LinkedIn is a professional network where professionals connect with others who are valuable to their network. Whether this be an old friend, a previous co-worker, an employee at a company you are hoping someday to be employed by or a people that will help grow your business. The reasons may be different but the intent is the same. To grow a network of professionals that add value to the network. Finding the right people from 70 million users on LinkedIn is a challenge. Where do you start? How do you find them?
We have become accustomed to search via search engines so this is a natural place to start on LinkedIn. When we start our search, we think of core keywords that we would associate with the individual(s) that we are trying to connect with. This is of course if you do not have their name. The results are matched to the keywords in the the headline as well as the summary. However as this is an permission based connection platform, the headline is what will be featured in the search results along with y0ur name and photo and not your summary.
How to Write Compelling LinkedIn Headlines
1. What do you do? Start here and jot down terms as they relate to what your current position is. This will more than likely not be your headline however it is a starting point to see how you define yourself.
2. What do you have to offer? If you are an employee of a big company, what makes you irreplaceable? Why should a consultant connect with you? What do you have to offer to a connection other than a wave?
EX: Gardening Consultant. Finding the right vegetables to plant for your soil & climate.
3. What makes you unique? Thinking in these terms you are identifying what differentiates you from the rest of the field and why it is worth noting.
EX: Social Media Consulting. Free profile analysis to leverage brand maximize your exposure.
4. What value do you bring? Great you are a CEO but what does that mean to me? How does you being a CEO relate to where you would fit into my network?
EX: Forging business relationships internationally; supply chain management consulting.
5. What problem to you solve? A descriptive problem solving headline is beign there before they know they have a problem and when in panic and need the problem solved. We know that when we need something, we need it done right away and being able to be there already is the perfect position.
EX: Blog Consultant. Advising & educating new bloggers how to write and promote a blog to build an online community and generate sales.
We connect with people that we feel that we should get to know by either having been exposed to them in a group, exposed to their employer or find something that is unique about them whether it be from others that are connected to them or from what we read about them. What we read about them on LinkedIn is limited to their headline. You can see where the 120 character headline must be enticing and impressionable so that people will want to connect.
Looking at your current headline, would you connect and do business with you? If not, take some time and create a headline that reflects the heart of what you are about and how you can be a strong member of a network. LinkedIn CEO’s contact information is one of the most sought after executives.
This has given me some incentive to go back to my LinkedIn profile and give it a good updating
I have a profile there but I have never paid much attention to it. Maybe now is a good time to reinvest some time to it. Thanks for the incite.
LinkedIn is really on their way to creating a platform for business owners to engage with one another as well as helps to build a business. Next week we will be covering the summary portion of the profile so be sure to stop on back.
From reading your posts I am beginning to realize the bigger picture of linkedIn and how to properly utilize its potential. Thanks Suzanne. Your last 2 posts have definitely been really insightful and interesting!
I'll keep a close eye out on my RSS subscriptions
Looking forward to reading it..
I have to agree that it is a good time to go and check it out again. The changes are really promoting connections connecting and interacting. It is so easy to have a profile, join some groups, get some invites and then not really engage. Over the next few weeks we will be covering the basics with what to do with your profile once we have that completed, then we will get into the meat of the offerings of LinkedIn.
Being the oldest of the social media platforms, it definitely has been taking steps to continiously remain as the business persons site where connecting is more than checking a button.
Thanks for dropping in and let's get you excited about LI and make it work for you.
Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate that. LinkedIn is a no longer the job seekers site as we are able to all have an impact by being up front about what are intentions are. The summary which is being covered next week is how to tailor a summary to attract the connections that you want.
LI is not a site where we connect and run off and keep a count on connections. The people there want to interact.
Its offerings between the creating your profile to showcase what you have done professionally to having the opportunity to show the expertise in the discussions makes it useful.
Think about your activity on Twitter for a moment. How many times do you read the headline (tweet) and retweet without ever clicking through to the post? I polled my Twitter community recently and the number of people who take this approach is higher than you might think.
LinkedIn is also a great place to post jobs or recruit employees to your company. Thousands of companies are hiring and recruiting on LinkedIn so if you're a business owner looking for prospective employees, there you go! If you're looking for employment, there are so many great companies on LinkedIn offering great career opportunities.
Thanks for providing a good starting point for writing Linkedin headlines. The 5 questions listed above help me to focus on my own unique selling proposition or offer–I am inspired to rewrite some of my descriptors so people will grasp immediately what I do, what problems I solve, and what is unique about me. The answers to those questions will help others decide if they want or need to connect to me and if I can be of value to them or their business.
Great post. I've been trying toget more out of my LinkedIn profile so hopefully this will help. cheers.
A very interesting social network to search for employees and business partners, I also really liked advanced search functions, most importantly, it is very convenient.
