12 Steps to Strengthen Your LinkedIn Profile
A guide to help financial professionals build their social media presence by starting with their LinkedIn.
Our work environment totally changed. While it’s difficult and as we are surrounded by uncertainty, this is our opportunity. This is the time to build your brand and develop your digital presence. The perfect place to start is your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has become such an impactful platform in order to build your professional brand and expand your network.
1. Choose the Right Profile Picture
Your picture is the first thing that people notice when they view your LinkedIn page. When choosing your profile picture, keep that in mind as you select a picture that represents that type of persona you are looking to showcase to your network.
2. Add a Background Photo
Use this space to be creative- whether that using a branded graphic, a visually appealing background, or something that highlights what you are passionate about. Our team recommends using Canva, a free resource, in order to create content that fits the dimensions of the LinkedIn banners.
3. Personalize Your Headline
Your headline should be more than simply your job title. You have 120 characters in this line where you can elaborate and share more about yourself.
4. Personalize Your LinkedIn Address
Personalizing your LinkedIn Address can be accomplished in 3 simple steps: click on profile, select “edit public profile & URL” on the right side bar, and customize your personal LinkedIn URL. While it doesn’t hurt you to keep the original URL to your LinkedIn profile, personalizing it is simply more appealing.
5. Update Your Location
There are many reasons why it is important to update your location. This step isn’t just beneficial if you’re looking to be recruited or be searchable for clients; it’s one way to take your online network offline whether that is with potential clients, new hires, or other connections.
6. Update Your Contact Information
After viewing your profile, viewers might take action by contacting you outside of the platform. Whether that is over the phone or in an email, it is extremely important to be making sure that your contact information is up to date so that you are receiving that communication.
7. Utilize Your Summary Section
This is your most personal piece of content marketing. Instead of simply using the space to list out skills or accomplishments, turn your summary into your story. Your Work Experience section is built to showcase what you do while your Summary section is built to showcase your essence and who you are.
8. Make Sure Your Content is Up to Date
It sounds simple but it is extremely important to be making sure that your contact information, current workplace, current location are all up to date. This becomes important for keyword searches and credibility as people look to build connections.
9. Grow Your Network
There are so many ways to utilize your LinkedIn profile. It is the perfect platform for recruiting, building client prospects, enhancing previous and current relationships, and simply expanding your professional network. One way to search to grow your network is through a Boolean search. Boolean Search is a type of search allowing users to combine keywords with operators such as AND, NOT and OR to produce more relevant results This allows for a large range of search operations.
10. Share Your Accomplishments
Use the Accomplishments section of your LinkedIn profile to highlight projects you've worked on, courses you have taken, publications you have contributed to, organizations you belong to, languages you know, and other credentials you have earned.
11. Community Involvement
Including your involvement in your community is more than simply posting about previous volunteer experience. By incorporating this on your profile, it opens doors to new connections, shares what you are passionate about, and gives you an advantage when it comes to recruiting. A LinkedIn survey reports that volunteer experience can give job candidates an edge with hiring managers.41% of the professionals surveyed stated that when they are evaluating candidates, they consider volunteer work equally as valuable as paid work experience.
12. Interact with Your Feed
Are you maximizing your LinkedIn? In if you are using it, so get in there and post, like, comment or share. For this, our team utilizes two platforms: Google Alerts and Hootsuite.
Are you maximizing your LinkedIn? We have a proven process at Wealth Continuum Group to get you connected to right audience, have meaningful conversations, post relevant content, and get business from your LinkedIn profile.
Want to learn more?
Schedule a conversation with Laura Donovan by emailing
ldonovan@wealthcontinuumgrp.com or by using this Calendly Link
12 Steps to Strengthen Your LinkedIn Pro
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Sources
1. LinkedIn, 20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2020
2. Twenty Over Ten, LinkedIn for Financial Advisors: 5 Steps To A Great Profile
3. The Muse, 10 Ways to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile in Under 5 Minutes