Manufacturing Business Owners Need A Robust LinkedIn Profile: How To Get Yours

Guest post by Robbi Hess, Content Strategist, All Words Matter 

LinkedIn has seen major revenue earnings increases and that leads me to believe there are more business professionals taking advantage of this professional business social media site than in the past.

Do you have a LinkedIn profile?  

LinkedIn profiles can help you stand out from the crowd when you’re looking for  a job or if you’re an entrepreneur seeking new clients. If professionals are flocking to use this site, that means that you should make certain you not only have a professional presence, but you should have a complete profile as well.

Here are my tips to making certain your LinkedIn profile is not only complete, but compelling:

1. Add keywords for past positions you have held. While you don’t want to be keyword-heavy, you do want to be found by potential employers or business partners. Include words that have actual meaning. The term “project manager” is obtuse and may not garner you the attention you’re seeking while “special project manager for social media management and recruitment” narrows your focus.
2. Don’t forget an employer. It could be tedious to include every job you’ve ever held but LinkedIn could be the place to cite your experience where in a hard copy resume you would leave off “paper boy” and “lawn mower.” Be judicious in your past employment though as it’s likely that having been a “paper boy” hasn’t influenced your current position unless you are now the editor or publisher of a newspaper, then its relevance is clear.
3. List your specialties. LinkedIn offers this keyword-focused area for your use and you should harness its power as it helps employers find you in the crowd. Use keywords that have relevance and searchability in your particular industry/area of expertise.
4. What does your subheader say to the reader? LinkedIn will grab the title of your most current job and use that under your profile. If this title isn’t what you want to be known for/found as, change it. For example, “Jane Doe, CEO” doesn’t really say much but, “Jane Doe, Print Marketing Extraordinaire CEO” says a bit more about what you do and what you could bring to the table.
5. Make certain your LinkedIn profile URL is personalized. LinkedIn generates a URL for you but you can change it to your name and that will make you more searchable. You can also add a tagline to your profile URL if you’d like, for example: johndoesalesguru – you can add your name and your company name.

 When is the last time you looked at your LinkedIn profile? Now might be the time to update it and make it as searchable as possible.