques. I have highlighted in this post steps to achieving a great LinkedIn profile.

1. Great Profile Picture: A picture they say is worth a thousand words and maybe a little more on LinkedIn. A great profile picture on LinkedIn gives insight and better representation of you, remember to keep it professional. A nice outfit, well-groomed hair, and clear picture will do just fine.

2. Summary: See LinkedIn summary as the few lines that tells who you are to a total stranger. Your LinkedIn summary is probably your most important bio which will be read by many more people than your resume. Be sure what you want your summary to communicate (perception is everything!) about you. State facts, give stats, share your laudable achievements, your selling point. Bring it all together and re-edit. 

3. Headlines: Make your headline pop! When people search certain keywords pertaining to your industry on LinkedIn, they see a stream of profiles which only show names, profile photos and headlines. There is very little influence or change you can do to your name to make it more interesting, so your profile picture and headline will have to be appealing enough to attract people to actually click to view your profile. 

4. Skill Endorsements/Recommendation: While some recruiters think this is a cheap advert, if relevant, you can include recommendations from people you know well. You don't have to leave every recommendation on your LinkedIn profile, especially those from people you are not very familiar with, you can hide or delete irrelevant write-ups/clicks that may portray you in a way you don't want to be perceived. 

5. Regular Updates: Like Facebook, you can publish a post, share an update, like people's posts, comments etc. This is a good way of staying in touch with your connections. Your updates give you more visibility and relevance on LinkedIn. Keep it professional!

6. Keywords: Recruiters, Professionals, Prospective clients, are constantly searching LinkedIn for services you offer. You need to include specific keywords to your profile to get found easily. Use keywords and terms generally used in your industry, words people will generally search, for more people to find and connect with you.

7. Groups: LinkedIn groups are the most useful offering from LinkedIn. You can find and join relevant groups on LinkedIn for personal development, networking, updates on a particular topic or industry, drive traffic to your website, connect to a community of people with similar interests, and also generate leads.

8. Relevant Connection: Connections are the butter to LinkedIn bread. The icing on the cake. Send an invitation to people you are familiar with, friends with, know personally or wish to connect to. Be sure not to spam people with invitations because if enough people reject your invitation, LinkedIn may penalize you.  

9. Personalize Content: Write as if you are chatting with someone next to you. Use words like "I am", rather than "He is". Personalize your content as much as possible and sell your sell in the best way possible.

10. Custom Url: Like other social platforms, LinkedIn also offers custom URLs to users. Create a custom URL for yourself to include in your resume and other bios.