11 Powerful LinkedIn hacks for the perfect LinkedIn profile: Build and boost your profile views

If you’ve asked this before…

“How can we grow our LinkedIn Profile?”

… You’re certainly not alone. There are some LinkedIn Profile Hacks That Will Make You Look Like an Expert.

LinkedIn seems to be the favorite breeding place for HR managers, recruiters, and new businesses. Around, 94% of recruiters choose LinkedIn to reach out to their candidates.

This focus on recruiters is important, but LinkedIn has also always influenced marketing, selling, and advertising professionals due to its vast network. Some statistics:

• Currently, there are more than 50 million companies listed on LinkedIn, and the number grows every day.
• We know, total members aren't the same as active ones. Though, the combination of others signing up points to a strong performance for the social network, with over 500 million monthly users.
• LinkedIn drives more than 50% of social traffic to B2B sites and is considered the most credible source of content. So, it is no surprise that 98% of content marketers use LinkedIn for content marketing, especially for B2B marketing and lead generation.
• Content on the LinkedIn feed receives about 9 billion impressions per week, but only 3 million users (out of the more than 500 million) share content on a weekly basis. This means that only about 1% of LinkedIn’s 260 million monthly users share posts, and those 3 million or so users net the 9 billion impressions.

Thus, creating a likable LinkedIn profile should be a priority for every professional. But wait, things can get messy when you don’t have your do’s and don’t’s list to profile yourself at best through LinkedIn.

Fear thee not, because we can use some tips and tricks to optimize your LinkedIn profile and can bring you out in a crowd of more than 706 million users. So, welcoming you to view some handy tips and tricks to optimize your LinkedIn profile.

1- Find your most productive LinkedIn Keywords

Staying visible in LinkedIn search can just be a game of few words for you and it’s all a matter of Keyword optimization. Identify your keywords which can help you get more attention. Your LinkedIn profile has lots of space to merge your relevant keywords. You can include them at:

• Your Profile’s headline (120 character limit) and summary (2000 char limit).
• Your current work experience and past work experience.
• Your skills and interest section.

Some examples:

“Operations Associate” can become “Operations Associates at Thermo-Printing Division” to highlight a specific department or industry focus.

Or

**“**Senior Consultant” can become “Senior Consultant, IT Project Management” to clearly state your specialization.

Above examples are not only keyword rich but also provide a clearer explanation of the job. So adding keywords to these six sections can really be a good deal in attracting more visits.

2- Grab a Kick Ass Headline

First impression is the last impression and if you do not seem to hold the right cards, you are out of the game. In LinkedIn optimization, make sure your headlines are attractive enough for your readers. But, don’t overdo it. Your headline needs to be a reflection of your professional LinkedIn profile. In fact, your headlines will prepare the way for other content like summary and other important details. You can optimize your headlines with these two best known ways:

Multiple Titles: You can include multiple titles (keywords) that people most likely to search for related to what you do in your headline.

Descriptive: A descriptive headline displays what you do with the keywords filtered in.

3- Get a nice headshot and keep it professional

LinkedIn profiles that have a picture are 11 times more likely to be viewed. So, increase your chances of getting more visibility through your LinkedIn profile picture and make it strictly professional.

LinkedIn Profile Picture Don’ts:

1. Grainy or pixelated picture.
2. A selfie.
3. A party Picture or No picture.

4- Keep your profile updated- Always!

Give away all your updated information in your professional LinkedIn profile. You should always include your updated Phone number, Email address, Twitter Handle, current Company Website and every relevant information. Adding more information will increase your chances to connect with recruiters.

Tip:- Turn off your activity broadcast while updating your LinkedIn profile or your wall will get flooded with updated notices. Moreover, you will overcrowd feeds of your connections.

5- Bless yourself with an Awesome LinkedIn Profile Summary

Currently, LinkedIn has a 2000 character limit for the summary section (Having the highest count compared to all other sections) so always try to flood it with the maximum use of keywords in it. Make sure that you carry on your legacy of writing an awesome profile summary after making it large at your headline. Here, you will showcase your career highlights, experience, thought leadership, and recognitions. You can settle for either of narration types- first person or third person.

LinkedIn through its summary section also gives an opportunity to include links to the work that you have done so far. Marketers and Bloggers here can add their piece of writing or presentations to showcase their achievements and rewards.

6- Customize your LinkedIn profile URL

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile URL can provide it a friendlier edge when compared to your old complicated URL. It makes you more visible in Google and thus, people can easily find you. Here is an example about how your profile should look like.

Would you like to do it as well? Follow these simple steps:

7- Search connections to improve your LinkedIn relationships

Increase in your connections can increase your chances to be visible on LinkedIn. Hence, search for your desired connections using name, skills, or company. Advanced searches may include location, school, past organization, and job title.

Reminder: Add only relevant people to your connections.

8- Develop your personal brand: Join groups strategically

Joining groups can increase your connections. Moreover, it is one of the best ways to advertise your expertise. There are groups for a particular topic, job title-oriented groups, or groups run by a big brand. So, join your desired groups and step up your personal branding.

Beware: don’t sell products. Sell your knowledge instead.

9- Proofread your profile

Now, it is time to give a nice proofread to your profile. Well, you don’t need your profile to be occupied with typos or grammatical errors. Set an eagle eye on the profile and treat it like your job resume. Read it loudly (don’t be too loud) and see if you understand it well. However, you can also preview your profile’s public view. To see how does it look like to your connections, go to

Profile > Edit Profile > View Profile As (at the top section) > Click on arrow “This is what your profile looks like to” > Select view from drop down. Now, you know that how does your profile looks like to your connections.

10- Get some help from visual media

Visual media can get your profile to be listed in the best LinkedIn profiles. Load your LinkedIn profile with relevant presentations, videos, photos, and documents. You can add these to your "Featured" section or within your experience descriptions. For example, if you've worked on a project, you can upload a PDF report or a short video showcasing the results.

11- Select amazing posts and a good time to post

If you are a blogger or a marketer, this is your game. Your connections are informed about your posts on LinkedIn. Even, new users can find you through your posts. Hence, know your audience and show your expertise through your awesome content.

Best time to post:

• Between Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Time: Early morning, lunchtime, and early evening.
• Sweet spot: 10 am to 11 am (Tuesday)

12- Give time to your connections to grow at LinkedIn

Give time to your relationships to grow with your connections. Do not go for a pitch as soon as you connect with an individual. Always follow the golden rule: Like, Share, and Comment on their posts. Interact with your connections. LinkedIn also provides options to raise a toast for your connections on their new job or work anniversary. Like and message them personally.

Tips:- send a personalized note to your potential connections while sending email requests.

Lastly, some icing on the cake (Bonus):

• Connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts with LinkedIn Customize your LinkedIn profile settings and connect with Twitter. Well, you can connect with Facebook business pages through a LinkedIn app.
• Backup your contacts Export your connections on your device. It will act as a backup if you lose all your contacts in LinkedIn. Go to connections > Settings (gear icon) > advanced settings > Download it as .csv file. This file will typically be saved to your computer's default download folder.
• Attach your LinkedIn profile to your email signature Your Email signature can help you to expose yourself to people working around you. Attaching your profile link to signature will increase your chances to become more visible even if you are not trying for that.

Now, as you know and understand everything about owning a killer LinkedIn profile, it is time to perform your experiments with your expertise. Please do share if something interesting comes your way.

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash