Guy Kawasaki is at it again with some more great tips on using LinkedIn. This time he’s gotten together with LinkedIn’s UI designer, Mike Lin, to do an “extreme makeover” of his profile. This is by far the most useful guide I’ve seen on this topic. Every problem Mike pointed out, I’ve seen on many most of the profiles on LinkedIn.
Go to Guy’s blog for the full visual version, but here’s a bulleted list with my comments:
- Add your voice. The fundamental difference between a LinkedIn profile and a resume is that your LinkedIn profile is intended to help you build and maintain interpersonal relationships. It’s not a dating profile, but it should still be in your personal voice, not the abstract third person. Be yourself.
- Connect with old colleagues. The #1 way to build your LinkedIn network with real, trusted relationships is by uploading your contacts, finding and connecting the ones that are already in LinkedIn and sending invites to the ones who aren’t who you have strong relationships with. Doing it initially isn’t enough, because new people join all the time (over 400,000 a month at last count). You have to make at least a monthly practice of doing this so you pick up the new ones who have recently joined.
- Write recommendations. This is a powerful way for you to be of service to your network. Pay it forward. You also, of course, make yourself look good by making others look good. Naina Redhu has a great guide on her blog to making good LinkedIn recommendations.
- Get recommendations. Authentic references from people you have actually worked with speak volumes about you. Don’t be afraid to ask, but only ask those who can authentically give you a good one.
- Ask a question, answer questions. The new LinkedIn Answers feature is an opportunity to give and receive value with your network on a more frequent basis than introductions. True to LinkedIn’s brand, it’s still about helping people get business done, and helping others do that is a far better way to build strong relationships than idle small talk.
- Get a vanity URL. Do you want your public LinkedIn profile URL to be http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/9b9/aa4? Or http://www.linkedin.com/in/guykawasaki? See my illustrated how-to-guide on making your LinkedIn profile public.
- Add substance to your Summary. This is your personal elevator pitch. Beyond the description in each of your positions about what you do, this is also the opportunity for you to talk about your networking needs – the kind of connections you’re looking for and open to.
- Add specialties. People search on these. Use the conventional words and phrases used to describe what you do.
- Add depth to your positions. Title, company and dates isn’t enough, any more than it would be on your resume. Describe what you did – what did you accomplish there?
- Add all your positions. On a resume, maybe you only need to go back ten years or so if you’ve held several positions. Here, though, keep in mind that everywhere you worked is an opportunity to reconnect with those old friends and colleagues.
- Add website links, activities, interests and awards. This is cheap, low-effort and perhaps most importantly, appropriate and acceptable self-promotion. If ever there were a time and place where in which people actually want this information, this is it. Take advantage of it.
- Customize why you want to be reached. LinkedIn allows you to specify what type of contact requests you are open to receiving. While some people will still try to pass off just about anything as an “expertise request”, setting this like you want will significantly reduce requests you’re not likely to be interested in.
Great tips. If anyone else decides to take Guy’s advice, why not take before-and-after screenshots, post them to your blog, and let us know about them here?
Scott Allen is a social media pioneer, helping people turn virtual relationships into real business since 2002. He is coauthor of The Virtual Handshake and The Emergence of The Relationship Economy and contributor to over a dozen books on social media, business and personal development.
[...] Scott Allen, who runs the LinkedIntelligence blog (dedicated to all things LinkedIn), did a follow-up post commenting on Guy K.’s profile makeover — lots of useful thoughts here. Earlier this week, Scott also posted a useful post about how to get the most out of LinkedIn as a professional tool: “Practicing LinkedIn, Part 1 – Monthly”. After discovering Scott’s blog this week during our, uh, “blizzard”, I’ve been reading some of his old posts and enjoying them. I’m interested to see how I can get the most out of LinkedIn as I launch into some new business and scholarly goals for 2007. [...]
Glad you found the guide useful. I hate to take all the credit though. It was actually a collaborative effort between Kay Luo (Director of Corporate Communications) and myself.
[...] It ’s often more important to be found than to find. It’s also very important that, when you are found on LinkedIn, your LinkedIn Profile page is up to date. So take the time to make sure your profile is complete, regularly updated and reflects who you are and what you are currently doing. And don’t forget to sprinkle your profile with the keywords that somebody looking for you might use when searching for you.SA: One of my favorite quotes about networking online comes from Phil Agre’s article, “Networking on the Network”: “[T]he most fundamental way of finding people online is to help them find you.” Remember, every data point that you include in your network is another opportunity for someone to connect with you, either because they have that same data point or because they’re looking for someone who does. For more on improving your profile, check out Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover. [...]
[...] good profile. Guy Kawasaki’s Extreme Profile Makeover was a smash hit in the blogosphere, and my additional commentary was one of my most popular [...]
[...] Scott Allen posted additional useful comments at Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover. Site Search Tags: LinkedIn, networking, business+networking, social+networking, career, jobs Last [...]
[...] also expert-on-all-things-LinkedIn Scott Allen’s riff on Guy Kawasaki’s extreme makeover post, with lots of good bullet points to help you leverage your LinkedIn membership to the [...]
I am updating right now! Thanks.
[...] Linked Intelligence » Blog Archive » Guy Kawasaki’s LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover (tags: linkedin networking) [...]
Great aticle. I have recently had great success finding people to review my social media guide through LinkedIn groups. People on LinkedIn are generally very ready to interact, contribute and participate.
“Add your voice.”
I agree, this is the most important part of using linkedin efficiently. Don’t go overboard (it’s not FB) but show that you are a real person.
Marry recently posted..Invitation Maker for Creative People
4 years on and this list is still so relevant. Good advice, Mary, though personally I’ve found writing recommendations is our most effective use of LinkedIn. “Pay it Forward” – exactly!
Grant
Grant recently posted..I Clean Carpets & Windows Before & Afters
I will have to totally agree with you adding Personality to your LinkedIn profile is extremely effective.
Barry recently posted..Ultra Hair Away: Must Read Before Buying a Hair Inhibitor Product
Well I’m probably very late but I have not jumped on the LinkedIn bandwagon yet!
It’s hard to keep an active presence on facebook, twitter and linkedin all at the same time… any tip would be welcome!
Cool!! Thanks a lot. I’m updating now.
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