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What do clients want to see on your LinkedIn profile?

I was asked recently to outline the answers to a very specific question. When it comes to clients or potential clients – what is it they want to see on your LinkedIn profile?
Of course this depends on the person they are. Some of them will want to see you have 500+ connections. Some check out how many recommendations you have.
And these are things you can build up over time.

But here are things you can work on right now, on your own profile, and this works for anyone.

  1. Be professional – that makes taking the time to get the right profile picture, and paying attention to detail with the way you describe yourself and your role. This goes beyond good spelling, grammar, consistency in capitalisation and punctuation. A well written LinkedIn profile will be interesting and will read well. Take the time to make sure it does.
  2. Be niche – your client wants you to have expertise and experience in your niche. So highlight this – by describing the roles you have had in the past thoroughly, and including links to articles, your own publications.
  3. Show personality – What a lot of people do on LinkedIn is they write in the third person. Or they write in bullets. This is dry and looks like someone else wrote it for you. If you just write in the first person, and in full sentences, then already you will sound more human. And then, if you can stand it, show a bit more about what makes you YOU.

LinkedIn is designed to allow you to promote yourself (without bragging or seeming “salesy”)
You can share content (your own and others), and keep in touch with your professional network. You can list your skills, achievements, experience, and show what you are all about. And you keep yourself top of mind.
So, I would recommend you go out there and edit your profile so it’s more appealing to those who you want to appeal to!

For more information, see these related (and very useful) posts about LinkedIn:

How to change your “vanity URL” on LinkedIn
Which social network should you use if you have to choose one?

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