Guide to using LinkedIn: Getting Started
Whether you are just getting started, changing your career path, or using LinkedIn differently, this guide will help you optimize your profile and get the most out of LinkedIn to help you reach your goals.
Having a LinkedIn profile is more than just an online resume. LinkedIn is a professional online platform where you can share your expertise and network with other professionals to build your thought leadership and business connections. It starts with an optimized profile representing your work history, experience, and education. But, it doesn’t stop there.
LinkedIn offers opportunities to showcase your work, share thought-leadership articles and insights, and then connect with the right people at the right time.
If you are an entrepreneur and not sure if you should be leveraging LinkedIn for your business, consider the following LinkedIn statistics For example, LinkedIn has 61 million Senior Level Influencers, 40 million decision-makers, an average CEO has 930 connections, and 91% of executives highly value the content they receive on LinkedIn.
So if you want to build your reputation as the CEO of your business, connect with other business professionals, and promote your business to potential clients or talent on LinkedIn, it is worth considering leveraging this platform to grow your business or advance your career.
Let’s get started! Here are the steps to leveraging LinkedIn for success.
Know your goals
Know your story
Collect Information
Create & Optimize your Profile
See Webinar links in the resources below to learn how to build your brand and network on LinkedIn
This is the first of a series of blogs on getting started using LinkedIn. From goals to optimizing your profile, these are included below. Make sure to sign up for our email list to receive notifications of upcoming blogs in this series, including creating valuable LinkedIn connections, sharing great content, and engagement strategies.
Step 1 - What are your goals for using LinkedIn?
Here are some guiding questions to get started.
Are you using this as a place for people to learn of your expertise, i.e. if you submit a proposal in response to an RFP, will they need to check your credentials?
Are you providing services where people may be searching on LinkedIn?
Are you building your thought leadership and influence as the CEO of your company?
Are you looking to attract talent?
Do you want to network with potential investors?
Some or all of these questions may apply now or in the future. Remember, it takes time to build a network and develop thought-leadership, so start now.
Step 2 - What is your story?
Knowing your story will help you put together the content for your profile. It will also help you develop your LinkedIn strategy. Your strategy will give you guidance on who to connect with, what conversations to have, what groups to join, the kind of content to share, and even who to reach out to for recommendations.
Some of the questions below will help you discover your story. Some questions allow you to fill out the essential parts of your profile, including work experience, education, and volunteer roles. The other questions help shape the summary section, where you can tell your story, a narrative where you can share about who you are as a person and the opportunities you seek.
What do you do?
Why are you qualified to do this job?
What industry experience do you have?
What types of problems are you great at solving?
What services do you offer?
Who benefits from your work?
Do you have any past projects you would like to highlight?
What makes you one-in-a-million?
What inspires and motivates you?
How would you want people to contact you?
What opportunities are you looking for? Work, volunteer, partnerships, investors, etc.
Step 3 - Collect the following information.
Profile Photo - This should be a professional photo of yourself that best represents who you are in your professional setting. Image guideline for the LinkedIn profile photo is 400px x 400px.
A cover Photo - This is the image header across the top of the page. Be sure this represents your professional brand. Whether you are using a photo, video or graphic, be sure you have permission to use it, and all branding guidelines are followed. Your cover photo is prime real estate on your profile, so make sure you take the time to create the look that you want. LinkedIn Cover photo is 1584px x 396px
Have your Resume or C.V. on hand as a reference for years and dates worked, key project highlights, volunteer dates, etc.
Write your summary - This is one of the most time-consuming parts of optimizing your profile. Here are some tips
Reference the ‘What is your Story’ guiding questions to start.
Review other LinkedIn profiles to inspire you and get ideas on the type of content you want to create and share, including writing styles. Look for people doing well on LinkedIn and are in a similar profession or competition.
