Why It’s Important to Update Your LinkedIn Profile

Today, LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It is mostly used by professionals, brands, business owners, and college students. This makes your LinkedIn profile the perfect tool to advertise yourself as a professional and grow a solid network.

Needless to say, a well written and updated LinkedIn profile can bring countless benefits to your professional life.

Yet most people fail to understand how to use it effectively. Since all they really do is create a LinkedIn profile, add their name and title, upload a picture, and then abandon it completely. Needless to say, that’s a big mistake!

Keeping Your LinkedIn Profile Updated

One of the main reasons it’s important to update your LinkedIn profile on a frequent basis is because the majority of employers and recruiters in the United States use it to find quality candidates to fill their top positions.

A recruiter might even determine how employable you are right after looking at the information on your LinkedIn profile, before even bringing you in for an interview!

Having your profile up to date will also help you connect with your peers, other professionals in your industry, and people who have careers that are relevant to your business and goals.

Your colleagues and clients can also look you up on LinkedIn and write a recommendation or “review” about you as a professional and/or your services.

These online reviews on your LinkedIn profile will be seen as an endorsement from those who you’ve had professional relationships with in the past.

What You Should Be Updating

You can start enhancing your LinkedIn profile by uploading a professional photograph. Remember that the main idea on LinkedIn is to portray yourself as a professional, therefore, it’s strongly advisable not to use pictures of you in social settings, or at the beach!

Instead, create a great first impression with a professional photograph. You can even take one with your smartphone and the help of some YouTube tutorials.

Next thing to work on is your headline. When someone performs a search on LinkedIn, they will see a list of people in the results who meet their search criteria. Along with their picture, name, title, and location.

You can include keywords and interests in your headline so that anyone can find your profile when searching on LinkedIn. Remember to update your location as well if you’ve recently moved.

Remember that social media was made for the purpose of helping us socialize with other humans, so don’t forget to build your LinkedIn following.

The best way to do this is by joining local, national, or even international groups that are relevant to your profession or industry. These groups can offer new connections, news, blogs, discussion, and even jobs.

Another thing you can do on your LinkedIn profile is to show your skills and endorsements. You can list your professional skills, and your connections might endorse you for that skill. They can also write a review for you.

Feel free to ask colleagues, clients, or supervisors to leave a review for you. While this might not be something of vital importance, having a few recommendations won’t hurt anyone.

Last but not least, make sure you update your status. Perhaps not as often as you’d do on Facebook or Twitter. But posting updates at least twice a week is recommendable. That way, your updates will be seen by your connections and all the people who find your profile on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn might seem a bit confusing at first, but once you get the idea, you can use it to your advantage. Nowadays, every professional is expected to have a LinkedIn profile. So make sure yours looks fresh and well groomed.