LinkedIn is the ultimate place to connect with professionals around the world. The platform allows you to find the right people to help you grow in your career and provides you with endless future opportunities.
To stand out as a reputable professional on the platform, your bio must reflect your commitment and expertise. It is the first thing people read about you and how well your summary is written will directly influence how others on the website perceive you.
With a professionally written summary, you have a much higher chance of other professionals reaching out to you for potential business opportunities.
It might be quite difficult to write a great summary on the get-go, but fret not, here are 5 simple tips to follow to get yourself started.
1. Decide on Your Tone
Before you start writing your summary, think about how you want to address yourself. Think about…
- Do you want to talk in first person or third person?
- Will your summary be serious and authoritative, or will you be fun and approachable?
- What skills do you want to point out in your summary?
Go with whichever you are comfortable with and what tone matches your career the best. For example, if you are in marketing, a friendly and approachable voice in first person might be better for you. Meanwhile, if you are a consultant, an authoritative third person approach might make you sound much more credible.
2. Identify Your Goals
Your LinkedIn summary will look vastly different if you are trying to find customers compared to if you are looking for a job. Your goals and motivation behind your LinkedIn account will heavily affect how you should write your summary.
When identifying your LinkedIn goals, ask yourself what is the purpose behind your account? Are you…
- Looking for a job? Talk about yourself as an employee and your previous accomplishments.
- Looking for a business partner? Talk about your business and what type of person you are looking for.
- Looking for new customers? Promote your brand or your products and explain why customers should try it out.
- Looking to hire new employees? Talk about your business and that you are currently hiring.
When you tailor your summary message to suit your goals, you will be able to optimally achieve great results.
Related: The Ultimate Linkedin Guide
3. Show Your Qualifications
Unlike showing people your resume, showing your qualifications is talking about your previous achievements in eye-catching phrases.
For example, talk about your previous accomplishments, what you did, and what the results were. You can also talk about your best traits, such as things that you can do better than most people can. You can also talk about your hobbies, passion and values which not only shows people the human side of you, but also gives them a better understanding of who you are as a person.
By showing your qualifications, along with stating your goals as mentioned in step 2, you can pull in the exact audience that you are looking for!
4. Come Up with a Killer Opening
The first few sentences of your LinkedIn summary are extremely important when it comes to convincing people to continue reading. If it is super interesting, people will be curious and want to read further. Think of it as a hook to get your audience’s attention. So, make sure it is powerful, unique, memorable and engaging.
You do not have to be grammatically correct, here, either. In fact, you can use single-word sentences or phrases separated by pipes, like this:
- Passionate. Engaging. Committed.
- Meticulous Salesperson | KPI Driven | Goal Achiever
No matter how you decide to write that first paragraph, make it snappy!
Related: How to Use Upskilling to Progress in Your Career
5. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
LinkedIn allows you to upload images, videos, and documents to your summary. Use this to your advantage and make your profile more engaging. This helps your audience understand you even better.
Are you a salesperson? Upload an image of your monthly targets and how much you have achieved.
Are you a great writer? Upload a couple of pieces that you have written.
Do not Sleep on The Power of a Great Summary
LinkedIn has a 2,000-word limit for your summary, but that is more than enough to tell a strong story about yourself to your ideal audience. It is best to take some time and plan out your LinkedIn summary carefully. Also, always remember to update it whenever necessary, and ensure that every piece of info is accurate. This will ensure that you will reach the right audience in no time!
To learn more about opening new doors for career opportunities, view our range of professional courses at Pitman Training.
