Sharpen Up That Profile…

Your social media profiles have pretty much become your storefront – a digital storefront if you will. Time to spruce up your displays and maybe change your colour scheme for a new season, right? 😉

LinkedIn Profiles

As you know LinkedIn is my favourite B2B platform, so this will be the one that I focus on the most, however, many of these points are relevant to other platforms as well.

Why are these items so important? Simple, because this is one of the first things that anybody will see, for example when they are looking at connection requests that they have received - you see only three things – name, headline, and picture. This is the first step to making contact.

• Profile Picture – make sure that your profile picture looks professional, shows you in a professional format (so a nice shirt etc) and that you are smiling and looking engaging. Do you need a profile picture? I would say most emphatically yes, nothing like a generic grey gravatar to create the impression that the person does not really use their profile much or that they may not be who they say they are.
• Header Image – another important piece – again, possibly your logo would fit nicely, or a beautifully designed image that shares who you are and what you do, with minimal writing – a photo of you presenting at an event or to your team, professional and carrying an idea of what you do.
• Optimised Headline - Your headline is probably the most important part of your profile when we are talking about LinkedIn lead generation. The people you are reaching out to need to know who you help, the problem that you help them with, and the solution. How do you help me with that problem? Example, my profile’s headline reads: ‘Helping businesses close more deals, make more money, and upskill their teams.’
• Customised URL – Now LinkedIn likes to just throw numbers and letters into your URL – but it does not really look great. On your profile make sure to click on the ‘Edit Public Profile & URL’ button and edit to just your name – maybe add dashes in between or dots if your exact name is taken. Doing this will also help your profile to look professional and sleek.

Do keep improving and updating your profile, your content, and your interactions. If you think what the challenges are that your customers or potential customers are facing, this will help you to create what they need – think like your customer and deliver what they need to them.

If you achieve a new milestone, or perhaps an accolade, make sure to add that to your profiles. Update your profile pictures and headers every so often, as, movement and activity on your profile show that you are actively around, that you are still there and are still available, should someone need to reach out to you.

Keep posting your content as we have discussed in previous blogs, as well as engaging on potential leads’ content as well, liking and commenting if you find the piece thought-provoking or relevant, and just be interesting and most importantly - be engaging. Basically, be you…

Do connect with me on LinkedIn to see what I get up to!

Every Wednesday at 5 pm I will be hosting a [email protected] where we continue the social selling conversation. For inspiration and motivation follow me @shelleywaltersinc on Instagram and finally for B2B social selling conversations follow me on LinkedIn @Shelley_Walters

We would like to acknowledge Sean Roberts from Ensono for his contributions and insights into the creation of this series.