TIP: if you don’t want people to know that you are ‘checking them out, go into your profile settings and privacy > profile viewing options > check private mode
Be sure to include: your expertise, key search words, what you are offering, some project highlights if applicable, the type of opportunities you are looking for, and how you would like people to connect with you. Be succinct, but be sure to tell your story!
Contact list - These are people you want to find and connect with on LinkedIn. The information that will be helpful is first and last name, phone number, email address (work), and company. Your work email provider or CRM (customer relationship management) program is an excellent place to start.
Importing Contacts: LinkedIn provides a way to import a list of your contacts which saves time, which they prompt you to do on start-up. You can also learn how import your contacts here.
However, One-by-One Connections is recommended. Mass invitations are impersonal. I recommend NOT connecting LinkedIn to your email provider or uploading a mass list. Instead, reach out to them individually, which will more likely get a positive response to your invitation to connect. Add a message when you invite them to connect, including information about how you know them and why you want to connect. This message shows up as a direct message where you can continue the conversation.
Step 4 - Create & Optimize your Professional Profile
At the very least, everyone who has a business or a professional career should have a LinkedIn profile. It is free to start and offers a place for people to learn more about you without asking for a resume. So whether you are starting for the first time or updating your current profile, here are the steps to creating a professional profile.
If you already have a LinkedIn Profile, you can skill this section and go right to Optimizing your profile. If you do not have a LinkedIn profile, follow the instructions on creating your LinkedIn professional account here. Remember to use your real name. If you want to create a company page, that will come later.
‘Add Section’ - be sure that all the provided sections are filled out. There is an ‘add section’ at the top of your profile page. If there are any sections where you can provide additional information, be sure to add it to your profile. This may be skills, accomplishments, awards, languages, etc.
Ask for Recommendations - You can request and have other LinkedIn users post recommendations on your profile. Consider asking past clients, someone you worked with on a collaborative project or even an employee to recommend you! To get started, review your past projects and then reach out to people who you believe would give a testimonial to the type of work and their experience working with you. (https://www.thefutureisunlimited.ca/leveraing-linkedin-to-grow-your-business-webinar-nov11/ - Timestamp 19:36)
Headline - not just your job title, but who you are and a quick reference to what you offer.
Customize your profile URL - on your desktop, you will see a link on the top right-hand side of your profile that says ‘edit public profile & URL’. By default, your profile will have random numbers after the LinkedIn/in/____. You can customize this link to include your name in only a few minutes. I.e. linkedin.com/in/lauraldunkly.
Privacy & Security - how to protect your personal information, be sure the right people can see the correct information when they land on your profile, etc.
“Open to” - is a link right below your profile photo & number of connections, which is where you can notify people that you are looking for a new job, hiring, or providing services.
Offering Services? People are searching for talent and services more now than ever before. If you are an entrepreneur who offers services, be sure to include them in this section. You can tell people about your services and work preferences, get found in search results, and let potential clients reach out to you for free. LinkedIn provides you with a list to select from, and you can choose up to 9 to publish on your profile. There is a place where people can also review your services. Similar to a recommendation, you can invite people to review your services.
Content Creator - ‘on / off’ - Creator mode now offers access to tools that give you more ways to create content and drive engagement with your audience, including LinkedIn Live & LinkedIn Newsletters. Eligibility information is found here.
Featured Section - if you have specific articles you’ve published on LinkedIn, links to external websites you want to share, video, photos, documents, or previous LinkedIn posts, you can highlight them in the featured section.
[Updated June 2024]
For more guidance on setting up your profile and using LinkedIn
You can watch the replay of Laura’s webinars
How to Build your Brand on LinkedIn (YouTube) - Jan.,2023
How to Grow your LinkedIn Network (YouTube) - Dec., 2023
How to Leverage LinkedIn to Grow your Business. - Hosted by the City of Mississauga, Small Business Centre - Nov, 2020
Interested in a LinkedIn training session?
If you are interested in LinkedIn training for yourself, your team or an event workshop, please contact Laura to discuss.
