Like it or not, LinkedIn is still a viable source for many potential clients to find out more about you as a business and a professional. Improving your LinkedIn profile could make the difference between hired and ignored.
While it may seem a little dated, the fact of the matter is that LinkedIn is still a go-to site for a lot of potential clients to get more information about you as a virtual assistant. It still acts as a sort of digital business card, separate from the rest of your social media (which will almost certainly be perused by them as well, so bear that in mind as you weigh your privacy options and what pictures to post) and serves to tell your professional story.
If you’ve decided to embark on a virtual assistant career, then it’s time to dust off the old LinkedIn profile and give it a nice once-over. We’ve assembled 10 of the most impactful things you can do to improve your LinkedIn profile and really make it pop.
- Increase your network
- Pictures – both profile and background
- Polish up your Headline
- Post your relevant skills.
- Highlight the services you offer.
- Endorse others liberally
- Request recommendations / Manage your endorsements more proactively.
- Take some skills assessments
- Follow relevant influencers in your specific industry.
- Share relevant content from your LinkedIn feed, and MAKE COMMENTS
Increase your network
The first step to improving your LinkedIn profile is so elementary, but is still so important—especially so for expanding your network to people in your similar field. Having a massive number of connections is great but if they’re nothing but neighbors and high-school acquaintances and your Mom, you’ll be missing out on valuable connections and information & opportunities from their feeds.
Improve your LinkedIn profile and background pictures
It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is no different. That picture of you from the beach with ice cream on your face may look absolutely adorable, but it does not belong on your professional profile. Clients want to know that you take your professional self (at least somewhat) seriously.
Make sure your LinkedIn profile picture is updated and professional. Wear what you might wear to work or a job interview. You want your head to take up about 60% of the photo, so no long distance shots or vistas, or you arm in arm with your bestie or significant other. It’s all about you here.
Your background photo should tell a little more about you, but remember that it’s called the background photo for a reason — it should not upstage your profile picture.
Polish up your LinkedIn profile headline
One mistake people make is to simply put their job title as their headline. While that’s well and good, you can also use that precious space to say a little something about what you actually do, or what value you provide. Instead of “dishwasher,” you could write “Providing cleanliness and quality assurance on the front lines of the restaurant industry,” or some such. Instead of just “virtual assistant,” “Helping clients achieve more than they thought possible,” etc.
Post your relevant skills
You’re going to see the term relevant used here a bit, and that’s because relevance is what potential clients look for. So you can do 150 pushups? Amazing! But how does that help your potential client’s social media marketing campaign? Post the skills that most closely represent what you do well, or more importantly what you want to be doing.
Highlight the services you offer
This is another spot on your LinkedIn profile where you want to really focus on the things that YOU do well, and the things that you want to get hired for. Do a self-audit of your services and pare it down to the ones you find most important and relevant to the business you want to own.
Endorse others liberally
It costs you nothing to endorse members of your network, while the reciprocal endorsements are worth quite a lot in social value. Having a significant amount of endorsements shows your engagement and ability to get along and be liked. This is definitely one of the easiest ways to improve your LinkedIn profile.
Request recommendations / Manage your endorsements more proactively.
Don’t be afraid to ask for endorsements!! Any person on LinkedIn that has ever asked me for an endorsement has gotten one. It takes hardly any time at all, and they’ll endorse me back in return. In my experience, the ones seeking endorsements have usually already endorsed me before they ask. It’s mutually beneficial and costs you not a dime.
Be sure to eyeball and clean up your LinkedIn profile endorsements from time to time as well. You want potential clients to see only what is relevant and will help further your end goals.
Take some skills assessments
If you excel at certain tasks, why not prove it? Crushing a skill assessment demonstrates your mastery of a subject and is worth posting. If you take a skill assessment and don’t ace it, don’t sweat it—you can take it again within six months. Improve your knowledge on the subject and take it again later.
Follow relevant influencers in your specific industry.
This is helpful on multiple levels. First, you’ll find out what leaders in your industry are doing and how they’re doing it, and secondly it gives you material for our next suggestion:
Don’t be shy about posting relevant content to your LinkedIn profile feed. Don’t overdo it, you don’t need to post ten times a day, and again, the key term is relevant — keep it on subject. Reposting and sharing content shows your interest and engagement in your field and keeps your name in the spotlight.
Now go do it!!
Now go take a minute or five to improve that LinkedIn profile. Like it or not, it still matters, and can make the difference between hired or ignored. It will be some of the easiest self-promotion you can do, and at no cost the price is right.
Matthew Ogden is a Minneapolis-based copywriter and content writer and editor. He’s written for national retailers and lobster roll companies alike. When not writing he can be found nose deep in a book, writing and performing music, or nerding out about guitar tone.