Todayās newsletter is for you if want to:
A) Start building a brand and audience on LinkedIn.
B) Optimize your LinkedIn profile to generate leads and business opportunities.
In the past years, LinkedIn has gone from a job-hunting platform to a business incubator. You can test ideas, generate leads, get new clients and build a business funnel.
Only 1% are active users. I jumped on the wagon in July 2022.
Since then, Iāve built an audience of 7K+ and around 1 million views a year. More interestingly, LinkedIn has generated new business opportunities:
Leads and clients for my business as a public speaker
Invitation to speak at the Hong Kong International Book Fair in March.
For reference, I post 5 times a week and repurpose my content on Medium and partly here. I usually publish short posts that I then turn into full-length articles.
My only regret is that I wish I had started earlierā¦
3 tips for a great profile
Your profile is the most important thing to build your brand.
At a glance, potential clients and partners see who you are, what you do, and how you can help them - or not. It sounds simple, but simple is hard, and most profiles fail to do that.
After trial and error and multiple iterations, I discovered the 3 things that make a profile effective:
Clarity
Specificity
Relevance
1. Clarity
The issue: your profile is overwhelming. Thereās too much information, and itās hard to understand what you actually do.
The solution: less is more. Explain what you do in 1 sentence.
Example: āI help X achieve Y with Z.ā
2. Specificity
The issue: you say that you are a copywriter, but there are 1,000 profiles like yours. You donāt stand out, you are too generic and youāre talking to everyone and no one.
The solution: laser focus and add layers of specificity to what you do and whom you help.
Example: āCopywriting for SMEs in legal and professional services in the USA.ā
3. Relevance
The issue: thereās a lot of information that is irrelevant to your audience. Your profile is not a popularity contest but your business card.
The solution: ask yourself,
Is this relevant?
Does it add value to my audience?
Does it give me credibility?
Examples:
- 10 years experience inā¦ (tenure builds credibility)
- Awards/ Publications/ Books (public recognition builds authority)
- Relevant personal story/ hobby (I mention that Iām a triathlete because it is relevant to motivational speaking).
Itās all about context: the key is to make it relevant to your messaging.
Applying it in practice
How to use the principles above to optimize your bio, profile, banner, etc.