Your LinkedIn Profile: Why You Need to Revisit How You Look on LinkedIn

Do you use LinkedIn as a networking tool?

Are you looking for ways to use LinkedIn to attract more business for your company or brand?

To learn how to optimize your LinkedIn profile as a marketer, I interview Ron Nash, the "LinkedIn Whisperer," for this episode of the Social Media Marketing podcast.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is a show from Social Media Examiner.

It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing. The show format is on-demand talk radio (also known as podcasting).

In this episode, I interview Ron Nash, author of the books Leveraging LinkedIn and How to Find Your Dream Job, Even in a Recession. Ron is a LinkedIn preferred trainer who specializes in helping individuals and brands with their LinkedIn strategy.

Ron shares the importance of having a well-developed LinkedIn profile.

You'll discover how to present yourself on LinkedIn, write an engaging professional headline and summary and strategically leverage images and video on your profile page.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Your LinkedIn Profile
How Ron got started with LinkedIn

As a corporate recruiter and business owner, Ron discovered LinkedIn in 2003 and was an early adopter of the platform. Once he saw LinkedIn's viability in developing business clients and recruiting candidates, he started "running down that street like there was no tomorrow," as he put it.

Many years later, LinkedIn considers Ron to be one of their top 1.5% of people with a large network, as well as one of their top 15% in terms of using the platform strategically.

Listen to the show to find out how Ron went from using LinkedIn to recruit talent to teaching other people how to successfully use LinkedIn.

Why it's important for marketers and business owners to have a well-developed LinkedIn profile

A lot of people approach LinkedIn as just a place for job-seekers and treat their profile just like a resume, which is a flat, two-dimensional experience. LinkedIn is actually a multidimensional tool that allows you to tell your stories. It's called transmedia storytelling.

LinkedIn is one of the first professional platforms where you can set up your profile, stage your brand or service and tell a story with other media.

Ron explains that LinkedIn is like a new TV station. With its 300 million users in 200 countries, people are on it 24/7. You'll hear why it's more critical than ever to be creative in the way you present your brand.

The number-one activity on LinkedIn is people checking out your profile before they allow you into their network. So first impressions count.

Listen to the show to hear how LinkedIn is integrated into the powerful networking happening at the Social Media Marketing World conference.

The biggest mistake people make with their LinkedIn profile

The biggest mistake people make is that they interact with LinkedIn as though it's a resume. Ron says that it's a great opportunity, depending on how you treat your resume, but it's also a tool in which you can incorporate other visual aspects.

Ron states that behaviorally, resumes are a 20th-century thing; whereas in the 21st century you have the opportunity to insert video and images.

As a marketer, you have the ability to bring your LinkedIn profile to life with images and video, which speak louder than written words.

Listen to the show to find out why Ron includes videos in his LinkedIn profile.

What to include in your Summary

Ron says that there are two ways you can position your Summary: you can either write in first person or third person. It all comes down to personal preference.

When you talk from the first-person "I" standpoint,