LinkedIn is now the largest social media platform for professionals. When done well, it is a very effective marketing tool for the business professional, freelancers and small to medium businesses, helping them to build profitable connections.

But what can it do for you?

In short; LinkedIn can showcase your value. Whether you are an individual or a business, LinkedIn can help highlight for a variety of purposes. To attract the best employees to your workplace, or to show your profile in the best light for recruiters. To show what you can solve for new clients, or even just to put yourself ‘on the map’. Here are some of our top tips for making the most out of this platform.

1. Complete your profile

Approximately 50% of profiles on LinkedIn are not complete. Nothing says ‘I don’t make an effort’ like a half-completed profile. Use your LinkedIn like you would a resume, outlining who you are, what you can do and how to get in touch.

Don’t forget to make sure to optimise your profile for search rankings. With the same principles as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), people can discover your profile based on keywords. To improve your profile, it is a balancing act between fill out every single field that you possibly can using descriptive keywords and keeping your profile straightforward, clear and engaging. Use industry keywords that describe not only where you are now, but also some for where you want to be.

Finally, give yourself a URL, preferably with your name in it, that you can use for self-promotion to show off your completed profile. Put that URL anywhere you can- including your business card, website, email signature and resume.

2. Connect with everyone

LinkedIn is a social media platform. It is a place to connect - by sharing your own content, commenting on your friends’ achievements, or making new connections. Build up your personal brand through self-promotion of content, such as blogs, achievements such as a new job or cross-posting news articles mentioning you/your businesses’ success.

Build your 1st-degree connections by adding people through the email list function, searching the ‘people you may know’ feature and accepting invitations - but only from people, you know. Send a message to connect and follow up with people you are introduced to in the real world. From here, ‘six degrees of separation,’ - the theory that any person on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of no more than 5 acquaintances- makes opportunities only a few steps away!

3. Make sure you endorse and recommend others

There are two ways to do this, firstly, endorsing single skills, and secondly, writing longer references. Save the longer references for those close friends and colleagues that you have known for at least a few years. For the single skills, be a bit more liberal in confirming the skills of others (provided you know they have that skill). The more you engage and support others, the more likely they will do the same for you in return.

That sums up our key points for improving your LinkedIn Profile. We’ve only touched the surface with this list and have more tips on the best ways to help take your social media to the next level. To find out more, free to shoot us a message HERE.

Can you think of any tips we might have missed? Share some of your own pointers in the comments below.