Excellent article. I’ve been very hesitant about signing up for a Linkedin account. After reading your article I see how important it is to be listed. I’m going to do it right now! Thank you
Wow! What a lightbulb moment! when I read this piece, I immediately signed in to my LinkedIn page and added some branding help to my headline. Thanks for the insight.
What a great tip and something I need to include in my classes to Realtors and small businesses. I’ve talked about how anywhere you have your name and it becomes “linkable” (meaning anchor text) it doesn’t hurt to have a very short descriptive set of words for your Name/Title. Especially if all of those text words become anchor text for hyperlinkable URL’s.
Thanks for the great tip and reminder that we can use LinkedIn.com to further help paint a picture about yourself and spread that unique brand around.
Hi Suzanne,
Do you have any advice for people that have their colleagues and boss on linkedin? I would rather not post details about the other projects I have been working on on the side – it concerns me that folks at my company would think I’m not putting my 100% into my day job. LinkedIn doesnt provide a way to create multiple profiles, does it?
That said, how do I spice up my “professional headline” without getting into any sort of trouble?
To put things in perspective my full-time day job is: software engineer, and I am working part time as a product manager for an internet startup.
Thoughts?
Interesting point. I personally read the articles as I am fearful of spammers but I can see where more people to not click before they retweet
Thanks for adding this point here. Good to think about with your headlines.
Great addition. This will be covered in the next few weeks. This is a series to get your LI profile up to speed by covering each part of the profile in a post and then covering the offerings of LI and how we can benefit from them.
You can change the section on your profile to reflect a link to your blog. the default is my website, my blog. this is customizable so that you can name your blog and website by the company name.
Carolynn
Exactly. There are millions of people on LI and finding those to connect to that will be a valuable part of your own network by simply looking at their profile is not easy. Those that differentiate and also take the time to build a comprehensive profile do peak my interest.
the upgrades over the past few months certainly have made LI much more convenient. The advanced search as well as being able to connect, discuss and engage quickly without having to convert over to email has made this platform so incredibly useful and just plain better.
It is one account per email as I recall. I would not recommend having 2 personal profiles if you did have another email. There are company pages but you are connected to that page. It is an option but other than that, you would have to put it on your page or not have it.
I have another favourite line from the papers, from an egotistical perspective. as a newspaperman helming the children’s column of a provincial title, I was looking for a question to give away some A A Milne books.
I got a new blog. And off course i want to make it better, both in visitor and in ranks. And I say really thank you for this your article. I need it to grow my blog.
Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you’re bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post’s chances of success.
I’m not sure how long ago your “good” headline ran, but if you go to the bottom of Steve’s Activity and click on the More button it will give you a history of new connections and changes you’ve made to your profile. I’m not sure how far back it goes but maybe you’ll get lucky. Good luck.
This is very nice tips….! i will try to follow that tips… it wil be very useful for me….!
thanks for this is nice n informative sharing…!!!
I’m so glad I was able to read this post about LinkedIn. In the past, I only use my LinkedIn account to look for work. With the new information you provided, I guess I should look into my LI account again and see if I can use it in my personal blog site.
I know the headline is key, from my own research, and I did have one that produced good results but since changed it and then forgot what it was – I wish Linkedin had a profile history feature.
I wonder if compelling content also needs a “call to action”? Our content can ask readers — either directly or indirectly — to donate, buy, contact legislators, change, volunteer, improve, share or comment. Is a call to action required for content to be considered compelling?
Suzanne,
Those are good suggestions about the title. It translates in my mind to think instead of “What's that to me”, think, “What's that to you.”
One of the marketing tips I always give clients is to spend some time improving their profile page on LinkedIn. If you're in business, sooner or later a potential client will be judging your credibility as they look over your profile.
If your profile helps communicate what's in it for them to do business with you, you're a step ahead of most. If it goes further and creates an emotional resonance with your “right people”, usually by clearly expressing WHY you do it, you really have a powerful message. Suzanne is so correct – Get the headline right, and maybe you'll get the rest of your profile read.
This is one subject I’ve gone round and round on. I’ve always used titles because I’ve been told it helps with recruiter searches. I avoided using available or in transition so as not to sound needy but had several people not realize I was looking. Added that in but so no change. So using your advice he’s the latest. Please let me know your thoughts
Good post. Most of the niche marketing gurus often outsource their work to a team of artists, writers, designers and so forth…Evirtual Assistant
The AIDA formula still remains the best friend to anyone writing for a blog, site or profile etc.
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
That’s the magic formula. As long as you always keep this formula in mind when you write, whatever you write will be much better.
Thank you for these tips for better linkedin headlines. A headline can do so much and therefore must be compelling to generate interest. Thanks for this post! I especially like how you talked about showing the value of your services with linkedin. Give someone a reason to pay you money for business!