1)Background Photo
A background picture helps your LinkedIn profile to stand out and is a great way to include visuals and logo in your profile.
It's important that your background picture isn’t too busy and doesn't contain too much text, as a significant portion of the image is covered by your profile picture.
Ensure the image is high quality.
2)Profile Photo
Your profile photo is where first impressions are made (so don’t forget to smile)! Pick the cleanest, most professional looking picture or take a new picture if you have to.
Use a background such as a white wall to ensure the focus is on your face. Use natural light. Steer clear of busy backgrounds, plus any signs or pictures. Choose work appropriate clothing and avoid bright colours and patterns.
3)Headline
Your LinkedIn headline is customisable, even though LinkedIn populates this with your job title and current company by default. If you want your profile to be searchable include important keywords or use this as an opportunity to stand out in 10 words or less. Consider listing your specialty and speaking directly to your audience.
4)Summary
Your summary is an opportunity to showcase who you are or what you’ve achieved, whether it be over the course of your career or in your current role. Think of this as your elevator pitch capturing your personality, interests, career, and role.
Some things to think about when putting your summary together:
5)Work experience
Here's where you define each of your relevant roles and describe how you’ve created your career. Remember, this is not your resume so avoid lengthy descriptions. Keep it short, sharp and relevant.
Ensure this section of your profile is easy for readers to scan quickly, but also make an effort to showcase your accomplishments, talents and accolades in a compelling manner.
The following is useful to keep in mind when building this section:
6)Education
LinkedIn is all about community so by listing your educational background, you’ll be able to build your network by connecting with alumni.
Having your education on your profile gives you up to three times as many profile views and provides you with access to alumni related insights and news directly from your schools.
Try to be as specific as you can and be sure to showcase any notable test scores, honours and awards.
Following people and companies
The people and companies you follow will not only provide you with an interesting newsfeed, it gives your network an insight into your interests too. Follow companies you like as well as pages and influencers who produce content that’s of interest to you.
Joining groups on LinkedIn is a great way to show that you’re in touch with what’s happening in your industry.