How to Make the Most of Your LinkedIn Profile [INFOGRAPHIC]

17 LinkedIn profile must-haves infographic

17 LinkedIn profile must-haves infographic cropLinkedIn can provide unrivaled networking and visibility opportunities for your personal brand, but only if you know how to work your profile. Filling in as much relevant information as possible and updating your profile regularly are two strategies for LinkedIn success. Below are ways you can make the most of your LinkedIn profile.

 

Complete Your Profile

Did you know that only 50.5% of LinkedIn profiles are complete? By filling out your location, headline and custom profile URL, you are already ahead of the game. While filling out your LinkedIn profile, something to keep in mind is to include relevant keywords. This ensures that your profile will come up in LinkedIn searches. Another important step to take is to upload a professional grade profile photo – adding a profile picture makes you seven times more likely to be viewed by others. So, smile!

Completing your LinkedIn profile, however, goes beyond filling out the easy stuff like education information and current work position. It also involves uploading projects like presentations as well as inserting test scores, patents, certifications and volunteer experience! Filling out this information can give you a real leg up: 42% of hiring managers say they view volunteer experience as equivalent to formal work experience.

 

Be Active

One of the most common causes of a dull LinkedIn profile is a lack of activity. Less than half of LinkedIn users update their information regularly, so if you make sure to keep your profile up-to-date, you’re already ahead of the game. Once you’ve completed your profile make sure you update your status on a regular basis, something as simple as linking to an article that inspired you each week. Another way to be active on LinkedIn is by joining groups. More than 200 conversations happen each minute across LinkedIn groups, and 81% of LinkedIn users belong to at least one group. Don’t you want to be part of this hot networking opportunity?

 

Connect With Others

The more connections you have on LinkedIn, the larger your network grows and the more searches your profile will appear in. So make sure you connect with coworkers, college friends and other professionals you know. As you continue to make more connections, you’re likely to receive more endorsements for your skills, too. The average LinkedIn user has five endorsements, and it’s important to manage these endorsements and encourage your contacts to endorse you for those skills you find most relevant to your position. Usually, you receive endorsements when LinkedIn promotes items from your list of skills to your LinkedIn connections. Those skills that receive the most endorsements appear at the top of the skills list on your LinkedIn profile, regardless of the order you want them to appear in. This is an important point. For example, if you find that a lot of of your contacts are endorsing you for social media skills, but you have no interest in working as a social media manager you might want to remove social media from your lists of skills so LinkedIn will promote other skills to your connections and social media won’t take up valuable prominent space on your LinkedIn profile.

For more LinkedIn profile tips, check out the infographic below:

17 LinkedIn profile must-haves infographic

Source: MarketMeSuite

via Leaders West

Lauren Mobertz

By Lauren Mobertz

Lauren is the former managing editor for DashBurst. One part geek, one part urban nomad, she is constantly scouting for the latest tech and world news. In the evenings you'll find Lauren running in strange places or attempting to dance salsa.