Awesome, you’ve created a LinkedIn profile and are growing your contacts. Now you might be wondering, “How do I maximize this platform and generate useful connections and results?” A critical key to generating results is visibility.
What is visibility?
This has to do with how easily it is for someone to find your profile on LinkedIn. Visibility includes how likely you are to show up in recruiter search results as well as professionals looking to connect for informational interviews, mentoring, and new ventures. The strength of your presence on LinkedIn affects a great deal including your likelihood of finding a new job, aligning with a professional who could employ your skills, leadership opportunities, and much more. In short, your visibility makes a significant difference in what you get out of LinkedIn.
How do you increase your visibility? Here are 4 ways:
1. Have a contemporary, clean, well lit, professional headshot. This affects search results and your credibility.
2. Have a complete profile. This sounds obvious, but many people are missing important sections like the summary narrative, coursework or training, and volunteer activities. Include all relevant information and go beyond just the basic John Professional profile.
3. Be active in multiple professional groups. LinkedIn and its groups have a way of “seeing” the top contributors. You might even be featured as a top group contributor and win a free year of Premium membership!
4. Post status updates on your home feed. This plugs you into industry news and all your connections who can see you are active and taking initiative. It’s a way to keep your network warm and stay fresh in peoples’ minds.
The key to visibility is activity. For more ideas on how to stay active on LinkedIn, check out The Top 5 Things You Should Do on LinkedIn Each Week.
We hope this is helpful to you! Stacy Smyk-Santiago, Career Coach at HallieCrawford.com.
