You must already know that LinkedIn is a strong social media marketing tool for promoting your business brand and exhibiting your professional work portfolio. If you’re not using the potentials of LinkedIn for your business or personal use, I recommend that you start today!
However, avoid the mistakes listed below:
1. Not Tweaking Your LinkedIn URL
Don’t leave the muddle of numbers and characters at the end of your URL and change them to your name or anything closely related to it.
2. Not Having Any Picture of Yourself
People don’t like communicating with anonymous faces. If you upload your photo with your profile, people are more likely to feel connected with you and take you more seriously.
3. Not adding links that point back to your website or blog
If you’re using LinkedIn for business purposes, it’s always profitable and intelligent to display your website and blog links to it. You can also add your Twitter and Facebook links too!
4. No Having an Appealing Headline
Just like people use search engines, LinkedIn search option is also used by people to find certain companies or individuals. To make yourself prominent in those searches, add your main keywords in your profile headline.
5. Having Fewer Recommendations
Request for more recommendations if you really want to uplift your LinkedIn profile and present your services in the best possible manner.
6. Not Using Convincing Words in Summary Section
Jolt readers in the first section of your profile to hold their interest in reading your complete profile. You can even mention big companies and client names you’ve worked for.
7. Leaving ‘Additional Information’ Section Empty
Not filling areas like your interests in the Additional Information section below your profile is a opportunity in terms of engaging readers on a personal level.
8. Not Branding Yourself
Your LinkedIn account is worthless and invaluable if you don’t utilize it to strengthen your executive brand.
9. Having Lingual Errors in your Profile
Nothing turns-off the readers’ as much as grammatically incorrect sentences do. So make sure to thoroughly proofread your profile for identifying and rectifying errors.
10. Having an Incomplete Profile
Your possibility to rank higher with LinkedIn improves if your profile is completely filled-up. So make sure not to leave any cavities in your profile for maximum LinkedIn success.
11. Not Updating Your Profile
Frequently keep your profile updated. If nothing else, keep revising the “What are you working on?” option and tell people what you are currently doing.
12. Ignoring LinkedIn Groups
To make the most of your LinkedIn network start participating in group discussions, post informative articles or even start your own group.
13. Adding Unknown People to Your Network
Avoid adding unknown people because at some point in time they might click on the “I don’t know” or “Report as Spam” button and harm your image!
14. Joining Other LinkedIn Networks without Thinking
Before connecting with somebody else’s network, take a peek into their profiles and make sure they won’t be harmful for your reputation.
15. Not Customizing the Default Message When You Connect With Somebody
Instead of using the default message ‘I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn’, modify it to something more personal and convincing.
16. Not mentioning your LinkedIn profile URL with your email signature
Add your LinkedIn profile link to your email signature so that the people whom you send emails to can know you exist on LinkedIn and connect with you if they also have a profile there.
17. Using LinkedIn for Advertising Purposes
Keep your profile natural and avoid exaggerating your products or services via LinkedIn, it’ll make you look like a marketer with the only purpose of making profits.
18. Link with Other Companies
See which companies relevant to your expertise are on LinkedIn and connect with them. Also find your previous and existing colleagues on LinkedIn
19. Neglecting LinkedIn Jobs Tab
You can easily find jobs through LinkedIn job listing so don’t forget to utilize the Jobs tab.
20. Not Establishing Yourself as an Expert
Business owners often portray the product or service they sell without explaining its associated benefits. If you’re doing this too, you’re missing the chance to make yourself competitive.
21. Not presenting the problems you solve for clients
To make your profile more worthy, ask your field-based questions people are mostly concerned about and provide answers to them.
22. Not Using LinkedIn Applications
To maximize and capitalize on your LinkedIn usage, don’t ignore the booming LinkedIn applications like LinkedIn and Twitter interface etc. A good internet marketing company can help you here.
23. Being Aggressive In Your Profile
LinkedIn is not an advertising platform where you come in too strong. It’s a subtle way of making your name known among the others.
24. Joining Countless Groups
Join as much groups as you can track. Unnecessarily joining too many groups may divert your focus and thus make you less prominent. Just join two or three relevant groups that provide you access to potential customers or partners.
25. Not Being Honest About Why You Want To Hook Up
You should be truthful and open about why you want to connect with somebody so that you don’t reflect the image of a spammer!
26. Making Your Profile a Replica of Your Resume
Simply copy pasting your resume into your LinkedIn profile will do no good because when you connect with someone in person you don’t provide them a description of what you’ve done, and instead you begin with a casual and powerful conversation.
Do you have any more LinkedIn blunders people commit on a regular basis? We’d love to know…
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1 comment so far ↓
Some brilliant advice there. And I’ve made some of those blunders myself. Looks like I’d best go and correct them!
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