With more than a year of remote working and networking under our belts, people are getting comfortable with the notion of remote relationship building, and one of the best professional platforms for this type of engagement is LinkedIn.

Businesses large and small are utilizing the power of LinkedIn’s network to market services, provide thought leadership, and make connections with people and companies they want to know. It can become one of your best tools for filling your company’s sales funnel by broadening your reach and getting your business noticed.

Start at the Beginning: Perfect Your Profile

The first step to filling your funnel on this platform is to ensure your LinkedIn Profile is complete, accurate, and impactful. Here are a few important yet simple things you can do to optimize your profile and give yourself the best shot at driving more connections. Some of my colleagues have great profiles, and I’ve included some examples here:

Create a Powerful Professional Headline

  • Your professional headline should be descriptive, keyword-rich, and a concise 110 characters to capture someone’s attention and maximize SEO.
  • Rick Arthur and Peter Holtgreive are two excellent examples of professional headlines that explain their titles in a concise yet descriptive way.

                        

Add Your Professional Headshot and a Custom Banner

  • When first setting up your LinkedIn profile, the platform assigns a generic banner header. Use a free tool like Canva.com to create a custom banner that brands you and your company. Many people who use LinkedIn as a professional line card will use this space to convey something about them personally – like using a photo of one of their favorite places to visit. Business owners should use this valuable real estate to brand your company. Use images from your website, include your tagline, add your URL, and even create a simple call to action.
  • Using a recent headshot (no more than 3-5 years old depending on how much you’ve changed) not only helps cement your professionalism, but in a virtual world, lets people know who they are working with. Now that some people are starting to get out for in-person meetings, this is also a nice way for them to see who they should look for in advance of an in-person coffee meeting, for example.
  • Jayne Sanders of Success Authorities has an excellent example of taking her headshot and banner to the next level. This is exactly what she looks like today, and you can tell a lot about who she is and what she does just by looking at her banner.

Create a Custom LinkedIn URL and Make it Visible

  • The URL that leads to your LinkedIn profile should be customized with your name. When you first set up your LinkedIn profile, the platform assigns a generic URL to your LinkedIn profile. You can easily change this from the number assigned to your name within the settings on your profile page.
  • Use this URL on your website, in your email signature, and on your business cards.
  • My personal and company LinkedIn pages make use of this feature: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyskerjanec/   https://www.linkedin.com/company/5280-accelerator/

 Write a Compelling “About” Section

  • Fill out your About Section with your target market in mind. Use valuable keywords and keep it relatively concise, capped at 2,000 words. Give your first few lines impact so the viewer will want to read more.
  • Take a look at Karen Brown’s LinkedIn About section for a great example of how to capture your future connection’s attention.

Include Media Links

  • Finally, to develop your audience further, be sure to include links to media that you find essential for your practice. Your LinkedIn profile provides some great real estate to feature your work with photos, charts, PPTs, graphics, and more. Think about adding:
    • An article
    • A video about what you do and the products/services you provide
    • Charts that show something of value for a potential customer
    • Photo of you presenting at an event
  • Bob Dodge utilizes his Featured Media section well with videos explaining his process.

Create Your Company Page

If you own and operate a business, you can take your LinkedIn profile to the next level by creating your LinkedIn Company Page. This is another place that potential connections and future customers can learn about your company. It also includes a place for a banner header and the profile photo is your logo. This provides not only validity to your company, but offers up another place for you to add content.

Now that your LinkedIn profile is stellar, the next step is to add great content on a consistent basis to fill your marketing funnel. Look for our future blog on how to grow your business through LinkedIn. Need some help getting started? Contact us today!