Up Your LinkedIn Game for 2022
You know you need to have a LinkedIn profile—if you’re not on the platform, you don’t exist. LinkedIn remains the most important digital networking site. LinkedIn currently has more than 800 million members and continues to grow. However, only a small fraction of those members maximize the platform’s capabilities and reach. If you are not getting the desired results you want from your LinkedIn experience, you may be making the following mistakes:
Using your current title as your headline. This is something that I see much too often. Your headline is prime real estate, right below your photo. That’s where you should succinctly articulate your unique value proposition so that people know who you are and what you do. You are much more than just your title, and your title is temporary. Your brand and your value are intrinsic to you. Let people know what they are.
Not having a photo. LinkedIn is a networking site, and people want to see those with whom they are interacting. You don’t need to have a professional headshot, but you absolutely need to have a quality photo of yourself. Don’t use a picture of yourself at the beach, with your kids, with your dog, or at your birthday dinner. Keep it professional. As I stated earlier, if you’re not on LinkedIn, you don’t exist, and if you don’t have a photo, people will be suspicious of your profile.
Using the platform only for job seeking. Undeniably, LinkedIn is an excellent tool for executing a job search. But it’s so much more than that. It provides you the opportunity to connect with customers, clients, vendors, peers and to engage with a broad audience.
Inactivity. It is not enough to have a great profile. You also need to be active on the platform. That means commenting/sharing content, joining relevant industry or interest groups, or posting your own content. All of these drive engagement and increase your exposure on LinkedIn.
Requesting a connection without context. Always include a message when you send a connection request. Briefly explain what you do and how you may be able to help the person with whom you wish to network.
Spamming your network with messages. Over the last year, the sheer volume of junk and unsolicited messages I’ve received on LinkedIn has significantly increased. It is becoming like the robocalls about your car’s extended warranty. If you’re one of the perpetrators, stop. No one likes or appreciates this.
You’re living in the past. If your employment history goes back to 1986 and you tout your accomplishments on that Y2K project, you’re going to seem out of touch at best, out of date at worst.
You don’t write a summary in the “About” section. The summary section on LinkedIn provides you with the opportunity to convey your personality, values, and brand. Most people do not even bother to fill out this section. Most who do populate it don’t do it well. You have 2500 characters at your disposal. Use them to tell the story of you.
Take some time over the holidays to review your LinkedIn profile and evaluate your activity on the platform. There are many things that you can do now that will maximize the value you get out of LinkedIn in 2022. Remember, engagement is key; to engage, you need to be active on the site.