LinkedIn is the largest professional network on Earth today. It has over 575 million members and millions of companies listed. According to LinkedIn Work Force report nearly 3 million jobs are posted on the website every single month. These are numbers you just can’t ignore!
In the light of a fast-paced economy and fleeting opportunities, it’s very important to keep your LinkedIn profile fresh. However, there are opportunities that you aren’t even considering when you create your profile. Here are a few reasons why you should keep your LinkedIn profile updated and fresh.
1. LinkedIn Helps Recruiters Find You
In the light of a fast-paced economy and fleeting opportunities, it’s very important to keep your LinkedIn profile fresh. However, there are opportunities that you aren’t even considering when you create your profile. Here are a few reasons why you should keep your LinkedIn profile updated and fresh.
LinkedIn profiles are how recruiters find qualified employees. It’s reported by Kinsta that nearly 90% of recruiters use the website to hire people. Also, there must be some reason Microsoft though to buy it after all.
Think of LinkedIn as the first successful iteration of a professional social network. It’s the one place that companies can confidently post their ads and find qualified people. Your profile on LinkedIn doesn’t feature your likes and photos, it features your skills. It’s the one social network that’s popular enough to broadcast your professional accomplishments to every company out there.
Currently, there are nearly 14 million open jobs on the site and 20 million companies listed. That is an incredible pool of opportunity waiting for you to dip your toes in.
However, these companies are looking for candidates that are constantly improving themselves. A static profile does you no good. It shows that you’ve been waddling in the same corner of that pool for too long. Remember that mobility shows progress and that progress needs to be shown on your profile.
2. Recruiters Pay Attention To Skills
If you want to be seen, remember to modify your list of skills. Even if you’ve just taken a two-day course on programming or marketing, include it in your profile. If you’ve spoken at a seminar or delivered a lecture at a campus, include that as well. You never know if you’ll be invited to speak at a business retreat or a corporate event because of this experience.
3. LinkedIn Profiles Rank Highly On Google Search Results
If someone is searching your name on Google, the first results will probably be your Facebook Page and LinkedIn Profile. LinkedIn profiles trend highly on Google because they contain so much information about you. Hence, it’s best to keep them updated. When someone searches your name, they should see exactly what you’re doing, not an outdated page.
LinkedIn profiles present businesses in a formal and professional manner, so make sure that your professional definition is one that is up to date.
4. LinkedIn Helps Grow Your Influence
LinkedIn isn’t just about posting your skills and work experience. It’s also a platform that you can use to share ideas and experiences. Growing your influence online doesn’t just involve listing your accomplishments, it also includes engagement.
Hence, updating your LinkedIn profile with articles or blog posts that talk about current ideas is a good idea. This will help you engage in conversations with certain groups and circles. Actively seeking interaction with these circles improves your chances of getting hired by companies.
5. LinkedIn Improves Your Personal Branding
Posting regularly on your LinkedIn profile also helps establish your brand. While that seems like something associated more commonly with Twitter and Instagram, it’s just as important on LinkedIn.
Today, branding sells more than your work experience. If you want to promote your core values, you are much more likely to get noticed. LinkedIn allows you to upload posts, comment on videos and pictures, and upload your own.
Through these functions, you can establish a certain personality for yourself online. It will speak to the kind of work you are doing professionally and it will establish your presence online. While this may not necessarily bring job offers to your doorstep, it will certainly expand your audience. And anyone with an audience warrants attention.
6. LinkedIn Builds Connections
‘Networking’ is a term that meant using your connections to get good job offers or other economic opportunities. That is easier than ever with LinkedIn. Since LinkedIn made career hunting into a social network, it’s easier than ever to contact professionals.
You can find out if others share your interests and are working in the same fields. You can initiate conversations with them and share profiles and experience. This improves your likelihood of getting hired or becoming partners in shared business ventures.
Previously these kinds of connections took time and money. You had to wine and dine investors and impress them. However, now, with LinkedIn, your profile speaks for itself.
This is another reason you should keep your profile updated. If you’re interested in a business venture, you should talk about it in your profile. You should list seminars and conferences that you’ve been to. You should include the skills you’ve acquired that would make you a great candidate for certain jobs. You should also imbibe the information you’ve gotten from contacts to focus your profile on current interests.
What this means is you shouldn’t leave your profile static for too long. If you’re looking for an opportunity currently, you should include that in the first line of your bio. You should focus more on the skills that are relevant to your current interests than anything else in your bio. This way, contacts will have an easier time finding out who you are when arranging a meeting.
7. Speaking Engagements
An example is if you want to get speaking engagements, you should list your speaking experience early. In your profile, you should highlight specific instances when you were called to speak at campuses or for lectures. This can help you get speaking engagements at businesses or specific conferences.
This not only boosts your bio, but it also opens you up to further contacts which you can use later in life.
If you’re just starting as a young employee, you won’t recognize the importance of networking. However, constantly working on your contacts and gaining influence and experience is paramount.
It will ensure you know the right people to talk to when you’re at a crossroads. Say you have a business plan and you need funding. Say you have an idea that you want feedback on. You will need someone you’ve known in a position of power that you can trust.
8. LinkedIn Is a Testing Ground For Ideas
LinkedIn profiles don’t just include the skills that you gain or the work experience you have, they also include your ideas. You can post about different ideas that you have or different experiences that you’ve had professionally. The response that you get can give you an idea of how your thoughts track with a professional audience.
Using LinkedIn as a launching platform for ideas is a very pragmatic approach. You can use it to professionally rank an idea as good or bad. For instance, if you have an idea for a business project, you can perhaps run that idea by your contacts. The response that you get may determine whether you abandon that idea or how you can take it forward.
Other ways you can test your ideas is by posting a poll or a question. You can also just upload a picture or an infographic and observe the response it gets. You can share blog posts, initiate a conversation, or simply contact several people in your contacts list by private message.
These steps may seem banal and uninspired, but they represent a huge opportunity on LinkedIn. This is a network that is filled with people looking for job opportunities. They’re not treating LinkedIn like Facebook or like Twitter. They’re just there to talk business and congratulate each other on personal achievements. If they see an opportunity to discuss or engage with an idea, they will go for it.
Use that audience to your advantage.
Talking about fresh ideas or initiating conversations may also attract the attention of potential partners. LinkedIn may be the platform you need to get your idea off the ground.
[See related post: How Can Millennials Use LinkedIn As A Marketing Tool To Advance Their Careers?]
Images – Main Image by StockSnap from Pixabay; other images from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Dave Brown is a highly experienced content marketing expert who has been helping clients with digital marketing for many years. Not only is he determined to help businesses achieve their content marketing goals but he is also excited to take on new projects from a diverse range of industries.For reliable content writing services, reach out to him today!