This document provides 14 steps to improve your LinkedIn profile and stand out. It recommends including a professional profile photo, customizing your public profile URL, filling out your experience and education sections with concrete accomplishments and results, gaining recommendations from past colleagues and clients, following interesting people and companies in your industry, and regularly interacting with your connections on LinkedIn to build your professional network. The overall message is that an optimized LinkedIn profile can help showcase your unique talents and expertise to prospective employers or business partners.

1. How to showcase
your talent on
LINKEDIN
and stand out in the crowd

2. Why LinkedIn?
The worlds 3. most popular social media site.
Aimed for professionals
332 million users in 200 countries

3. YOU!
Use LinkedIn to stage your uniqueness.
Show the world how you stand out
Nobody is like
Your skillset and interests are distinctive.
You are special and different.

4. SALES?
Your profile will be checked!
Business buyers do not contact suppliers directly
until 57 % of the purchase process is complete.
Do you work in

5. SPECIALIST?
Demonstrate that you know what you are doing
Are you a
Your expertise will be questioned.
Can you deliver?

6. It is a living and adapting organism.
Prove that you are keeping up to the pace
It’s a social platform
Keep your profile alive and don’t just update
it when you are looking for a new job.

7. YOU!
You wouldn’t want that, right?
Otherwise this could be

8. 14
To help you rise above the clouds!
steps to a better
LINKEDIN
profile
one bonus pro tip+

9. Get the basics correct
EASY
Lets start off

10. 1.
3.
2.
5.
4.
The first five steps

11. Profile picture1.
If you have a picture, it is 11x more likely
that some one will check out your profile.
Keep it professional and recognisable.
NO holiday shots, sporting pictures,
duck face selfies or cleavage captures.
If it’s flattering, good for you!

12. Title line
2.
It doesn’t have to be your latest position.
It can be about your skills, aspirations,
current focus areas etc.
If you are a sales professional
you can add something
about your product portfolio.
But nothing beats being a CEO!

13. Background picture
3.
Insert a background picture to add some colour,
personality and interest to your profile.
Show how you stand out in a crowd.
My background image is consistent
with my blog and Twitter account
for a coherent experience.
The same no-no’s as with the profile picture

14. Vanity url4.
When you sign-up for LinkedIn, everyone
receives a long fugly personal url.
Change it for something easy to
remember. Like your name!
It’s fine to be vain once in a while

15. Contact info
5.
Keep your contact info updated.
Add things you want to show.
You never know who will call!
I’ve got my primary email, phone
number, blog, Twitter account
and company website.
There might be a keynote speech in the horizon!

16. The next four steps deepen your persona
Now it is time
to test your
COMMITMENT

17. Summary6.
Open up and tell the cosmos about
yourself. Be creative and describe the
big picture.
That’s not all folks…
Avoid just repeating your
experience, there is more to you
than just your job positions.
Tell what makes you tick, what you’re
inspired of, what interests you, where you
are heading and how you plan to get there.

18. Summary6.
If you want to use your profile as a selling
tool, add something about your solution.
But keep the focus on you and how you
have the skills to solve your customer’s
problems.
Promote created content!
Add blog posts, SlideShares,
compelling customer projects etc.
Add a list of specialties or expertise to
the end. If you are a boss in a niche,
you will be found when needed.

19. Experience7.
Be interesting and concise
Explain what you do and
what you have worked on.
Focus on the results:
What have you accomplished?
How did you achieve it?
What did you learn?
What skills improved?

20. Experience7.
You can also portrait you whole work history:
The latest couple of positions are the
most interesting ones. Emphasise them.
If you want to elaborate on other
positions, be my guest.
You can decide, if you want to keep
your profile relevant to your current
ambitions and keep only your most
substantial history visible.

21. Experience7.
Tell your own story!
I have added a little bit of info on
everything I have done – starting with
being a slaughterhouse cleaner.
I have done this, because in my line
of work, I am a storyteller. My
LinkedIn profile is my personal story
on how I became a marketer.

22. Honours & Awards8.
You are truly original
Have you earned anything worth
mentioning? This is brag time, and
forget the humble.
The honours may vary from
professional to private, but they all
portrait a special part of your life.

23. Education & Courses9.
Don’t underestimate the importance of studying
Your education is the backbone of your
professionalism. Even if it is out-dated, it
shows that you have the ability to FINISH
a long-term commitment and you have
the desire to learn.
If you have completed interesting
and relevant courses, add them too.
They can be certificates, education
that doesn’t end up in a degree etc.

24. The last five steps are all about people
Remember,
LinkedIn is
SOCIAL

25. Skills & Endorsements10.
Give some and you’ll get some!
This is one of the social aspects of
LinkedIn. You can add skills to your
profile and your contacts can
endorse you, if they consider you to
be an expert in this field.
You can organise them and
highlight the skills that you
think are the most important.

26. Recommendations11.
Reciprocity works – Give and thy shall receive.
People really read recommendations! Try
to get some to validate your
competence. Take a leap of faith and ask
for a recommendation! It can be from a
boss, colleague, employee, contractor or
business partner.
The only criterion is that it is work
related. Your spouse doesn’t count!
Everyone gives a different aspect of
your know-how, so diversity is richness.

27. Following12.
If you know what is happening, you are able to influence
Follow interesting people and
companies. You can gain valuable
knowledge and industry insights. At the
same time you can profile yourself as a
curious expert with a will to learn.
You can track companies and receive
updates from them. They can be
competitors, customers or otherwise
ground-breaking thought leaders.

28. Network13.
“Your network is your net worth” – Porter Gale
Add colleagues, friends, business partners, clients – everyone
you know or you have done business with. LinkedIn is a low
barrier social network – people will accept your request.
If you connect with prospects and leads, you have a better probability
of closing the deal. People do business with people. If they know
you, and they like you, they will do business with you.

29. Socialise14.
“Active participation on LinkedIn is the best way
to say, 'Look at me!' without saying 'Look at me!”
LinkedIn is a social network, so it is highly recommended that
you are social too. If you see something interesting, share it!
If you have trouble finding something relevant to share, check your
home page. Your network can help you out with this. At the same
time, you can give a few likes and learn something new.
LinkedIn has a built in blogging platform. You can use it to show
that you have something to say about your work and industry.

30. A bonus tip, before you start your journey
One for the
ROAD

31. Before you start avidly updating your profile, turn the
“Do not notify“ button to no. You don’t want to bother
people with every little detail.
Save it for the big moments when you want people to notice!
You’ll find it on your Edit profile page

32. Now go, and plunge in
Hit me with a tweet:
@karlfiltness
QUESTIONS?