Let’s face it. There are hundreds of blogs and articles out there about how to improve your LinkedIn profile. They cover all the basics and give such tips as changing your photo, your headlines, or skills. To be blunt, all those articles on Google that tell you you’ve got to change your photo or headline simply just don’t cut it. None of these articles help you understand why. They also neglect to let you know about the single biggest mistake you’re making on your LinkedIn profile.
In broad daylight, here it is…
You’re not representing yourself like a company would.
Your LinkedIn Profile: Your Digital Newspaper
Right now, I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you are now the CEO of a digital newspaper called “Me Inc.” Your digital newspaper is your LinkedIn profile. It is a micro site of Me. Inc. – of you. As that digital newspaper owner, you have a very small readership and your goal is to grow your subscribers, just like every other newspaper.
Once you realize that the only way you’ll grow your ability to make more money is to grow your subscriber base, you’ll shift the way you approach your own digital newspaper.
As you are the sole owner of Me. Inc., you can decide what your ideal number of subscribers should be. Perhaps you’ve decided your readership will either be your 15 named accounts you’ve been assigned or the territory you’re going to work, or the inbound leads you’ve been working in the organization.
Whatever you decide is the ideal number of subscribers that your digital newspaper needs to flourish, you’ll then change how you leverage your LinkedIn profile to address this particular target market.
Every time you add a new subscriber into your database, three things happen.
1) You’ll increase the exposure you have to that new subscriber
When you’ve read a regular newspaper, you drop it off to your neighbor’s front door. By doing so, you’ve increased the exposure that the neighbor will know who you are. Your LinkedIn profile works the same way.
Actionable step: Engage with your network by commenting on their posts and shares.
2) You’ll increase your virality
You’ll increase the chances that whatever content was within your newspaper, that next door neighbor will read it, clip the coupons, and pass it on. You increase the potential you become more viral.
Actionable step: Leverage your insights to create content that engages prospects on LinkedIn Publisher. When you publish a blog on this platform, all of your posts get added to your profile and here’s the kicker: it will notify your network that you published content which will further increase our visibility of your profile. They’re accessible to anyone which has the opportunity to go viral. So not only can they be viewed by your existing connections but your post can reach second and third degree connections outside of your network. This will immensely grow your readership and simultaneously grow the subscription for your digital newspaper.
3. You’ll increase the ability to penetrate the mind share of that subscriber
This means that you get your subscribers looking out for your next article, coupons, etc.
Actionable step: By consistently creating content and publishing it through LinkedIn Publisher or status updates, your prospects will grow to see you as a resource. You inevitably become an expert within your community. They will get to know you and your content which helps you build a relationship with your subscribers. Make it a daily routine to consume and share content with your network on a consistent basis. This can be done through platforms like Hootsuite, Buffer or if you have an employee advocacy tool.
Once you believe in You Inc., and you believe you can increase exposure to yourself, and the ability to go viral, and you can then start changing the way people think—the mindshare.
Then you can then take a look at the functions in LinkedIn like the photo and headline, and make the front cover of your LinkedIn profile into something you think would be valuable to your readership and help you grow more subscribers.