LinkedIn Summary – Your Prime Advertising SpaceYour LinkedIn Summary is Your Best Advertising Space
LinkedIn is so much more than a social media platform where you create your resume like profile. My mission is to educate as many people as I can about the value of LinkedIn to network, manage your online professional reputation, grow your business and lead with influence by leveraging your LinkedIn summary.
If you are not a savvy LinkedIn user than you often don’t know what to say or how to maximize the 2000 characters you get to use in the summary section of your LinkedIn profile. Think of this section as prime advertising space for LinkedIn lead generation, or I like the analogy of ‘ocean front property’. Your summary section should be located directly below the header section. When someone visits your profile likes your headline, they may want to learn more so they scroll down to the summary section next.
The reason it is such prime space is because you have the largest free form space to let people know who you are, what you do, who you help and what makes you credible! This is where you can share your personal brand to make an impact on the reader!
What makes a good LinkedIn summary?
• Defining what makes you credible
• What’s your story? (if you have been published, received any awards or recognition, been in the media, years of service in your career or industry, solved difficult problems, saved the company money, increased sales, developed something, increased efficiency – these all add to your credibility story).
• Give people insight into your personal brand, your values, what you believe in.
•What problems do you solve – what is your expertise that people would hire you for?
•Call to action: what do you want the ideal contacts to do next?
•Personal hook – You could include something personal that makes you memorable or is a conversation starter when someone meets you in person. I recommend you weave this into your story.
What’s your personal brand?
If you don’t know what your personal brand is, ask a trusted colleague what are some things that come to mind when they think of you. You want to be authentic, memorable and remember to build on your passions. People do business with people and so the more ‘real’ you come across the more likable we become. Read through our top resources for LinkedIn for more insights.
Determine your LinkedIn Summary Strategy
What is the outcome you want when people visit your profile? Be sure you include any call to action in the summary for example if you want someone to call you, be sure your phone number is visible in this section. With so many people using mobile these days here is a ninja trick you may want to implement:
Add your phone number to the top of the summary section, when viewed on mobile you see the phone number at the top of the screen where you don’t see the entire summary section. (I have noted this in the image below.)
Measure LinkedIn advertising results
You can measure your results several ways, by the number of profile views you are getting and also by the number of people who may comment on something in your summary section.
I think of my LinkedIn profile as a living, multi-dimensional document that can be updated at anytime.
In person Meetings
When I meet someone in person that I connected with initially on LinkedIn I print out their profile and take it along so I familiarize myself with some things in the person’s profile before I meet them. Usually I learn the most from their LinkedIn summary section. In addition I like to have their profile photo so I know who I am looking for!
With a well thought out summary section you are almost selling yourself before you meet in-person so be sure you are sharing exactly what you want people to most know about you right away and fill in the details when you meet!
“If you are like most LinkedIn members, your LinkedIn summary isn’t very clear or compelling. Summaries written in the first person sound very pretentious, especially when you are discussing your achievements. Use bullet points or write your summary in the third person.” – personalbrandingblog.com
“Just as on your resume, the top third of your LinkedIn profile has become prime advertising space; so spend some time on it.” – thirdwavecareercoaching.com
How has your LinkedIn summary worked in building your personal brand story? I’d love to hear about it below in the comments!
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How Your Summary Boosts Your LinkedIn Profile
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Helping business owners and corporate leaders use LinkedIn and relationship building strategies to gain more exposure for their brand so they have more impact, credibility & income.
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