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If you are looking to market yourself and your services, one platform that has personally brought me some clients is LinkedIn. Certainly not to be overlooked as a powerful social networking platform for professionals, LinkedIn has continued to evolve into a very useful tool for discovering potential clients, and for potential clients to discover you.
For me, I think the “Ah, ha!” moment came when I was DM’d by a stranger about some work they needed help with and that’s when I realized that LinkedIn could be a place I get freelance work. I had recently updated my profile with some new skills and tried to position myself as a freelance web designer and developer who was actively taking on new projects.
This person had mentioned seeing my profile come up in a search, and after checking out my page and my personal portfolio, they wanted to reach out and inquire about some work. LinkedIn was helping me to be discovered, and helping opportunities to find me. Since this first client gained through the platform, I’ve been honing my profile to help gain more traction.
These are some recommendations for elevating your profile and marketing yourself on LinkedIn.
1. Review your profile picture
You want to make sure that it is a clear photo of your face and that you are smiling! Your profile photo, like it or not, is usually the first impression that people will get after coming to your profile. Try to smile so that you are showing your best self and look like someone people would want to work with.
This is a great opportunity to use a photo if you have had any professional headshots taken of you, or if you have a friend in photography who is willing to help you out with some clean shots. I have also seen people remove the background of their photo and add a unique backdrop or gradient to their photo for an added touch.
Find a good picture of yourself straight on, or take a selfie in a well lit room, and play around till you have a good looking profile photo for your LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have access to Photoshop or other programs out there, there are some free photo editing programs available online right in your browser.
2. Write a meaningful tagline
It’s important to let people know what you do right off the start, so it’s a good idea to include something about what you do in your tagline. In my case, I provide web design and development services, so I mention that right away. I also make a point to mention who I help, and open the dialogue for connecting about opportunities.
I would keep it concise and not have a tagline that is too long, since you have an opportunity to go into more detail about yourself in your bio section.
3. Have your contact information available
If you don’t have a way for people to easily contact you, you could be missing out on some opportunities. I have my personal website and portfolio linked to my contact information, as well as my Instagram and Dribbble profile for people to explore some professional shots of my work. Besides my own website and some professional social links, I have my email address if someone wants to directly reach out.
Things I will leave out of my contact information would probably be my personal cell phone number and links to social accounts that are more personal than professional. Since LinkedIn is more of a professional network, I like to keep my contact information to those areas of my life and try to avoid giving my personal number out to avoid spam calls.
4. Create a unique banner
Your banner is a good opportunity to showcase some of your work, or list some services and contact information. The default banner for LinkedIn is fairly bland, and it gives off the impression that you are not a professional when there has not been any thought to the banner and appearance of your profile.
If you are handy with the various graphic design softwares available, you can create a banner easily and give it a personal touch. The ideal banner size for LinkedIn is 1584px x 396px. With the document set up to those dimensions, you will have a custom banner in no time.
For those that might feel a little daunted by creating a custom banner, try using an image from a free stock photo website (Unsplash.com is a favorite of mine) and find something that speaks to you and your style. Keep it relevant and professional if you can, as it will be displayed right behind your profile picture at the top of the page.
5.Update your experience and skills
As you grow as a professional, you’ll want to periodically update your resume, skills and experience on your LinkedIn profile. Keeping the information relevant to the field that you are working in, or want to be working in, will help other people discover you and engage with you about opportunities that interest you.
With Webflow being a large part of my workflow these days, I have added Webflow certifications, completed courses, and projects to my experience and skills, which has in turn helped me pop up in searches for Webflow developers and designers. If you specialize in a particular service, be sure to make sure that is known through your LinkedIn profile.
6. Be active in the community
Engaging in conversations and posts has helped me to be seen on LinkedIn as well. I have joined various groups and sub-communities within the platform that open up doors to opportunities with like-minded creatives as well as be found by clients in groups looking to grow their business and other topics.
By respectfully engaging in discussions and following others that interest you, you tend to show up in others’ news feeds and are suggested to other users on the platform based on your activity. Find new connections and look for groups that can help you grow, but also for groups that you can help grow. Don’t spam your services, but try to sell through relationships and connect with people with an intention of helping them versus selling them something.
