Social Media has become one of the most important marketing tools for B2B businesses. It can help you gain organic traffic and build your brand. Linkedin is probably the most important one for small businesses, especially those that don’t have an established following on other platforms.

Why Standing out on LinkedIn Matters

LinkedIn has over 800 million active members. A platform with that many users is powerful. But it’s difficult to differentiate yourself from the group.

Whether you are using LinkedIn to recruit or to promote your business, it’s important to have a profile page that is professional and organized.

Just like any social media platform, your presence on LinkedIn represents your brand. Your personal page is where you can showcase everything about yourself and what you do.

Core Profile Sections to Focus On

LinkedIn has 19 different sections that can be used on your personal profile. The four most important sections are the headline, the banner photo, the about section, and the experience section.

We’ve deemed these sections the most important because they are at the forefront of your page. Without these sections polished, your LinkedIn page will have no info about you, which is the entire point of a profile page.

1. Banner Photo

This photo will be at the top of your page. You can take a creative license with this photo.

Your banner photo is the largest and sets the aesthetic for the read below. Your banner photo is the face of your page, even more so than your profile picture. Its size captivates the page in a way your profile photo does not. It’s the only area where you can incorporate any visual branding.

2. Headline

This is the first thing anyone will read about you. This is the initial and key description of yourself that will be available on your page, right next to your name.

Your headline is the first statement you make to your page visitors. It’s like the first words that come out of your mouth. Your headline serves as a first impression.

3. About Section

This is where you will write your summary or bio. LinkedIn’s about section has a character limit of 2,000. That can be anywhere from 285 to 500 words.

Your summary is the beating heart of your page. Everything else compliments this section. Without it, the other sections have no context.

4. Experience Section

The Experience section will flesh out all of your past experiences. You should put a short bio describing your role at each position here.

Your experience section is like the brain of your page. It shows your past experiences as well as the specific responsibilities you’ve held. It is direct proof that you have been depended on in the past.

As you update your profile page and navigate the LinkedIn platform, you will want to make sure you are doing so in an efficient way. So we’ve compiled some different tips and tricks to help you stand out from the crowd.

Eight Simple ways to Stand Out

1. Write a detailed and interesting summary about yourself

If you’re a business owner, your summary should not only be about you but your company. Attention spans have shrunk these days, and you want people to easily find what your company does from your personal page.

It’s important to make information accessible. You cannot depend on people to click from your personal page to the business page to its official website to find out details about your company.

If you are not a business owner but are doing outreach on LinkedIn for your company, be sure to center your summary on your current company’s products or services while highlighting relevant personal accomplishments you’ve had at your current job, past job, or outside of the workplace.

2. Include a Call To Action in your Summary

Including a call to action at the end of your summary is another way to stand out. Invite people to email you with questions or to connect, and include your email. This way, if someone comes across your page, they can easily contact you.

This call to action not only adds a suggestion for the person to reach out to you, but it shows you are genuinely interested in connecting with people. By supplying your email address, you’re instilling trust by supplying your contact info.

3. Use an Updated Photo as your Profile Picture

You’ll often hear people say that you need to use a professional photo for your profile picture, but that’s not the only way to do it. So long as your photo is a current photo of you, it should work perfectly. Just make sure you look like yourself in the present, and not how you did 10 years ago!

There is no reason to drop money on getting a professional headshot unless you want to! Sometimes, photos like that can actually make you look less approachable. And at HyperSocial, we stress how important it is to humanize your pages. Not everyone has the money to drop on their profile photo on LinkedIn!

4. Let your branding shine in your Banner Photo

If you want to promote the company you work at or work for, you can use this part of your page to include your company’s branding. If you are a freelance B2B, you can use this space to portray your branding or even put a photo of your favorite city skyline.

Anything that could be a talking point is great to showcase here. You can also include your website and your email on the photograph. Since this is the most visual part of your profile, it’s good to include your contact information.

There is no way to hyperlink text included on a banner photo, but just including it there puts it at the forefront of your page so people know where to look to learn more about you.

5. Stay Active on LinkedIn

If you’re not engaging with your network, then what’s the point in having LinkedIn?! We often forget that LinkedIn is social media. So get social! Make sure you are posting at least once a week. But don’t put pressure on yourself when it comes to the content.

Your posts can be as simple as stating what you ate for breakfast and how it set you up for a good day, to an article you read and enjoyed. You don’t need to be posting advice or inspiration for people. Just content so your network is reminded you are a human being, not just a professional.

The more you engage with others’ posts, the more likely they are to engage with yours. So make sure to like and comment on posts that resonate with you!

6. Utilize the Recommendations Feature

Tons of people don’t know that you can give and receive written recommendations directly on LinkedIn. Having recommendations on your page are great for social proof – it’s like having a Yelp review about yourself!

Ask clients, coworkers, or friends to write one by following these easy steps.

  1. Go to your profile
  2. Click the “add profile” section
  3. Click Recommended
  4. Click add Recommendations
  5. Follow the steps and write out your message to who you are sending the request to
  6. Click send and you’re good to go!

7. Use Memes in your LinkedIn Messages

When directly reaching out to people, be as casual as possible while still being appropriate. A LinkedIn message is not an email, so there is no need to sign off or use a fancy opener. Try your best to write the same way you talk.

We suggest being creative to stand out from the rest of the messages people will receive in their inboxes. A great way to do that is with memes or photos to spice up your messaging.

A funny meme about your shared industry goes a long way. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a meme is worth a million. Don’t shy away from being fun and letting your personality shine through!

8. Join Groups that are relevant to your goals

Make sure you are joining groups that are filled with people you hope to network with. There are tons of groups for new CEOs, experienced CEOs, SAAS salespeople, marketers, and more.

LinkedIn is there to help you grow your network and grow your business, so make sure to join these groups to see relevant posts and webinars that are within your scope of business. Groups are basically a community for you to join to grow your network and resources.

HyperSocial can help you with all this and more

HyperSocial’s goal is to help B2B businesses to humanize their outreach while keeping a positive presence on LinkedIn.

We teach you our process and help implement it so your day-to-day sales outreach will transform.

Check out more about it here!

 

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