Do you have a LinkedIn profile? If not, you should. I am a firm believer that everyone over the age of 16 should be using LinkedIn. You might ask the question, why 16? Did you know that recruiters and colleges are looking at LinkedIn to help make decisions on candidates? Imaging being up against a candidate that was rocking LinkedIn and you didn’t have a profile. As a business I know who I would favour.
So now that you have a profile, you need to write your LinkedIn summary. A questions I always get asked when out with clients or with training groups is; should I write in first or third person? Before I get into that, let me tell you a little about me.
A bit about me
Sandra is a digital marketing consultant, trainer and lecturer that has a passion for all things digital. Her main specialisms are SEO and social media but can work with you to create and implement a full, all-encompassing digital marketing strategy…….
Now doesn’t that sound strange. I am giving you a summary of me but writing it at a distance, using Sandra and she and distancing myself from it.
Here are my top tips on how to write your LinkedIn summary that will get you noticed:
Do not distance yourself
Why distance yourself from your summary. Write it like it is you telling the story. Give the reader a feel for who you and what you bring to the table
Remember it’s people engaging with people
Don’t ever forget that you are a person with your own voice trying to reach out to other people. Use your voice. Tell them how you can rock their world by connecting or doing business with you.
Think of your strategy
Now there is a word scares some people. A strategy is really your plan. Think about why you are using LinkedIn and what you are trying to achieve? Are you trying to connect with specific people? Are you trying to build credibility with your clients or people in your industry or both?
Now think about what you need to tell these people about you that will appeal to them. Why should they hire you / your company vs your competitor? What makes you different / better than everyone else? What will they get out of the relationship?
Do not be too exact with the information you include as you may want to reach out to different people in different industries but be specific enough that your summary appeals to the right people
Use You and Your
Don’t suffer from what I call the “me, myself and I syndrome”. This is where you spend so long talking about you that you forget about the people reading your summary. It is ok to talk about you – sure that is what this article is about. But if you do too much of it. Using you and your will allow them to get a better picture of what you bring to the table for them
Share your passion
Do not be afraid to say that you are passionate about something or have a love for a particular field. Make sure this information ties in with what you want your business network to know about you
Use Slideshare
Slideshare is a brilliant website that you can use to share documents, presentations etc. Every document you upload can be easily shared across to your LinkedIn summary with the click of a button. Share documents that back up what you are saying in your summary. For example: my summary says that my ethos is to help companies manage their digital marketing in-house. To help show this I share a few templates that help businesses to plan and implement their digital marketing strategy. These templates are updated regularly so each time I update them and re-share them my network is made aware of it.
This just goes that extra step to show people what I am all about and how I will help them.
Before you use make sure that all documents are well branded and include a copyright notice in the footer
Formatting
Use bullet points to share certain information like a list of services or products. Unfortunately LinkedIn do not give you the options to format bullet points but you can use the dash – to bullet point’s items. Bullet points will make it easier to read and will break up your summary
Accomplishments
Share your successes or at least mention some of the clients you work with (becareful not to breach client confidentiality). Share in a way that shows your strengths but do not make it look like you are bragging. No one likes a big head. Remember your strategy. For example, if you want to work with big corporates listing SME clients may not appeal to them.
So there you have my top 8 top tips on how to write a good LinkedIn summary. Are there things that you think I should have included in my list?
